On 20^th February 2025, The Kenya Private Sector Alliance, through the Ajira digital program, took part in the Day one of the 5th Edition of the Nation Digital Summit themed, Transformative Innovations; Shaping Africa’s Future For Sustainable Prosperity. KEPSA was represented in a panel session that sought to explore Digital Transformation in African Industries by, Ag. Deputy CEO and Global Director of Youth & Jobs, Dr. Ehud Gachugu alongside Monicah Ndung’u - COO, Nation Media Group PLC, and Tomiwa Aladekomo - CEO, Big Cabal Media moderated by Dann Mwangi.

The summit brought together key stakeholders from government and the private sector alike, most notably HE. Dr. Irungu Kang’ata - Governor, County Government of Murang’a,  Eng. John Tanui, CBS -  Principal Secretary State  Department for ICT & Digital Economy Ministry of  Information, Communications & The Digital Economy,  Harry Kimtai, CBS - Principal Secretary, State  Department for Medical Services Ministry of Health, H.E Josephat Chirema Kombo - Deputy Governor of  Kwale County,  H.E. Ambassador Philip Thigo, MBS - Office of the Special  Envoy on Technology and Dr. Wilfred Kiboro, EBS - Chairman, Nation Media Group  PLC.

The Ajira Digital Program is at the forefront of enabling young women and men in Kenya to access digital and digitally-enabled work opportunities. Setting the tone for the day was a panel session on Digital Transformation in African Industries. One of the key aspects of the Ajira program is ensuring that the skills young people are being trained on align with the industry's needs. According to Eng. John Tanui, CBS - Principal Secretary State Department for ICT & Digital Economy Ministry of Information, Communications & The Digital Economy, Kenya has prioritized digital transformation to harness the potential of the 4IR (Kenya Vision 2030 and Bottom Economic Transformation Agenda, BETA). “We are working with the private sector so as to ride on the existing infrastructure, we also have a vibrant private sector playing a role in improving our infrastructure,” said Eng. John Tanui. In addition to that Kenya has positioned itself as a competitive BPO hub by creating an enabling environment for their existence to attract even more jobs.

On emerging technologies taking away some jobs, are we transitioning fast enough to prepare young people with intermediate and advanced skills for the new job market? According to Ag. Deputy CEO and Global Director of Youth & Jobs, Dr. Ehud Gachugu, Digital transformation is not just a sector on its own but also an enabler of other sectors, “Technology is not going to reduce job creation, in any case, it’s going to increase job creation, what is going to happen is more quality jobs are going to be created and the challenge that we have as a country and continent is to make sure that our people are properly prepared to be able to level up to the current industry demands for example in areas like AI and automation also augmentation of different jobs” said Dr. Ehud. On bridging the skills gap he cited that Africa has the advantage of a young population that is agile and tech-savvy, “In terms of entry-level skills Kenya and the rest of Africa is way ahead. The challenge is now on intermediate and advanced skills. Digitally advanced skills will make us globally competitive, we need to bridge that skills gap, we need to channel more into that”

According to Tomiwa Aladekomo, we need to ensure people have the capacity to learn since skills change every now and then. On adapting to technology Nation Media Group PLC, COO Monicah Ndung’u stressed the need to upskill ourselves so that Technology only allows us to move faster, “we also need our own platforms to understand our audiences better to generate customer-led content,” she added. The conference is set to continue tomorrow with key discussions centered on Policy, Sustainability, And Future Directions.