With the growth of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies, there are equally numerous digital work opportunities opening up both globally and back here in the country, giving young people more and better earning opportunities. Last week, the Ajira Digital Program through its implementing partner, KEPSA, and in collaboration with Konza Technopolis and a local Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Oasis Outsourcing engaged 100 video annotators to provide services to different clients across the globe.

By leveraging the expertise and resources of Ajira Digital, Oasis Outsourcing approached KEPSA for young annotators who underwent a prior work readiness boot camp to master on efficient delivery of video annotation services from already established clients. Through the Jitume Centre labs established by Konza Technopolis, these young people have access to computers, the internet, and workspace to deliver on the expected tasks for the next three months. The video annotation tasks involve labeling or tagging video clips that are then used for training computer vision models to detect or identify objects. This will be annotating objects on a frame-by-frame basis to make them recognizable for machine learning models.

In addition to technical skills, the young digital work participants were trained on soft skills and industry exposure to best practices which are needed skills to thrive in the field of video annotation. These soft skills training mainly focused on communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and time management. Enactment of these holistic skills development was made possible through the blend of interactive sessions, experiential learning activities, and group projects, as well as ongoing mentorship and guidance opportunities.

Already this group has started working and through this work experience, it is expected that these young people will gain valuable work experience, industry exposure, and opportunities for career advancement. Hence, participants will emerge from the program equipped with the technical competencies and soft skills necessary to secure and excel in roles within the video annotation domain.

These are among the many other work opportunities that the Ajira Digital Program has been seeking to help bridge the gap between youth unemployment and industry demand while fostering socioeconomic development and digital inclusion. It is also a demonstration of how BPOs and digital labour platforms are providing solutions to organizations and businesses in their digital transformation journey. In addition, this initiative will help shape the future of work in Kenya in terms of a more inclusive, innovative, and digitally empowered workforce. A fusion of talent, technology, and opportunity.