Amazon Web Services (AWS) Support Director Satish Kumar has revealed that the company set up in Kenya because of its great education system.
Kumar expressed reasons the company drew interest in setting up the hub in Kenya during the launch of Amazon Web Services in Nairobi on October 4, 2023.
“This is due to the great education system Kenya offers, we have witnessed it ourselves as AWS we have had Kenyan engineers since 2019.” said Kumar
Moreover, the support director attributed its decision to set up a hub in the country to its two years success during the restart phase.
“The launch of Amazon in Kenya is because of the success of the two years we have been in Kenya, it’s demographic state places it to be competitive globally,” he added.
Amazon Web Services in Kenya
The opening of the AWS in Kenya is a second development after South Africa in the Region.
AWS had in 2022 announced plans to set up a hub in Kenya in a move to attract a data hosting market in the country.
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On his part President Wiliam Ruto who was present at the launch welcomed the AWS team to Kenya noting that he had made a promise to make it possible for companies to set up in Kenya.
Further, the president expressed his happiness, while lauding the company for keeping their promise.
“As we do our part as government, we expect partners such as AWS to do their part, I am happy they have kept the promise,” he said.
The Hub of East Africa
At the same time, the president recognized Amazon’s starting point as a move to make Kenya the Second African Hub from which its teams will be developing solutions to partners across the globe.
Ruto noted that Amazon recognizes the bottom-up economic agenda, making it clear that the company has a strong vision of bringing in new technological challenges in Kenya.
Similarly, the head of state noted that Amazon’s alignment with governments plan will be a boost to Kenyans.
He also highlighted that Amazon has a strong interest in bringing opportunities for job creation.
“Amazon has a strong interest in bringing opportunities for job creation and skills development in highly productive and competitive emerging fields, within the reach of Kenyans and, in fact, right here in Kenya,” said Ruto.
Call for Young Engineers.
Notably the company is set to extend job opportunities to Kenyans.
“It is an opportunity for young Kenyans to learn gain work experience and work side with our global engineers,” said Kumar
AWS Regional lead Director Sub Saharan Robin Njiru highlighted the milestones the company has made in Kenya since its restart program in 2021 more so among young people.
“In May 2021, AWS and the Ajira Program announced the launch of AWS restart program in Kenya. The two weeks program is designed to support youths who are employed or under employed and have little experience for careers in cloud computing,” said Robin.
Additionally, he noted that since its launch, the program has provided thousands of Kenyan youths across the country while connecting them with job opportunities.
Amazon Web Service in Africa
The Web Service in Kenya will serve as an infrastructure deployment that places computing, storage, database, and other services close to industry centers.
In 2017, the Amazon Global Network expanded to Africa through AWS Direct Connect.
Subsequently in 2018, Amazon established its first infrastructure on the African continent, launching Amazon CloudFront locations in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, followed in 2020 by an edge location in Nairobi, Kenya.
Furthermore, Nairobi’s AWS now joins sixteen other similar centers in the United States of America.
Also, the company is set to launch thirty-two centers in twenty-six countries across the globe.