Kenyan youth should consider business aspect of social media, Cellulant Kenya Manager Nkatha says

Cellulant Country manager Faith Nkatha believes that the youth in Kenya should cease the business opportunities that come with social media rather than focusing on its interactive part.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s Day Break show on Friday, Nkatha said social media, in the current times, has limitless business ideas where a lot of people in Kenya and the continent at large are making a fortune.

“It is a blue ocean for Africa and more exciting that the social media can be a platform for business, and that’s informing how the infrastructure is done, how education is done moving forward.

Now you can get to social media apart from the usual things of how you post about your life and aspects like that, you can do business, you can buy shoes,” she explained.

She also foretold the future of social media how companies and governments are restructuring to harness the full potential of marketing, rebranding and advertising.

“Online shops are going to become a big thing and that’s the future. People in SMEs should be trained in simple social media acumen so that they are able to use those platforms to do business,” she said.

While underscoring social media following as a key factor in online business, she attributed the future success of many companies to their social media influence.

"For any company wanting to reach about a million people, it will be so ideal to use just one of these social media personalities whether is Instagram, Facebook or any other platform, I think there are so many opportunities. It's just for a company or government to figure out how these things sit in our economy," she explained.

Phillip Ogolla, a digital activist who was also in the discussion, backed up Nkatha’s arguments saying that social media not only creates employment for the users but also generates income for those who are creative enough.

“Youth are tapping on the digital space, we also need to redefine employment because so many youths are making money online. We have a new wave of bloggers and content creators a lot of which actually pay to tell stories,” Ogolla said.

Using himself as an example, he noted that for the last 11years he has been earning through the digital space.

On the other hand, Nelly Ndonye, who is a Media Relations officer at Turn Left Media, focused on the aspect of social media as a channel that links people to opportunities.

According to Nelly, social platforms like LinkedIn connect people looking to find jobs with job owners who have well-outlined profiles showing their capabilities.

“It’s not just about finding a job. It is being able to connect with people who connect you to other opportunities. That is what social media offers it is not limited to one platform,” she said.