# Can Kenya answer the call for employment? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-inquiry-1093531/can-kenya-answer-the-call-for-employment Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-inquiry-1093531/can-kenya-answer-the-call-for-employment.md Podcast: [The Inquiry](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-inquiry-1093531) Published: 2026-01-06T01:00:00+00:00 Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct723r Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss-low/proto/http/vpid/p0mpbvsl.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-inquiry-1093531/episodes/can-kenya-answer-the-call-for-employment Duration seconds: 1436 ## Resource Kenya is facing rising public discontent over allegations of political corruption, economic stagnation and a shortage of good quality jobs, particularly for the country’s Gen Z. One of the government’s flagship responses is an ambitious push into digital outsourcing. It argues that call centres, coding work and other IT-enabled services can position the country as a global hub and generate a million new jobs within five years. The model has worked before in countries such as India and the Philippines, but the global landscape is shifting. Advances in artificial intelligence are already transforming the very roles Kenya hopes to attract, raising questions about whether this strategy can deliver long-term employment at scale. Tanya Beckett asks whether Kenya’s vision for digital outsourcing can provide stability and opportunity for the country. This week on The Inquiry, we’re asking: Can Kenya answer the call for employment? Contributors Joy Kiiru, senior lecturer at the Department of Economics and Development Studies at the University of Nairobi, Kenya Marcus Larsen, professor at the Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark Deepa Mani, faculty member and deputy Dean for academic programmes at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India Boaz Munga, research consultant at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, Nairobi, Kenya Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Matt Toulson Researcher: Evie Yabsley Editor: Tom Bigwood Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Production Management Assistant: Liam Morrey (Photo: President of Kenya William Ruto. Credit: Luis Tato/Getty Images) ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-inquiry-1093531/episodes/can-kenya-answer-the-call-for-employment/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-inquiry-1093531/can-kenya-answer-the-call-for-employment.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.