Social Media: A key driver in Kenya’s economic growth

East Africa has 20 million social media users, with Kenyans leading the pack with 11 million users, according to Hootsuite Digital 2021 Data Report. Such trends indicate a significant shift in consumer behaviour as other studies have indicated that people spend about 4 hours on their phones every day on average. As such, brands have to evolve to move with the same speed as their existing and potential customers through digitisation which includes leveraging social media platforms. One of the ways brands are tapping on to leverage the social media market transformation is using young influencers who have many followers. These young influencers are opinion leaders with a strong relationship with their audience. They also have an appeal that influences the audience's purchasing habits, making them irresistible to the advocated brands.

In the bid to organize the industry and boost the bargaining power of social media influencers in Kenya, there has been a mushroom trend of local companies. For instance, Wowzi is a Kenyan Start-Up and partner of the Ajira Digital program that engineered a mobile App to satiate this growing appetite for influencers by connecting them to brands and companies of any size or industry. The Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, @Brian Mogeni, said brands are increasingly aligning their marketing strategies to empower micro and nano content creators looking to monetise their social media accounts and develop sustainable income streams outside of traditional or formal employment. The young influencers only need to have a smart device like a mobile phone and a brand immersion of light-weight remote training to master the key principles of sharing brand messages to start influencing their peers through social media. Through the Ajira Digital program portal https://ajiradigital.go.ke young people can access numerous platforms that provide both digital and digitally-enabled work.

With the internet access through mobile phones in Kenya hitting 83%, according to Business Today (2019) the mobile economy largely influenced by social media has become a key driver of commerce in African markets. Innovative Digital Platforms like Wowzi, Fundis, iBuild, Range.co.ke continue to propel Ajira Digital’s vision of empowering over 1 million young people to bridge the gap between the private sector and online workers through training, mentorship, and work linkages. Such indicators demonstrate the forward-thinking initiatives of the government and like-minded partners to drive economic equality through digital transformation.

While 'The Future Works Online' wave continues to gain momentum, we still face some discrepancies as a nation plagued by economic and gender disparity. A survey conducted by Qhala and Caribou Digital with the support of the Mastercard Foundation found that digital innovation and the cultivation of platform practices are still mostly urban and dominated by younger people who are more tech-savvy. Such insights do not mean that the paths they create, the practices they develop, and the accompanying changes to overall markets and sectors will not eventually spread to rural areas. However, none of the sectors has completely removed long-standing discrepancies between rural and urban. Similarly, participants described some long-standing gender dynamics with predominantly male online workers. Great News is Ajira Digital program with financial support from the Mastercard Foundation under the Young Africa Works program is working towards bridging this digital economy gap through gender and a national-wide focus.?

The Ajira Digital program's 70% focus on women and the operationalisation of over 200 Ajira Youth Empowerment Centres (AYECs) where young people and businesses can access Digital safe spaces with free working spaces, WI-FI, and computers, which continue to flatten the socio-economic and gender discrepancies. Any young Kenyan can access these AYECs based in various constituencies to access free training, mentorship and online work linkages that is provided by our training partners, eMobilis; tasked with operationalisation of existing AYECs and as well as institutionalising Ajira Digital clubs and Curriculum at higher level learning institutions (Universities and TVETS).

To know more about the AYECs near you, visit this link https://ajiradigital.go.ke/#/centres. Ajira Digital program has established over 40 Ajira Clubs across various institutions of higher learning where students and staff can access free training, mentorship and online work linkages to participate in digital economy including social media marketing. All these efforts, continue to accelerate the growth on digital economy through online work and freelancing to earn a dignified income from digital and digitally-enabled work.

In March 2021, the Ajira Digital Program published a National study on the Digital Economy, which indicated that about 1.2 million young people are earning through digital and digitally-enabled jobs. KEPSA is an implementing partner of the Ajira Digital program tasked with bridging the skills demand and jobs; they catalyse digitisation of private sector processes to create demand for digital work skills, are ambassadors of the digital economy and which continues to create value for businesses whilst contributing to the country’s economic growth

The power of social media platforms is strong-arming traditional work arrangements and opening new avenues of career growth for young Kenyans and significantly contributing to economic transformation- a discourse that the Ajira Digital program is shaping to support the cause given the innumerable local and international growth opportunities available in the digital space.

Visit the Ajira Digital portal to learn more about digital work and how it can alleviate your life: https://ajiradigital.go.ke/#/faq.