The country’s largest job fair took place today at KICC, organized by Nation Media Group and Huawei and opened by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua alongside Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, Ababa Namwamba, Principal Secretary for Youth Affairs Ismail Madey, Principal Secretary for Labour and Skills Development Geoffrey Kaituko and Principal Secretary for Sports and the Arts Jonathan Mueke amongst other leaders from Nation Media Group, National Youth Service, National Employment Authority, and the Federation of Kenya Employers.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses were forced to migrate to the use of the online platforms in conducting its operations, whilst others reduced or closed their operations. With this change came an increase in the rate of unemployment in the country. However, since businesses have re-opened the economy has begun to recover and the market stabilized, hence the number of job opportunities available has begun to increase.
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The Job fair is attended by over 100 employers who cumulatively will provide 5,000 opportunities, which are inclusive of jobs and internship opportunities to Kenyans, both for skilled and semi-skilled individuals. The event connects employers with Job seekers. The first two days, 15th and 16th are serving qualified graduates and the last day, 17th is serving the semi-skilled job seekers. On the first day, more than a thousand youth thronged the exhibition at KICC meeting potential employers.
When opening the Job Fair, Deputy President stated clearly: “Kenya Kwanza administration is about jobs, jobs, jobs and our whole conversation surrounds creation of employment. The unemployment crisis in this country is a timebomb.” He ended with a call to the private sector: “Any investor, any entrepreneurs, any organization that has a program that will create an extra job is our natural partner and friend. I therefore wish to celebrate Huawei for the good job that you are doing. You are our friends and our partners. We will be available to you at all times to discuss job creation. Anything that creates jobs is a priority to our administration.”
Mr Ababu Namwamba, Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts We are acutely aware of the need of empowering out future workforce in Kenya which is why we are so excited to be part of this. This is indeed a fantastic opportunity for us to have a candid conversation, and for employers to showcase employment opportunities and for us to explore ways in which we can expand employment and entrepreneurship for our young people”.
Mr Steven Zhang, Deputy CEO of Public Affairs emphasized Huawei’s commitment and appreciated the government for their efforts: “As a global leader in ICT, we are committed to sharing our knowledge and building capacity amongst Kenyans so they can grow the digital economy and take advantage of the opportunities it brings to them for jobs and to improve their lives. I want to commend the President, Deputy President and the entire government for its commitment to ICT and the digital economy that we have seen so clearly recently during the Jamhuri Day Celebrations. President Ruto has come out clearly and we are keen to support him in his mission to further enhance the Digital Super Highway”.
Huawei, since its entry into the Kenyan market in 1998, has been committed to building a better-connected Kenya, and will continue to contribute to the country through building digital infrastructure, helping digitize government and businesses, providing jobs and internship opportunities, and transferring skills. Huawei directly employs hundreds of people in Kenya, indirectly employs over one or two thousand, and trains several thousand each year.
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Huawei runs many programmes aimed at improving the capabilities of Kenya’s ICT talent and building a stronger ICT ecosystem. They fall under the Leadership, Employability, Advancement and Possibilities initiative- commonly referred to as LEAP, whose goal of the project is to train 10,000 ICT talents in Kenya each year, for the next three years. There are various programs under LEAP, such as the Digitruck which provides basic digital skills to youth in rural areas; there are other programs such as Seeds for the Future and ICT Academy which provides advanced ICT courses for university students; and there several others which enable Huawei to provide training to people all across the country both in the urban and remote areas.