There are thousands of jobs available every week, all posted online for you to look through. And, you can do all this from the comfort of your own home.
But which online jobs are these exactly? Here’s a quick overview.
1. Writing and Copywriting
I don’t have the statistics but I would assume that about 60% of Kenyan freelancers are in this field.
Writing is using text to communicate. There are tons of job opportunities in this category, ranging from articles, blogs, and white papers to creative writing and rewriting.
Skills: Creative mind, proficient English ability, computer literacy in Word applications, typing speed above 30WPM and the ability to follow instructions.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, iWriter, Fiverr, Problogger job board, etc.
PS: Upwork recently introduced Mpesa as one of their payment options.
2. Transcription
This is another online job in Kenya that you can do from home. Transcription is the conversion of audio or video into text. Clients such as pastors, movie directors, doctors, authors, and many others will pay you to type out audio or video files.
Skills: Fast typing speed (above 40WPM), excellent listening skills, computer literacy in Word and some audio/video applications and the ability to follow instructions.
Job opportunities found on Upwork, TranscribeMe, Gotranscript, Speechpad, among others.
3. Graphic Design
This is also one of the best performing online jobs. People need logos, social media memes, virtual business cards, calendars and so on.
Modeling is rising in Kenya and the photographers require the skills of graphic designers.
In short, freelance graphic designers are in high demand!
Skills: Knowledge of standard graphic design software such as Photoshop, In Design, Corel, and AutoCAD; unique creativity and proper timing (don’t take forever to create designs).
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, Fiverr, 99designs.
4. Search Engine Optimization, SEO
Yet another most in-demand freelance job. SEO involves crafting websites and blogs so they rank high on search engines such as Google. If you are able to make website/blog pages appear on page one of search engines, you’ll have a very lucrative SEO career.
SEO involves crafting websites and blogs so they rank high on search engines such as Google. If you are able to make website/blog pages appear on page one of search engines, you’ll have a very lucrative SEO career.
Skills: SEO skills (ranking high, Panda effect, link building, creating traffic, etc) and internet use.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Guru, Fiverr, among others.
5. Virtual Assistance
VA jobs have seen tremendous growth in the past four years. A Virtual Assistant is like an office secretary, only that they are no longer confined to boring offices. A VA can work for a Japanese client from the comfort of their Machakos house.
Skills: Knowledge in office operations, prowess in Microsoft Office applications, good social media use, WordPress proficiency, and, more importantly, the ability to learn fast (the field has new tasks emerging daily).
Job opportunities can be found on all major freelancing sites.
6. Voice-over Artists
If you watch cartoons and movies, you probably wonder where some sounds and voices come from. That is the work of voice-over artists. A voice-over artist may be asked to record a hypnosis audio or record voice for animations or promotional videos.
A voice-over artist may be asked to record a hypnosis audio or record voice for animations or promotional videos.
Skills: If you have amazing imitation, variance and voice control abilities, then this industry might be calling! These professionals are in demand by animators, movie directors and all other forms of multimedia productions.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork and other major freelancing sites.
7. Web Development
Yet another online job in Kenya that you can do.
Web development is about designing, developing and maintaining websites. There are millions of people daily who require websites to be made for personal or commercial purposes.
Megastores and even retailers are constantly opening online stores.
Skills: Knowledge of programming language such as SQL, Java, Javascript, Python among others. Proficiency in design, WordPress knowledge, and excellent coding.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Guru, Toptal.
8. Web Research
You’re probably reading this article because you wanted to learn more about online jobs in Kenya, and who better to ask than Mr. Google, right?
What you were doing right there is researching; web research.
This is another online job that you can do from home.
You can be given any topic to research by your client and you will begin your utilizing search engines like Google or Bing, visiting QA sites such as Quora, or forums such as Redditt to get that information.
You will need to verify that information too.
Authors, doctors, archaeologists, and so on are some of the potential clients for this work.
Skills: Excellent web research skills, adequate analysis abilities, internet surfing prowess and the ability to follow instructions.
Job opportunities found on all major freelancing sites.
What you were doing right there is researching; web research.
