Imagine a legion of graduates, dew-fresh from campus, with hard-earned degrees in IT and Computer Science. They walk up to an iron door marked in gold letters, JOB MARKET, and knock.

The door is opened. The graduates’ skills are appraised, after which the door is slammed shut in their face. “You’re not ready,” they are told.

Now imagine the same scenario happening to thousands of Kenyan graduates, all while the rest the world continues to connect and capitalize on digital opportunities at the speed of an electric current.

It’s never too late to turn things around.  Digital For Africa certainly believes so.

To fill the gap between what universities offer and what the current job market requires, Digital For Africa began teaching young developers how to build first-rate apps in 2015. They held their first class at Apollo Centre in Westlands- a nice place for learning but at a cost that was not sustainable. Finally, in August of 2017, they moved into their new location at Citadel, Westlands and the Digital Marketing Masterclass became a budding centre of knowledge.

As Digital For Africa’s student base grew to include entrepreneurs, SMEs and young companies anxious for growth, so too did their master class evolve to incorporate all aspects of digital marketing. From social media, content and email marketing to digital strategy and media planning, students are challenged to sharpen their aptitudes and embrace the new age of digital business.

Do you enjoy small, intimate classes where your presence is felt and your queries are heard? Digital For Africa does too. In class-sizes of no more than 10, teachers and students dig into the material together, leaving no person behind. Whereas universities have a more conceptual approach, classes at Digital For Africa are highly practical and applicable in today’s market.

“This is a must attend class!” Davis Shuma asserts. “I am getting a lot of leads thanks to digital marketing and help from Francis! It is officially now my main source of good leads with 80% conversion to clients. Now I can expand to other markets!”

As the CEO of Dawit Insurance Agency, Ken Kairu feels that “the Masterclass has been pivotal in crafting our digital strategy…they will help you design a roadmap, with crucial route markers and ensure you get the most of your digital marketing efforts.”

Albert Einstein once remarked that it is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge in the student. For the teachers at Digital For Africa, the satisfaction and joy certainly go both ways:

“The fact that I am empowering someone with knowledge that they didn’t have really gets to me. When a participant is completely immersed in what you say- their participation and commenting is really satisfying” – Lilian Wangare, Social Media Marketing.

“Helping a company increase their conversion rate or appear higher on search engine results means a lot to me. Helping an entrepreneur predict their next sales by creating predictive models and sales forecasting is a big deal for me. I’m also keen to help companies be able to predict which customer is likely to buy from them and which product. This is possible through predictive analytics.”- Francis Waithaka, Strategy and Planning/ SEO.

“The fact that I get to empower a participant with information and see them use that information to grow their business and improve customer experience. That truly does it for me. It is a joy to help them understand how they can use what they already have to get better results” – Brian Wamiori, Email Marketing and CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization).

“I love that point when a participant in the content marketing class realizes that content is all around us. That all this time, they had created and disseminated content without even knowing it. ” – Sylvia Mukami, Content Marketing.

 

So far, we have happy students (and happy teachers), tangible results and rapidly growing businesses. This is only the beginning. Perhaps you’d like to peek in and taste the revolution?

Talk to us on 0743 830 663 or email us at [email protected] to find out more.

 

By Barbara Jebet, a content strategist, and brand storyteller.