The government has projected that the e-commerce revenue in the country will reach Sh164 billion by end of this year and jump to 254 billion by 2025.
According to ICT Cabinet secretary Joe Mucheru, e-commerce has presented the country with a potential to create new jobs directly on online market places.
“If we are to aggregate the businesses that are carried out through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Google, Facebook and Instagram among others, the number of e-commerce start-ups are in their thousands,” the CS said.
Mucheru was speaking on Friday during the Kenya Private Sector Alliance e-commerce booster programme in Nairobi.
The CS however noted that while the penetration of products will grow, the profit margins are expected to reduce.
This, he said, calls for e-commerce players to plan ahead to reduce cost drivers and increase technology driven solutions.
Mucheru said the government has partnered with the private sector and other players to boost digital training especially for the youth.
The training is being done through Ajira Digital Programme in partnership with KEPSA, the Mastercard Foundation and eMobilis.
“The impact of this to our economy is that our citizens will possess high levels of digital and entrepreneurial skills, which will aid in tapping opportunities and overcoming setbacks in e-commerce,” the CS said.
Mucheru observed that Kenya is the 5th largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and was ranked 56 out of 190 economies in 2019 in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business.
He noted that digitisation of government contributed to an improvement in this ranking disclosing that a 2020 report by the Internet World Stats rated Kenya’s internet penetration as the highest in Africa with 87.2 percent of the population connected.
Mucheru said as per a survey conducted by the Communications Authority of Kenya, there were 59.8 million active mobile subscribers in the country as at September 2020.
He said the government is almost completing setting up a policy framework for a National Addressing System that will enable the geo-location of homes and properties.
A pilot study will be conducted in Nairobi county before full scale roll out to other parts of the country.
Mucheru said government is also converting the physical post office box to virtual addresses in an increasing growing digital space.
“The Postal Corporation Kenya connects over 600 postal points in the country. PCK has incorporated physical and virtual box services in the last two years. This links a physical box to a phone or online connection through a service dubbed M-Post (mobile post),” Mucheru said.
The CS said his ministry is increasing the internet and mobile network grid in the country by investing in last mile connectivity.
“In addition to laying fibre optic cable, we work closely with alternative broadband solution providers and are keen to offer countrywide connectivity to all through the Universal Service Fund,” he said.
-Edited by SKanyara