Unlocking current and future employment for ICT professionals in Kenya

Kenya is cementing its status as a leader in digital development. There are 300,000 people working in the ICT sector and annual growth is around 10%, according to the findings of the study: Unlocking current and future employment for ICT professionals in Kenya”. The study has been launched by GIZ, German Development Cooperation, the ICT Authority Kenya, and Genesis Analytics, to coincide with the German-African Business Summit held in Nairobi.

Global demand for IT Enabled Services (ITES) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), collectively known as Global Business Services (GBS) continues its robust growth at around 8% annually, encompassing everything from full-stack software engineering to call centres. The 2023 market was over $1 trillion, but Africa’s share is just 2% compared to 36% in Asia and the Middle East. Kenya is one of a handful of African nations with emerging BPO and IT Enabled Services markets, but in 2023 Kenya’s share was $600m, compared to over $30 billion in the Philippines.

Kenya is primed for rapid expansion in the sector with 75% of its citizens aged under 35, a high level of English spoken throughout and favourable fully-loaded operational costs for multinationals looking to diversify their sourcing strategies. With the right strategic interventions, source markets can tap into this rich source of talent and place Kenya on a trajectory to be one of the fastest-growing GBS destinations.