Kenyans could reap big from online businesses Google

Kenyans are set to reap large amounts of profits from online businesses if the digital platforms of trade are exploited, Google has said.

Speaking during the Google Year in Search 2016 annual event at Dusit D2 in Nairobi, Google Kenya’s Manager Charles Murito said the country is increasingly becoming an online market, a factor that will drive the success of businesses by huge percentages in the coming years.

According to Murito, Africa will be remitting an average of over USD75 billion from e-commerce by the year 2020.

“By 2020, Africa will be remitting revenue of over USD75 billion, just out of the buying and selling activities online. An exact sign that the digital market is largely rich,” said Murito.

According to him, the current success of online markets has been driven by the continual rise of the use of smartphones, a factor that allows easy and fast execution of transactions across the board.

“Kenya alone has had a 40 per cent increase in the use of smartphones for day to day businesses. Everything is online. Getting a taxi, watching videos and even uploading videos, all by the success of smartphones,” added Murito.

The Google manager, however, expressed the existence of a digital skills gap that according to him slows down the digital markets.

“We have the infrastructure but we lack the skills to take us through digital businesses, and if only we could fill that gap, only then can we move forward as a country,” expressed Murito.

Currently, Kenyan businesses online are receiving traffic increase by the day, with the cost of purchase being lowered, including the removal of the need for physical transactions into the business.

The Google Year in Search 2016 is an annual event held to analyze the frequent searches of Internet subscribers in the country.