The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has announced a partnership with Absa Bank Kenya to empower 1 million young Kenyans with digital job opportunities. The youth will benefit from the opportunities through the Ajira Digital and Ready-to-Work programs.
The bank will provide essential digital skills training through its existing Ready-to-Work program, while leveraging KEPSA’s network to build linkages and alliances. This collaboration aims to improve the government’s skilling and youth empowerment programs in order to address the high rate of youth unemployment and inability to find work.
Speaking at the announcement ceremony, KEPSA CEO Carole Kariuki noted that at least one million young Kenyans enter the job market each year. With such high statistics, the private sector has committed to support with interventions that will address this ‘youth burden’.
KEPSA through her social arm KEPSA Foundation and with the partnership of over 1,000,000 businesses from all sectors of the economy are working to equip the Kenyan youth with skills and work opportunities. This move is aimed at driving the growth and competitiveness of our economy.
“This partnership provides an opportunity where youth from our ongoing interventions like the Ajira Digital project can access the much-needed employability skills as well as open up job linkage opportunities. We hope that through our various engagements and activities that we will be conducted in line with this partnership we can unlock thousands of jobs to young people in the creative industry as influencers and content creators,” remarked Kariuki.
Absa’s Managing Director Jeremy Awori said, “The partnership with KEPSA through the Ajira Program that we are launching today is in line with our ongoing efforts in this critical area of youth empowerment. We hope to establish digital and technologically enabled job opportunities through this agreement, with the goal of connecting one million competent youth to these opportunities.”
Under its Citizenship Agenda, Absa has also partnered with the Higher Education and Loans Board (HELB) to provide scholarship opportunities for over 500 disadvantaged students in 56 local universities.