A program in Nairobi has begun to teach over 50000 Micro Small Enterprise (MSE) owners with appropriate digital skills by the end of the year, with plans to expand to various counties across the country.
Future Ni Digital is a digital skilling effort that was started earlier this year with the help of important commercial sector companies and the government.
The Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development (MoITED), the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA), the Stanbic Kenya Foundation, Microsoft Philanthropies, and the African Center for Women, Information and Communication Technology (ACWICT) are among these partners.
The Future Ni Digital program will provide online digital entrepreneurial skills to help these small firms expand and flourish in the ever-changing digital market.
To begin off with the mass training of entrepreneurs, 192 trainers have already completed the necessary training.
The trainers come from the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA), the Kenya Industrial Business Training Institute, the counties of Uasin Gishu and Nakuru, as well as county industrial development officers from around the country.
Over 1,000 trainers from various government organizations will be trained to become instructors, who will then work with MSEs to upskill them on how to use online and digital platforms to build their enterprises.
The Stanbic Kenya Foundation has donated ten laptop computers to the MSEA Training Center in Kariobangi and plans to distribute 400 computers to other training centers across Kenya.
The curriculum for the training was designed by ACWICT, the digital program’s implementing partners, and the courses are now being delivered to MSEA members.
Microsoft has operated in Africa for close to 30 years. In that time, we’ve built strong partnerships across the continent, helped bridge gaps in infrastructure, connectivity, capability, and we are working to assist the continent to digitally transform while creating sustained societal impact,” Kendi said. “It also represents our desire to support the Kenyan talent create innovative solutions for local and global impact while also addressing the existing gap in some of the required digital skills for the new age.
Microsoft Country Manager for Kenya, Kendi Ntwiga
Our mission is to create an environment that makes our MSE sector globally competitive, and we are honored to partner with such noble stakeholders who are appreciative and aligned to meeting this National goal. Continuous skill improvement is key for survival in today’s dynamic market environment, that is why we have come together to address the knowledge and skill gaps in digital literacy that will benefit 50,000 MSEs. This partnership is timely and oriented to the Authority’s strategic direction of focusing key service delivery functions on digitization and innovation to better serve the MSE sector.
CEO of MSEA, Mr. Henry Rithaa
As a bank, we seek to elevate businesses and individuals and empower them to achieve their dreams. Many enterprises in the country are still struggling to recover from the effects of the global pandemic, and we have seen that having digital skills is key to survival. Building the capacity of Kenyan citizens by providing access to resources and knowledge is in line with our objectives as part of our non-financial support.
Stanbic Bank Kenya CE, Charles Mudiwa