Kenya’s mobile operator network, Safaricom, has hired 400 software developers this year to keep up with the high demands for digital talents, as digital businesses set up shops in the country.
Business Day records that the new hires are 6.4% of Safaricom’s 6,230 permanent, temporary, and contracted employees at the end of 2021. Safaricom’s CEO, Peter Ndegwa, has stated that the company is expanding its digital staff and gravitating towards offering a wide range of services that are linked to IT– services including loans, wealth management, an e-commerce platform on the M-Pesa Super App, and savings and insurance. The company aims to transition from a Connectivity business to a Technology business.
In Ndegwa’s words, “The technology side of the business is becoming bigger, the fintech side is becoming bigger. We need people with skills so we have increased developers. We hired 400 new developers. When I came in, people were saying you know Agile (“Agile” is a push into Technology) is going to reduce numbers. Actually, we have increased numbers. We have more than doubled the M-Pesa team but mostly bringing in people with a technology background, the developers, and putting them to the agile side under squads and tribes”.
Explaining further what Safaricom wants to achieve, Ndegwa says that, “We want to develop an ecosystem that allows that developer community to be vibrant. In fact, we will be announcing soon that we are going to be partnering with other tech companies and universities to influence curriculum, certification of developers, and also internships so that we also develop talent for the industry in the same way lawyers and accountants are developed”.
Ndegwa also added that Safaricom presently relies on in-house talent and a network of over 42,000 independent developers that help Lipa Na M-Pesa merchants to set up their businesses.
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