The Ajira Digital Program participated in the Connected Kenya Summit 2022 at Leisure Lodge in Diani. The summit, which was held between 11^th and 14^th was themed; Accelerating Digital Transformation.

KEPSA Deputy CEO of Competitiveness and Operations Mr. Victor Ogalo participated in a panel discussion on ICT as an economic accelerator: The evolving transformational role of ICT in all sectors of the economy. Also on the panel was Mr. Ben Roberts – KEPSA ICT Sector Board Chair, Mr. Joel Karubiu – KeNIC CEO, Mr. Joseph Kuria –  ICT Commission Revenue Allocation Director and Dr. Margaret Nyambura – African Union Policy Advisors and a keynote from Ms. Maureen Mbaka – Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of ICT.

Responding to the question on the initiatives in place from the private sector helping young people in accessing markets in the digital economy, Mr. Ogalo explained the following:

• Checks on the external business environment to ensure it is conducive
• Checks on Digital Service Taxes to ensure the drive for the digital economy and the required support for the journey
• Internal preparations within businesses to ensure they are ready for the operating environment such as the investment from the government which includes the availing of digital skills.
• Encouraging innovation through business leadership.
• Constantly checking on the value proposition; despite the constant changes in the value of the business, how do you sustain value.

During the summit, Ajira Digital Program engaged young digital transcribers to transcribe the sessions. This is the story of Rose Oguta, an Ajira Digital participant and one of the Connected Summit transcribers;

“My transcribing journey started back in 2020 when I was taking my undergraduate degree in Education at the University of Nairobi. Corona pandemic had hit and at the same time, my parent had retired so I had to pay my bills on my own. I started looking for jobs but I could not find one. till one day as I was scrolling through Facebook and came across Ajira Digital program. I checked out their website and enrolled for training which took two days and later mentored for one month which enabled me to create a transcription profile on various online work platforms. In the third week of mentorship, I landed my first online job and earned my first salary from online work. Since then, I am able to make an average of $257 every month from online work which enables me to settle my bills in time and support my siblings. Through Ajira Digital I learnt a lot of soft skills and hard skills, I developed better listening skills and even gained better communication skills. Thank you Ajira. #ConnectedKE22”

Transcription has become an important tool for businesses to ensure effective communication within the workplace as well as with external audiences including the customers. With the increase in virtual meetings, a word-for-word transcript is shared with participants to reference later and to retain meeting takeaways.

Business leaders therefore should look to implement best practices when investing in business processes. Transcription will help boost engagement with potential customers and employees, ensure content is accessible to a wider audience, improved comprehension, inclusivity for even people with disabilities, as well as help with business website search engine optimization.