Dear jobseeker,
This week in our survey of the Kenyan job market, we take a different approach that includes a review of job opportunities we have highlighted previously. Our aim is to help you understand links between events and your employment chances.
Industries that continue to show high promise:
Money Remittances: we have previously highlighted the entry of various money transfer players into the Kenyan market as well as offerings by local players targeting diaspora inflows. This week another player has entered Kenya: Trans-Fast. The entry is through a joint venture with ABC Bank which is also partnered with MoneyGram. So where should you be looking for a job in this sector? ABC Bank.
Infrastructure: especially transport. The Ministry of Transport will be awarding tenders for 10,000km of road next week. Also Deloitte, a consultancy, has just released a report on investments in Kenya: 60% in transport, 37% in Energy. Follow the money.
Renewable Energy: wind, gas, solar, biogas are all flourishing in Kenya this year. In fact, some wind turbines were last week offloaded at the Mombasa port for the 60MW Kinangop wind power project by MS Iberdola Engineering & Construction. Olkaria geothermal has also announced the construction of a new power line to Kisumu by Ketraco. Construction begins in May and is expected to end in June 2017
Industries that continue to show little promise:
Oil extraction: oil prices are still low. Most drilling firms including Tullow will not be pumping any oil they have discovered until those prices rise again. Job opportunities in this industry may not increase this year.
Education: KeMU has just cut staff allowances by up 30% and also terminated the Vice Chancellor, Alfred Mutema, a month ago. We have previously highlighted the SRC’s rejection of proposed increases in allowances for public university lecturers. If interested in teaching, consider other avenues away from the schools system, such as corporate training firms
New Good News
Website Design and Management Opportunities: The Kenya Network Information Center has just slashed the price of .ke domain websites down to sh 1000 from sh 3000. The hope is that more Kenya firms will buy .ke domains which could spur demand for website designers and managers, if those companies have not already bought .com domains. Keep a look out for these opportunities.
Safaricom: the Kenyan money maker has just become an even better place to work. This year, the telecommunications giant will up paid maternity leave from 12 weeks as required by law to 16 weeks while also allowing reduced working hours for the first six months after birth.
Safaricom has also expanded its involvement in the remittances industry by joining up with Vodafone Tanzania to ease M-pesa transfers cross-border. Also, Tagpesa, which previously allowed members to transfer bitcoins into M-Pesa, has just been acquired by the fastest growing Bitcoin exchange in the world: Igot. Now, you may not secure a job in posh, Safaricom, but clearly, there are many companies working with M-Pesa (e.g. KCB’s new mobile based loans). How about investigating them and identifying positions that may suit you.
The Japanese are Coming: This week President Kenyatta was in Japan to secure some of the billions Japan has set aside for Africa. $32 billion in total. New Japanese projects include a bus assembly plant in Changamwe, a joint venture between Nissin Food Holdings and JKUAT for the manufacture of food stuffs and a Toyota project to build Kenya’s first fertilizer factory (any chemists in the house?).
Facebook is sneaking in: Look into the Creative Accelerator programme to learn which brands and agencies the social media giant is looking to work with in Kenya in a bid to expand its share of online advertising. Those are jobs, right there.
New Bad News
Maize-Associated Industries: Maize farmers are still waiting for their payments because Parliament is yet to approve a supplementary budget for these payments. How does this affect you? Well, if you are looking to do sales in agriculture, especially for inputs and machinery, no cash for farmers means low demand for now. And if Cherangany MP, Wesley Korir is successful in passing a Bill to control the prices of farm produce and inputs, you can expect sales, marketing, food processing and manufacturing jobs to shrink somewhat.
Manufacturing Forecast Turns Gloomy: In previous weeks, we have been highly positive about jobs in manufacturing in Kenya. The World Bank estimates that the sector provides 280,000 jobs currently and has great potential to provide many more.
However, productivity in this sector is very low and Kenyan firms have very low survival rates when competing against importers. In fact Chinese and Indian firms are stealing EAC market share from Kenyan firms especially those dealing in plastics, chemicals and paper. Our advice for coming months is to focus your job search more on importers and less on local manufacturers
Enablis Kenya Shuts Down: Enablis, a business accelerator that has been supporting 1600 entrepreneurs in East Africa and their employees is about to shut down. Massive loss of jobs. Many of the entrepreneurs supported were the youth looking for formal-job alternatives. This shut down may result in both a loss of job opportunities and an influx of the unemployed into the job market increasing job competition. Are you likely to be affected? Find out by doing some research into what kinds of companies Enablis has been supporting.
Used Cars: Have you ever considered working for a used car dealership? If not, this may not be the time to start. The Kenya Bureau of Standard has just raised charges on used car inspections from 12,000Sh to 14,000Sh. That could translate in job attrition in cargo handling at the ports to online car dealership sites.
Uncertain Ground
The Insurance industry is difficult to read at this time. On one hand, insurers are experiencing losses due to a 45 percent increase in medical claims last year. However, the uptake of life covers boosted insurer earnings by 20 percent. Conclusion: tread carefully and if you must, keep to the life insurance side of business.
Banking Industry: still uncertain since our last report. Equity has brought in 17. 1 billion in profits. Yes, profits. Mainly made through lending but also the sale of its stake in Housing Finance. However, the debate rages on around bad loans and poor regulation in the industry. Perhaps job stability is to be found outside Kenya. KCB Uganda is on the way to recovery, having made large profits the last quarter, and National Bank has announced plans to join the likes of CFC Stanbic in the South Sudan market. Do skip work in Tanzania where Kenyan banks are reported to be having a tough time against local banks.
KenGen and Kenya Power: These two parastatals are up for salary harmonization by SRC because the government is their major shareholder. If the SRC is successful in its bid–strongly opposed by proponents of giving parastatals greater freedom to offer competitive salaries and attracted the best talent–jobs in these companies may become less attractive for top officials but more plentiful for entry level workers. A-wait-and-see-scenario.
Little Considered Sectors
Security Industry: This could be the time for you to flex your muscles. Not only are high, maximum security details becoming more common for all sorts of VIPs coming into Kenya, there is now a proliferation of home and business security systems e.g. a new, improved device being offered by KK Security. Emergency response teams are now more common and accessible to middle class Kenyans.
Moving Homes and Offices: An industry previously dominated by Cube Movers, home and office moving is now seeing the entry of multiple players e.g. Capital Moving and Prestige Movers. Money is being made here and so are jobs.
Warehousing: growth in this area is driven by a rise in e-commerce according to Business Daily. Warehousing involves logistics in tracking, sorting and maintaining goods. For now, e-commerce channels are using sales people to handle sorting and management of goods but you can expected increased demand professional warehouse managers as e-commerce grows.
Delivery: another area showing high job promise and driven by e-commerce as well as the entry of American and European style fast-food restaurants into the Kenyan economy. In fact Wells Fargo has just launched a new software application to aide delivery of goods within and without Kenya, through accurate pricing and tracking.
So what are you waiting for? Jobsmentor is here to give you the job search and job skills you need to secure and excel at these jobs. Stop Jobseeking by Trial and Error. If you are a degree holder or a soon to be degree holder, consider joining Jobsmentor courses through the “Learn First, Pay Later” Course Track.