The Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development on February 16, earmarked an estimated 50,000 entrepreneurs to enroll in a training program to enhance digital literacy within micro, small and medium-sized businesses in Kenya.
Through this program, the government is set to place 2,000 youth into employment by the end of the year.
This digital skills training program is aimed at enhancing the employability of micro, small and medium-size business ventures in the country. This is in line with the rapidly growing digital market.
The government will achieve this in partnership with Stanbic Kenya Foundation. Speaking during the launch of the partnership, the Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development Cabinet Secretary, Betty Maina noted the need for adapting to the digital market changes that are occurring rapidly, hence the need for the training.
Betty also remarked that the partnership program is in line with the government’s digital transformation strategy.
“This program aligns with the government’s digital transformation strategy and blueprint because it helps us to onboard a lot of digital skills for our people.”
“We have digital government, we have been rolling out digital e-government, e-citizen services, and revenue payment services,” she added.
Besides this program, the government has also rolled out a plan to enroll 5,000 youths to take over jobs that are dominated by foreigners in Kenya today.
This plan was rolled out upon realization by the Agriculture Ministry that Kenyans are not well equipped in deep fishing. Because of this setback, the country heavily relies on foreigners to handle deep fishing.
The government, therefore, took action and is targeting to train 5,000 youth to take over the fishing industry within five years.
This training is to take place at Bandari Maritime Academy with the expectation of churning out 1,000 professionals every year. This move is aimed at developing a robust fishing industry under the Blue Economy program.
