Safaricom Trains 6,000 Employees in AI as It Accelerates Shift From Telecoms to Technology

Safaricom has actually trained more than 6,000 staff members in expert system and artificial intelligence as the telco accelerates its improvement into an innovation business, positioning labor force advancement at the centre of its method to automate operations and enhance client service.

The effort comes as companies significantly release AI to enhance performance and minimize functional expenses, raising issues about the future of work in Kenya, where roughly one million youths get in the labour market every year.

Safaricom Group Chief People Officer Florence Nyokabi stated the business is buying staff members’ technological abilities to guarantee that expert system changes how individuals work instead of just changing them.

“Our concept is basic: automate jobs, not individuals,” Florence Nyokabi composed in a viewpoint short article released by the Daily Nation on November 8, 2026.

The business has actually presented its People and AI Capability Excellence (PACE) program to establish AI abilities throughout its labor force, with more than 6,000 staff members getting fundamental to associate-level proficiencies in expert system and artificial intelligence.

The program belongs to Safaricom’s wider aspiration to end up being an AI-native organisation, where staff members can establish and release smart innovations throughout various organization functions.

“We wish to construct an AI-native organisation, where every coworker has the self-confidence and ability not just to take in AI, however progressively to develop with it,” Florence Nyokabi stated.

news Safaricom Expands AI Across Its Operations

Safaricom is incorporating expert system into customer care, network management and internal company procedures as it moves from standard telecoms services towards a wider technology-driven company design.

According to Florence Nyokabi, AI is currently assisting staff members streamline repeated jobs, enhance decision-making and focus on activities needing human judgement and imagination.

Network engineers are utilizing AI to prepare for and resolve technical issues, while customer-facing groups are using the innovation to enhance service shipment and responsiveness.

The method shows a larger improvement in telecoms, where operators are significantly utilizing automation, predictive analytics and smart systems to handle intricate networks and digital services.

Safaricom’s method locations specific focus on establishing staff members’ abilities along with innovation adoption, instead of dealing with automation mostly as a system for lowering headcount.

news Safaricom’s 2026 Report Shows 1.4 Million Jobs and Livelihoods Supported

Safaricom’s 2026 Sustainable Business Report, launched in October, offers a more comprehensive image of the business’s contribution to work and financial activity in Kenya.

The report approximates that Safaricom’s operations and larger service community supported roughly 1.4 million tasks and incomes throughout the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, a boost of about 71,000 job-years from the previous year.

The price quotes consist of financial activity supported through the business’s network of representatives, dealerships, providers and other company partners, instead of workers straight employed by Safaricom.

The report likewise approximates that Safaricom created KSh1.247 trillion in worth for Kenyan society, up around 10% from KSh1.133 trillion in the previous fiscal year.

Its net financial contribution increased to KSh654 billion from KSh632 billion.

The figures show the financial reach of Safaricom’s telecoms and mobile monetary services companies, although they do not develop the number of tasks have actually been developed particularly through expert system.

The business’s 2026 sustainability disclosures likewise supply labor force variety signs, consisting of females holding 43.9% of senior management positions.

These figures supply context for Safaricom’s efforts to establish the abilities needed for its innovation change.

news AI Could Change 39% of Workers’ Skills by 2030

Safaricom’s AI training effort comes amidst growing issues about the effect of automation on work and the abilities needed in the worldwide economy.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 quotes that 39% of employees’ existing core abilities will alter or end up being dated by 2030, highlighting the requirement for business to buy constant training and labor force advancement.

The International Labour Organization likewise approximates that a person in 4 employees around the world is used in a profession with some direct exposure to generative expert system.

Direct exposure does not always equate into task losses, with the ILO recommending that many impacted professions are more most likely to go through modifications in their jobs and duties than vanish totally.

Florence Nyokabi acknowledged the unpredictability surrounding the speed of technological disturbance and its ramifications for work.

“Nobody can state specifically how quickly this will move, or which tasks will look most various in 5 years,” Florence Nyokabi composed.

The ramifications are especially considerable for Kenya, where roughly one million youths get in the labour market yearly, increasing pressure on organizations and policymakers to produce sustainable job opportunity.

Florence Nyokabi argues that business have an obligation to make sure staff members are geared up to take part in the chances developed by emerging innovations instead of being left by automation.

news M-PESA’s 1.4 Million Livelihoods Offer a Lesson

Florence Nyokabi indicated the change of Kenya’s banking market as proof that technological interruption can create brand-new financial chances even as it alters standard tasks.

The intro of ATMs, firm banking, mobile cash and digital banking platforms lowered reliance on standard teller deals while broadening access to monetary services.

M-PESA consequently produced a comprehensive network of representatives, merchants and organizations that depend upon digital monetary services for their operations.

In her viewpoint short article, Florence Nyokabi pointed out more than 1.4 million incomes supported by the M-PESA community in Kenya since September 2026, showing the capacity for innovation to create financial activity beyond business that present it.

“The device took a job. It did not remove human possibility,” Florence Nyokabi composed.

The example underpins Safaricom’s argument that expert system might likewise develop brand-new chances if organizations intentionally purchase establishing staff members’ abilities.

The business’s broader financial effect figures must not be analyzed as proof that AI has actually currently produced comparable work chances.

news Safaricom Faces Test of AI’s Impact on Employment

For Safaricom, the next difficulty will be showing whether its financial investment in expert system can create quantifiable enhancements in efficiency while supporting staff member advancement.

The business has actually revealed the scale of its AI training effort however has actually not supplied an extensive monetary evaluation of the PACE program, including its overall financial investment, efficiency returns or effect on labor force requirements.

Florence Nyokabi stated companies need to include staff members in choices about innovation adoption, supply chances to get brand-new abilities and preserve human responsibility when AI affects choices impacting employees.

“People do not fear innovation. They fear being left by it,” Florence Nyokabi composed.

The method shows a growing dispute over whether business can record the financial advantages of expert system without speeding up task displacement, especially in emerging markets where official job opportunity stay restricted.

Safaricom’s experience might provide lessons for other African services looking for to modernise their operations while preparing staff members for significantly automated offices.

As the business pursues its aspiration to end up being Africa’s leading purpose-led innovation business by 2030, the success of its AI method will depend not just on the innovations it releases however likewise on whether its labor force can establish the abilities required to utilize them efficiently.