The excitement in Kenya’s vibrant tech community was palpable when, in the space of a few weeks in April, several major tech companies took steps to dramatically increase their presence in the country.
Microsoft has launched one of two Africa Development Center (ADC) sites in Nairobi and is looking to hire at least 450 full-time staff. Google has announced that it is hiring more than 100 employees for its upcoming product development center in Nairobi, the company’s first such facility in Africa. Visa had just launched its Innovation Hub, one of six in the world. Amazon’s plan to launch an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Local Zone has been unveiled.
For Kenya’s tech talent pool, which ranks fourth on the list of African countries with the most professional developers at 58,866, behind Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, increased competition for talent translates into higher compensation and fuels the growth of the broader local ecosystem.
However, not everyone is winning in Kenya’s battle for tech talent. Even though Kenya added around 2,000 new developers (pdf) to its tech talent pool in 2021, startups in particular face an uphill battle to retain talent. Big telecom companies and banks, long considered the highest paying organizations for technicians in Kenya, are also losing their top talent to big tech.
Silicon Savannah has renewed interest in global technology
Renewed confidence in Kenya as a tech hub for the continent recalls a similar boom a decade earlier that earned Nairobi the nickname “Silicon Savannah”. At the time, what drove companies to locate here was increased public investment in internet infrastructure, the meteoric rise of mobile money and a rapidly growing economy.
One of the main factors attracting big tech to Kenya today is engineering talent. A quick check of tech-related vacancies in Nairobi reveals several vacancies at Google and Microsoft for engineers, designers and researchers.
Growing competition for Kenyan tech talent is causing companies to rethink their talent acquisition and retention strategies. This calls for a deeper look at Kenya’s talent development pipeline and what the future looks like.
For those who welcome big tech, the prevailing school of thought is that their entry will be a catalyst for the development of Kenya’s tech ecosystem. They expect a more lucrative and vibrant market that benefits not only giants but also startups and emerging talent in Kenya.
“The transfer of technology and the pipeline are very important in order to be able to develop a local ecosystem. This is what has allowed all the great talent- and innovation-driven countries in the world to grow. India, Singapore, China, Japan, Estonia etc…all grew up this way,” writes Sheilah Birgen, senior technical managerclaiming that their entry could only be a good thing.
Jack Ngare led the fintech arm of Kenya’s largest bank by assets, Equity Bank, until 2019 when he joined the then recently announced Microsoft ADC as Managing Director and led a major recruitment that has seen startups among other companies lose some of their best engineers. He left Microsoft for Google shortly after the launch of a massive new Microsoft ADC site in Nairobi in April 2022. He too believes increased investment in Kenya by big tech will boost the local ecosystem.
“The ecosystem effect is a driving force in our industry and we are seeing something similar in Kenya,” Ngare told the FinancialTimes in October last year.
Is this a win-win for big tech and Kenya’s tech ecosystem?
Proponents point to Africa-focused initiatives being undertaken by big tech. For example, Google’s $4 million Black Founders Fund for start-up startups founded by black people in Africa, or Microsoft’s involvement in developing a coding curriculum for primary and secondary schools in partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Education.
Startups in Kenya are being forced to improve their employee offerings to keep pace with big tech. Those who have invested in training their own engineers are particularly feeling the effects. To attract and retain talent, they are also banking on staff equity and the promise of greater accountability in startups compared to big tech companies.
The rush for talent, however, has sparked renewed interest from companies large and small to invest in talent development. Coding schools and tech mentorship programs are announcing more partnerships with tech companies and internships for their students.
KamiLimu is a Nairobi-based technology mentorship program that equips students with the skills they need to thrive in the industry. Last year, six of their mentees joined major technology companies, including Microsoft, as engineers and program managers.
This speaks to the growing market appetite for refined tech talent. For Microsoft and Google, which are planning billion dollar investments in Africa, having top local talent is a requirement, not an option.
The increased flow of venture capital investment to African startups also means that the pool of potential employers for the continent’s tech talent is widening, especially in key markets such as Kenya, Nigeria, Africa of the South and Egypt.
The 2021 Africa Developer Ecosystem Report (pdf) indicates that 81% of venture capital funding in Africa went to the top four countries with the largest population of software developers: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.
“Led by Nigeria and Kenya, developing countries have secured more funding than ever in 2020, and this success has enabled their startup ecosystems to grow faster than ever and take advantage of digital transformation. spurred by the pandemic,” the report said.
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