YOUNG KENYANS ESCAPE JOBLESSNESS AS POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY THREATEN THE ECONOMY

Kenyan youths reap in dollars from online freelancing escaping joblessness after a fruitful five weeks training session by ICT Ministry, wooing many others on-board.

MOMBASA, KENYA, September 27, 2017 – Faced with political uncertainty, a large number of young people in Kenya have found their economic status threatened despite being well educated. A large number of them have since then turned to online freelancing so as to earn an honest living while putting into use skills. This comes only three months after the ICT Ministry offered free digital skills training that seems to have been in preparation for the tough economic times in place.

“The one week digital skills training that was provided by the Ministry of ICT during the month of June has saved me and a lot others the shame of joblessness.” says Magdalene Kamau, a freelance writer. “Though the free training ran for five weeks, in five different stations in the country, a large number of youths did not start earning immediately. Many gave up and went to look for other opportunities. A few of us who decided to hang on and keep learning are today earning at least $100 every week.”

With the slowing down of Kenya’s economy, many businesses are considering reducing their workforce so as to remain profitable. This threat has seen many employees seek to put their skills into use by serving the greater population worldwide. Holding on to results given by their peers who opted to turn to online jobs much earlier, the threatened population have begun to rekindle the skills their got during the Ajira Digital training.

“I get at least four requests to train on online work per week from people through my social media platforms and website.” She says. “They realize that employment may not last long in this economy. It is time for them to come up with a backup plan. For me, freelance writing is the real deal; not my plan B. I work hard at it and share my results with them. I will train them so that they can escape joblessness, but they will have to pay for the training.”

Outsourcing jobs through the Internet has created plenty of opportunities for those who are willing to learn a new skill and serve others. As computer literacy continues to rise, the rate of unemployment among the youth is bound to reduce from the recorded 65%. Though not everyone will go for online jobs, it is expected that those who do will create more job opportunities for their peers as they begin to invest the online earned cash within the country.

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