Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MoICT) Mr. Joe Mucheru has urged young people looking for work to take advantage of the internet and online infrastructure in the country in their job searching efforts.
Speaking on Tuesday May 23, 2017, when he delivered a talk on the future of work, at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Nyeri County, the CS said mobile and internet penetration stood at a regional high of over 80 percent and 85 percent respectively.
“We have one of the most active online populations in Africa and this user base is growing with over 37.7 million individuals out of our population of 47.2 million, now having access to the internet in the country”, he said.
While urging the youth to seek to understand the online trends and the changing global environment of work, Mucheru said that this created immense opportunities for youth to seek and secure online jobs.
“The employee of the future is here, using their mobile phones to deliver work to their employers or clients and who can be based anywhere in the world’ he explained.
Mucheru announced that his ministry in partnership with Kenya Private Sector Alliance will commence the training of 10,000 young people through the Ajira Digital Programme at various institutions across the country in June 2017, to secure and deliver work online.
“In other markets the populations are ageing and they are not able to do many of the tedious jobs and which are being outsourced to markets with young populations such as Kenya’s”, said Mucheru.
Ajira Digital Programme is funded by Rockefeller Foundation. In support of the programme the CS said the government intends to outsource some of its work to online platforms to enable youths access the opportunities.
He said the MoICT was presently rolling out constituency innovation hubs, in partnership with members of parliament and the National Constituency Development Fund Board to provide free Wi-Fi in four locations in all the 290 counties in the country.