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A look at how Kenya succeeding in increasing the participation of youth in the digital economy to prove that Morocco will be able to as well.
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With the informal sector generating over 80% of total employment in Kenya and those between the ages of 15-34 years accounting for 84% of the unemployed population, Kenya's gig economy has played an increasingly significant role in boosting the economy and "enabling workers to exploit underused physical and human capacity, transforming dormant capital into active capital." (Source)
Currently, the Kenyan online gig economy is valued at $109 million (Sh12 billion), and it employs a total of 36,573 gig workers. In the next three years, it is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 33 percent, with the total size reaching $345 million (Sh35 billion) and consisting of 93,875 gig workers by 2023.
Key drivers of this growth include mobile, internet and smartphone penetration, usage of mobile money services, and most importantly, a youth bulge. And this is not unique to Kenya - looking at this table, we can see the similarity in the contextual conditions of Morocco and Kenya, proving that Morocco may just be the next big contender in Africa to hop onto the platform economy train 🚂
From this comparison, we can derive that there is great opportunity for growth of the digital economy, particularly platform-based, in Morocco. Higher smartphone and internet penetration than Kenya makes the solution even more feasible in terms of accessibility, and the alarming percentage of unemployed youth shows tremendous untapped talent, all of which can serve as proof that with the right solution and implementation, this works.