This is another online job that you can do from home.
You can be given any topic to research by your client and you will begin your utilizing search engines like Google or Bing, visiting QA sites such as Quora, or forums such as Redditt to get that information.
You will need to verify that information too.
Authors, doctors, archaeologists, and so on are some of the potential clients for this work.
Skills: Excellent web research skills, adequate analysis abilities, internet surfing prowess and the ability to follow instructions.
Job opportunities found on all major freelancing sites.
9. Social Media Management
Self-explanatory it is.
If you own a Facebook, Gmail, Twitter or Instagram account, then you are a manager. You didn’t know that, did you?
Now, since you don’t pay yourself for managing your accounts, someone can pay you for it.
Social media pages for businesses like Kenchic, Safaricom, Bata, Olx, and Jumia are managed by people just like you.
Same as top politicians’ pages.
Skills: Proficiency in social media use, ability to create captivating and/or engaging posts (video, audio, graphics or text), and marketing (you need to convince people that you can move crowds).
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Guru, Fiverr, among others. You can also approach businesses and pitch your services.
10. Data Entry
Data entry is a common online job in Kenya but it has a terrible reputation of being scammy.
Some people think it pays poorly while some say it is hard to find. I tend to agree as I very rarely see good data entry jobs on Upwork.
Skills: Typing speed above 40WPM, proficient with MS Excel, and accuracy.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Amazon Turk.
11. Translation
Translation jobs are as easy as the name sounds. You are paid to write one language into another (translate). For example, you can be asked to translate a short story from French into English.
This is a growing freelancing job as globalization expands.
The most in-demand languages are English, French, Korean, Japanese, German and Spanish.
Skills: You must be able to read, write and speak fluently in the languages required by the client. A fast typing speed is advantageous, too.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, Proz, Translators Cafe, Fiverr, among others.
12. Captioning\Subtitling
Captioning is an advanced form of transcription. However, it is more demanding as it might happen to live such as during live news, broadcasts, theatres or cinemas (live captioning).
The less-demanding form of captioning is known as offline captioning where you get pre-recorded videos and caption them (write the words of the performers so they accompany the video).
The aim of captioning is to ensure that people with hearing disabilities or complications experience such events as other people. It doesn’t go without saying that it pays better than transcription.
It goes without saying that it pays better than transcription.
Skills: Extremely fast typing speed (if you can do 80WPM, the better), proficient listening skills and proficiency with captioning tools such as Camtasia.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork and Rev.
13. Proofreading & Editing
In the event that you love writing but would love to work in a closely-related field, you can opt for proofreading or editing work.
For example, when authors create content, you’ll be required to go through the material, correcting mistakes such as grammatical, punctuation and sentence structure issues.
Authors, students, bloggers, and social media managers are in constant need of freelance proofreaders and editors.
Skills: Impeccable prowess in the [writing] language.
Job opportunities can be found on Upwork, and Fiverr.
14. Video Editing
A video editor’s job is to insert graphics or music in video, sync sound, cut off unsuitable parts of the video, add intros, outros and, titles, among other things.
Skills: Knowledge of Adobe’s Premiere Pro, attention to detail, creative mind.
To be a sought-after video editor, you need to stay abreast of the latest in your industry and continually hone your editing skills by learning and adapting to new tools.
Final Words
One of the key things to consider before settling on any online job in Kenya is whether you’d enjoy it.
Develop interest in the fields that you feel suit your lifestyle and which you might already possess the skills. In this way, it will be much easier for you to earn from them.
Share this blog post with your fellow Kenyan friends so we can do away with the, “Hakuna Kazi” mentality. There are numerous online jobs in Kenya that you can from home if you have the right attitude and mindset.
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One of the key things to consider before settling on any online job in Kenya is whether you’d enjoy it.
Develop interest in the fields that you feel suit your lifestyle and which you might already possess the skills. In this way, it will be much easier for you to earn from them.
Share this blog post with your fellow Kenyan friends so we can do away with the, “Hakuna Kazi” mentality. There are numerous online jobs in Kenya that you can from home if you have the right attitude and mindset.