Why The Kenyan Entrepreneur Needs Digital Skills

Stanbic Bank Kenya partnered with Microsoft and the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade, and Enterprise Development to roll out a program that is aimed at empowering entrepreneurs across the country with the much-needed digital skills.

According to Stanbic Bank, the partnership is meant to empower over 50,000 entrepreneurs across the country with digital skills. The event that took place at Sankara Hotel in Nairobi was preceded over by Cabinet Secretary of Industrialization, Trade, and Enterprise Development, Betty Maina.

“Digital skills are the now and the future. Stats show that 98 percent of small businesses in Kenya and around the world are because of digital skills. Given the importance of the sector in creating employment opportunities, it is upon us to make sure that it does succeed,” said CS. Betty Maina.

The initiative by Stanbic Bank comes at a time many entrepreneurs in Kenya have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic came calling, many entrepreneurs in Kenya and around the world were caught unaware.

Experts from PwC, while breaking down the impact of COVID-19 on businesses termed it as “an event in history that the world never anticipated. Organizations were not prepared and the majority ended up reacting towards it, and in the process, incurring massive losses.”

Kenya, like many other African economies, will experience a surge in digital skills in the near future. With the growing youth population, governments are turning towards private sector players to support in building their capacity and contributing towards helping the economy recover from the impact caused by the pandemic.

“At Stanbic Bank, we know and understand the importance of digital skills. The economy cannot do without them and through our spirit of It Can Be, we believe that if we partner with our entrepreneurs, we shall be able to leave a mark in their lives,” said Stanbic Bank Kenya CE Mr. Charles Mudiwa.

But why the digital skills?

The world has changed. Technology has taken over the world. In fact, the world is no longer a global village anymore. It is not a mansion either. It is a single room, a bedsitter where everything, including the washrooms, are within reach.

As Mr. Charles Mudiwa, the CE at Stanbic Bank puts it, “If you think small things do not matter, then you have never spent time with a mosquito.” Little things matter in life and in the current entrepreneurial world, digital skills matter than anything else.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, so many businesses went under. The only businesses that managed to sail through were those that managed to embrace the use of digital skills. So many businesses moved to operate via online platforms.

Digital skills, therefore, enable an entrepreneur to navigate through the challenges such as the current pandemic by reaching to both the current and potential clients online. They also make businesses adapt to changing times in the technological world.

Having digital skills in the entrepreneurial world also helps a business increase its profits. It eliminates the majority of manual work and replaces it with everything that can be done through the embrace of technology.

The initiative by Stanbic Bank and other stakeholders to ensure that more than 50,000 entrepreneurs are equipped with the much-needed digital skills is what the country needs at the moment.