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Dear Jobseeker,
The big job market news of April is, of course, the release of the Economic Survey 2015 last week which revealed that formal job creation was lower in the 2014 as compared to 2013. This is the first contraction in job creation in the last five years. The Kenyan economy only created 103,000 new formal jobs as compared to the number of graduates who joined the job market: 400,000. This, however, does not mean that 300,000 graduates will miss out on jobs.
First, jobs open up in the economy when older workers retire or workers are lost (sadly). Second, the economy also produced 696,700 informal jobs. Third, as we pointed out on this column some weeks ago, Kenya’s projected economic growth rate for makes it one of the best job markets in the world this year.
Our take on the statistics: someone is going to get the job you want; what will it take to make that person you? This week we explore new and soon-to-emerge opportunities you could be pursuing, in 5 industries.
1. BUSINESS SERVICES
Business of Making Business Comfortable: Atlas Development, a UK-based logistics firm with its Africa headquarters is planning to expand through acquisitions across Africa by the end of the year. They serve major upstream oil companies like Tullow and Africa oil by providing logistics, storage, medical facilities to staff, fuel distribution, fleet maintenance, catering and laundry services as well as risk management. That’s a lot of potential jobs as they grow their presence in Africa.
PR Heats Up: a new PR firm is in town. Take out those dusty PR and communications degrees/diplomas. Grayling, a UK firm, is opening shop after winning a large contract with the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism. Current staff size is at 12, 70 per cent Kenya and the plan is to expand their workforce. They will serve UK-based companies seeking to enter East Africa.
Advisory and Consulting: while these industries receive little attention due to their confidential nature, there are indications that they are in a boom in Kenya. Several companies including Co-operative Bank and ARM are known to have brought in consultants to advice on restructuring. At the NSE, there is marked growth in cash holdings by listed firms, signs of aggressive regional expansion to come (companies include Equity, KCB, KenGen, Cooperative Bank, Barclays, Bamburi, Stan Chart among others). Finally, Kenya is reported to have taken the largest share of mergers and acquisitions fees in 2014 as compared to other countries in the region. All these companies need and will continue to need advisory and consulting services. If you have an accounting, finance, business management, economics or strategy background, investigate the various consulting and advisory firms, big and small, in town. JMG Strategy Consultants, for example, will be bagging a large portion of the Kshs 183m set aside by the Nairobi City County to change its public image in 2015/16
2. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
It’s not a good year for jobs in non-governmental organizations
Daadab Camp: 10,000 jobs are at risk if Kenya closes the Daadab camp. This is because the closure will result in an annual loss of Ksh 10bn in foreign currency inflows. Jobs will be lost on security, transport, retail, education and engineering as well as aid jobs through about 30 UN agencies
NGO sector not good: a report by recruitment agency CSS, shows that NGOs are cutting back jobs because of loss of funding from the European Union
But Think Water: at the end of March, Kenya and the Nature Conservancy launched Africa’s first water fund in a public-private partnership aimed at raising $1.3 billion. The fund will invest in agroforestry, drip irrigation, terracing and planting vegetation on riverbanks. Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement is the first receipt of the fund money so if you are interested in conservation work, look out for jobs by the GBM
3. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Kenyan embassies: wondering what to do with your international relations degree? Go to America. Kenya is opening 5 new consulates in the USA in Dallas, Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago and Seattle. Getting diplomacy jobs has always been political. Our best advice if you want these jobs: get nosey and talking to people in the diplomatic field. No connections? Make some on LinkedIn
Non-tariff barriers: expect a rise of opportunities in the regional imports and exports business as the East Africa legislative assembly passed a new regional law that will force EAC states to remove all non-tariff barriers to free trade.
4. ICT
Technology beyond Tech companies: cash-in-transit firms such as Wells Fargo and Securex are actively investing in technology to increase security and they need your tech skills. Wells Fargo is also opening a 180,000 square foot commercial vault and will need various types employees for it.
Laws on Internet Wiring: work on an Infrastructure Protection Bill is now underway. The Bill, if successful, will force all landlords countrywide to wire buildings for internet. It will also push down the cost of accessing internet at home. You can expect an increase of jobs in telecommunications , among other fields, if this Bill passes.
Fiber Optic: did you know that the Kenya Power Company owns much of the fiber optic cable network in Kenya? 1800km. Most of its excess capacity is leased out to such companies as Safaricom, Liquid Telecom, Jamii Telcom, Wananchi and Airtel. KPLC is now planning to lay another 1300km more of optic fiber to cover all counties except Wajir, Mandera, Moyale and Turkana. The contract for the job will be awarded soon and the work is expected to last 8 months. It’s time to research companies involved in the fiber optic laying business because one of them will be hiring soon.
5. CHINA DRIVEN BUSINESS
Qatar helps Kenya with China: an MOU with Qatar will help Kenya set up the Nairobi International Financial Center which will allow Kenya to push ahead in its bid to host a Chinese renminbi currency center. The center will allow the direct exchange of the shilling for the RMB which will increase trade with China. President Kenyatta has already gazetted the Nairobi Financial Center Authority which will formulate the legal, regulatory and institutional rules governing the center. Look out for these jobs.
Speak any Chinese? National Bank is likely to be looking for you. The bank announced that it would be setting up a Chinese department aimed at serving Chinese nationals as well as Kenyan traders traveling to China
Steel in Business: end of March, Kenya signed an agreement with Sinosteel for the development of a steel plant in the country. The location of the steel plant, as well as construction start date are unknown. What is significant here is that while the government initially intended to set up a mini-steel plant that ran on scrap steel, now, Kenya is going for a mega-size steel plant. Jobs upcoming
BONUS: COUNTY SPECIFIC NEWS
Airport Jobs coming soon to Kisumu: the Kisumu International Airport will soon be opening up to international flights. The airport has been certified as an international airport, increased runaway space for cargo and built a fuel depot, on site. International jobs will open up jobs in logistics, customer service, flight services, fueling among others. The Kenya Airports Authority has also awarded three firms tenders for building hangars and installing thermoscanners at the Airport. It is not yet clear which firms have won these tenders expect Best Western (hotels) which will be building two four-star hotels–an increase in hospitality jobs.
Kisumu scores yet again: Ksh 22.5 billion will be going into the Kisumu port project. It’s not clear when the project will start, but a consortium led by a Dutch firm MTBS has been appointed by the government to conduct a feasibility test.
Nyeri building a hospital: the county is now seeking investors to build a 200-bed hospital at the Mt. Kenya Hospital for specialized treatments-cancer, eye and kidney diseases, heart diseases as well as trauma. Construction will be complete in 12-14 months. That means new healthcare-based jobs in the next two years.
KCB goes to the counties, beginning with Kiambu: the bank will be launching a digital payment card that will allow residents to pay for county bills, cashlessly. This means that either KCB or the counties will be looking for staff with training in point of sale terminal operations and payment system management.
ICT Jobs for Mombasa: a venture capital firm, East Africa Capital Partners announced in April that it would be setting up data centers in Mombasa and Dar es Salam for Kshs 4.6 Billion. Data centers will be open by end of year and will be followed by investments in Nairobi, Kampala and Kigali. Data centers involve data storage and backup as well and data security. If you have an interest in ICT, these are the jobs to watch. Other players in the data center business: Equity in Konza city, Safaricom and of course, East Africa Data Center
More industry and county news next week. For now, the big question is how you are going to get your hands on one of these opportunities. Visit jobsmentor’s website to learn how our job search and job skills training can help you secure jobs that are never announced in advertisements–the majority of jobs.
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Website: www.jobsmentor.co.ke