Let’s create digital talent pools to boost economic development

By Paul Kasimu, Chief Human Resource Officer, Safaricom

Every so often during my interaction with industry counterparts, one prominent issue always crops up. The fact that modern business entities are increasingly dealing with a generation of workers who are not interested in many of the perks that kept boomers anchored to the same job for life.

During the engineering summit we held in July this year, “war for talent” was one of the agendas discussed because as a sector, we are cognizant of the fact that increased competition for tech talent in Kenya is intensifying compensation and fuelling the growth of the larger local ecosystem. This indeed calls for a deeper look at Kenya’s talent development pipeline and what the future looks like.

Google’s 2021 Africa Developer Ecosystem report rightly summarises Kenya’s and Africa’s development landscape. The report states that the developer population rose by 3.8 percent in 2021 despite the contraction in the global economy. This was attributed to the rapid increase of start-ups in the continent, while the rise in the global demand for tech talent and the resultant increase in remote working created more employment opportunities for African developers.

The report ranks Kenya under its ‘advancing’ trajectory, meaning that Kenya is sprinting ahead as a fast follower. We have a larger developer population, a strong start-up ecosystem with a strong funding environment, and a stable socio-economic condition.

As a country, we are currently experiencing continued expansion in the technology scene, and the entry of giants has also increased demand for tech talent, with start-ups and smaller firms more often on the losing end as they cannot compete on wages.

For all parties to survive and thrive, we need to address the tech talent conundrum at ecosystem level, which means governments need to provide a supportive education system, and employers should be more deliberate about talent development and retention.

I must start by acknowledging the efforts our government is making to bridge this gap.

As the technology industry, we are excited by the recent move by the government to adopt coding into our school curriculum. This syllabus will see our learners, both in primary and secondary schools, learn how to code using universally applicable languages such as JavaScript and PHP.

The Kenya National Digital Master Plan recently launched by the government seeks to spur economic growth, promote job creation, and enhance innovation and creativity. The master plan also proposes the training of 20 million citizens in digital literacy; training of 300,000 public servants; and building adequate technical support through the training of 10,000 ICT professionals.

The private sector, in collaboration with the government, should take sustainable approaches to create a healthy digital talent pipeline in Kenya. Our graduates need to be marketable, both in Kenya and globally. They need to be equipped with entry-level skills good enough to guide them on how to live and operate in a technology-led world, as well as to understand how to leverage the potential of technology for new business development.

As Safaricom, we recently launched the “Industry Digital Talent Programme”,which aims at taking a sustainable approach to creating a healthy digital talent pipeline in the industry as well as driving employability and socio-economic impact for our youth. This is because we are cognizant of the ongoing expansion in the country, and this has made us, as Safaricom, to think differently. We are now more aware that we are not training for our organisation, but for the entire ecosystem.

Through a collaborative approach with academia, tech hubs, government, training partners and industry, we aim to develop digital talent in nine prioritised skill areas. The main components of the programme include curriculum development, mentorship, internships, and employment opportunities. The success of this initiative shall be a consolidated via digital talent open marketplace, where all stakeholders can access qualified talent on demand.

Such collaborations are necessary to bridge gaps because if tech vacancies are not filled due to a lack of talent, employers pile the additional duties on current employees, and this leads to burnout and consequently a negative impact on business.

Working together and being flexible to keep up with new developments will enable us to achieve the desired economic growth as we strive towards realising our purpose of transforming lives.