State commits to strengthening tech firms to create employment

The government has committed to be a helping hand to technological-based companies to offer skills to youths.

This comes in the backdrop of a plan for Kenyans to get employment opportunities from a USA-based firm. 

Samasource Chief Executive Officer Wendy Gonzelez said the firm is looking to hire over 2,000 Kenyans to work in the organisation.

State Department for Investment Promotion in the Ministry of Investments TradE and Industry PS Abubakar Hassan said the government's strategy is investment attraction.

Hassan said that Kenya has positioned itself as a hub for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

"On behalf of President William Ruto, I thank Sama for choosing to invest in Kenya and particularly in the EPZ programme. The service sector is an important economic driver which accounts for 55 per cent of our GDP and it is delivering trade surpluses," he said.

He said the government has continually invested to get skilful youth in the field of technology.

"We have a strategy on investment enabling. We believe that we have robust financial banking to enable you invest. We have an organisation called Kenya Development Cooperation whose main job is to help private investments," he said.

The PS said that under his department, they deal with business reforms, directorate unit and business environment unit.

He said that agriculture, manufacturing and service production are the main drivers of the economy and therefore, it will invest in it.

The PS added that the government is making sure there is an increase in labour productivity to employ many people.

Sama is a leader in data annotation solutions for computer vision that power AI and machine learning models.

They create solutions to minimize the risk of model failure and lower the total cost of ownership through an enterprise-ready ML-powered platform.

Driven by a mission to expand opportunities for underserved individuals through the digital economy, Sama is a certified B-Corp and has helped more than 65,000 people lift themselves out of poverty.

A randomised controlled trial has validated its training and employment program.