How to unlock potential of our digital economy

One of Kenya Kwanza’s key promises to Kenyan youth is to strengthen the country’s digital superhighway and the creative economy.

A key component in this discussion is content monetisation on social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and X.

This week, the conversation on content monetisation took centerstage, in light of President Ruto’s meetings with executives from TikTok.

The road to fully realising the maximum benefits of Kenya’s digital economy and creative economy – including content monetization – will be a difficult but achievable one, paved with a lot of experiments, hits and misses and key lessons that must be learned.

The truth is, no matter how many successful case studies we read and try to replicate, we must eventually as a country define our own unique path to content monetisation and the creative economy.

In light of this, three key things come to mind if we are to successfully achieve a creative economy that pays Kenyan youth.

First, the government must continue to aggressively invest in critical digital infrastructure to ensure access to reliable, affordable and high-speed internet to every Kenyan, especially those in the rural areas.

This should be coupled with the implementation of policies that promote universal access to the internet, in spite of socio-economic background.

This means that the government should make good of its promise to ensure every Kenyan has access to affordable devices including smartphones and laptops.

Number two, digital skills and entrepreneurial programs must be mainstreamed and free for all. We wrongly assume that young Kenyans automatically have digital skills. After all, this is the digital-native generation, right? Wrong.

Government must be very intentional and keen to upgrade Kenyans digital and entrepreneurial skills with special attention to youth, women and those in rural areas.

In addition, the government must absolutely expand Kenya’s innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The government must demystify, democratise, and decentralise innovation from the posh, urban, wall-to-wall carpeted fancy innovation hubs to village-level innovation hubs that are inclusive to every Kenyan youth.

To complement these village-level innovation hubs, the government must teach Kenyan youth simple and relevant entrepreneurial skills and strongly lean into how Kenyan youth can make money from these digital platforms.

The government should not stop there, they should not only teach Kenyan youth how to make money, but also how to manage that cash, and more importantly provide pathways for Kenyan youth to access national, regional and global markets for their products and services.

Last but not least, the government cannot do this alone. They must think very hard about strategic alliances with like-minded academic institutions and sponsor national research on Kenya’s digital economy to get an accurate picture of the digital economy situation ‘kwa ground’.

Some local universities are increasingly conscious of the potential of the digital economy and have set up research hubs to specifically address this and other related issues.

Government should sponsor research fellowships on digital economy in local universities so that the findings can not only inform policy, but also help the government to tailor localised, uniquely Kenyan solutions to unlocking the potential of the digital economy.

- Dr Chege is a media and technology researcher