Sustainable development in Kenya through digital transformation
As I travelled last week through the rural towns outside of Nairobi, Kenya, I drove past hundreds of one-person shops. I wondered, how can I, as an employee at a global organization such as Microsoft, help these shopkeepers expand, prosper and help their local communities? Just as I’ve seen Digital Transformation change large corporations, how can Digital Transformation support sustainable development in communities such as these?
I am Andrew Quinn, a Digital Advisor in the UK and part of Microsoft Digital Advisory Services, a team within Microsoft Services. Digital Advisors bring their expertise, as well as Microsoft’s resources, experience and innovation, to empower organizations to reach their digital aspirations. We partner to drive a program of change to build our customers’ digital business, and our website can be found here: Microsoft Digital Advisory Services.
I’ve been working as a team member within a collaboration of several global organizations, international & local government agencies, specialists, and humanitarian support agencies. Together, we are focused on making a positive impact on the day-to-day lives of youth and adults in Kenya through sustainable development.
After generating and evaluating many ideas for Digital Transformation, we decided that providing affordable
internet access would help shops such as the one I described earlier, to:
- Plan for, and sell, the most profitable products that also best serve their customers,
- Expand and strengthen their customer base,
- Offer access to education and information,
- Collaborate with the broader community to offer access to new products and services.
The work in rural Kenya, highlighted in Empowering Kenya and the World with High Speed Low Cost Internet, will provide achievable and long-term sustainable development. With access to digital technologies, adults such as the shopkeeper featured in this video and youth who are now growing up with access to the internet, can improve their financial security, their health, and their well-being. I’m proud to be a part of this movement.
This time as the bus drove past the stores on my way back to the airport, I thought about the roadmap of small incremental steps that we had laid out to make this upcoming transformational journey possible.
