Every year, close to a million graduates enter the workforce exceeding the number of available work opportunities. The Ajira Digital program has been at the forefront of bridging this gap by enabling young people in Kenya to access digital and digitally-enabled work opportunities. For Benaiah Wepundi his story is one of many young people in Kenya who have been empowered through the program making a mark in the entrepreneurial world. Welcome to day two of the 5th Edition of the Nation Digital Summit.

In a panel titled, "Lessons from Global Innovations: Bridging Local and Global”, Benaiah Wepundi elaborated on how the Ajira digital program enabled him to start his journey as a freelancer, “COVID accelerated the rise of freelancing, and young people across Africa are now embracing gig work as a viable way to earn a living. Through Ajira Digital, I gained the skills that enabled me to start my journey as a freelancer. I've only been employed twice, yet I pay all my bills through freelancing. We've been conditioned to believe that work should always be a traditional 9-to-5, but in reality, work is simply what gets the job done” Earlier on in the day Ken Mwenda - CEO & MD, eMobilis one of the Ajira digital implementing partners shared insights on” equitable Access to Education Through Affordable Technology"

My name is Benaiah Wepundi and this is my Ajira story!

My name is Benaiah Wepundi, a software engineer with experience in business development and product marketing. I am the Founder & Chief Maverick at (https://payd.money)  where we are building a digital bank for the global independent workforce - simplifying how freelancers, creatives and entrepreneurs pay, get paid, and make their money work for them. I equally lead Business and Product development at Vabu (https://vabu.app) initially a product of Payd. Vabu is a building management and monetization tool for the experience economy, covering events, creators, and communities.

I discovered Ajira while at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in my second year of law school. This was at a time when I was about to defer my studies due to circumstances at the time. Ajira introduced me to gig work, through training on graphic design, development, and accessing gigs and clients on different platforms. Ajira has supported the Payd and Vabu journey by providing us with a pipeline for interacting with gig workers whom we are building it for, and a platform to share what we are doing with the rest of the world. These opportunities and support go a long way in helping us validate the problem we are solving and access partners to grow with.

Ajira comes in at a critical time when Kenya's young population is growing rapidly, and there's a huge demand for employment and income opportunities. To all young people out there, this program will not only give you the skills to access gig and entrepreneurship opportunities but also bridge the gap between getting the skills and earning from them. Payd and Vabu are at the intersection of two growing segments of the future of work - the gig economy and the experience economy. Over the next 5 years, I see us enabling over 10M freelancers, creators, and entrepreneurs to get paid globally and make their money work for them.