Refugee Employment in Kenya: Mary’s Digital Career Journey
After developing digital skills, gaining exposure to the workplace and receiving support with her work permit application, Mary has signed a contract with Techno Brain in Kenya. Her story, shared by Konexio Africa, highlights the importance of connecting training with practical pathways into employment.
Learning new skills does not always guarantee access to a job. For refugees, entering formal employment can also depend on gaining initial experience, connecting with employers and navigating administrative procedures.
Mary’s journey brings these steps into focus. With support from Konexio Africa, she prepared for work in digitally enabled services, ultimately securing a contract with Techno Brain, a business services company operating in Kenya.
Building Digital Skills
Mary first received digital skills training through a partnership between Konexio Africa and RefuShe.
This gave her a foundation for pursuing opportunities in a digital working environment. It was the starting point of a broader journey designed to help her translate learning into professional experience.
In its account of Mary’s progress, Konexio Africa recognises the contribution of its longstanding collaboration with RefuShe.
Gaining Exposure to Outsourced Services
Following her training, Mary received support to explore digitally enabled work through a business process outsourcing company.
This stage formed part of what Konexio Africa calls its “BP2O” model. In the journey described, it provided a bridge between skills development and the workplace.
Business process outsourcing, or BPO, involves delivering business functions for other organisations, often using digital tools. For Mary, this experience offered an introduction to that working environment and helped prepare her for her next opportunity.
Addressing an Administrative Barrier
Konexio Africa also supported Mary with her application for a refugee work permit in Kenya.
This assistance highlights a less visible part of employment support. Having relevant skills and identifying an opportunity may not resolve every obstacle to entering formal work.
Administrative support was therefore an integral part of Mary’s journey. Konexio Africa describes it as helping remove one of the barriers that can prevent talented refugees from accessing employment.
Signing a Contract with Techno Brain
Mary has now signed a contract with Techno Brain. This gives her an opportunity to apply her skills, develop professional experience and build her career.
Konexio Africa presents the milestone as a step towards greater self-reliance and participation in the local economy.
The information shared does not specify Mary’s role, the duration of her contract or her working arrangements. The story focuses on the pathway that enabled her to reach this opportunity.
Connecting Training with Employment
The value of Mary’s story lies in the continuity of support: digital training, exposure to the workplace, administrative assistance and access to an employment contract.
Her experience illustrates why employability programmes benefit from practical connections between the skills people acquire and the opportunities employers offer. It also demonstrates that barriers to employment extend beyond technical knowledge.
For Mary, signing the contract marks the beginning of a new professional chapter. For organisations working on refugee inclusion, her journey offers a concrete example of cooperation between training providers, support organisations and employers.
Source: Konexio Africa’s account of Mary’s journey.
