Comparing universities and accelerator programmes graduate employability

Unemployment is a common denominator in any economy, whether a first or third-world country, this is a struggle that is yet to be fixed.

Here in Kenya, certain events of the past two years had a significant impact on youth unemployment. For instance, the Covid-19 pandemic came with unprecedented economic ramifications that led to job cuts and layoffs, shut-downs and a general slowdown in major sectors of the economy as consumption in major sectors shrunk.

While we try to understand this specific problem that just will not go away, Moringa School conducted an independent study that sought to understand the correlation that our training has on job outcomes.

The study was carried out by SJF Analytics, a Nairobi-based M&E firm funded via our partnership with Mastercard Foundation.

We are not concluding that education alone can sort out the problem of unemployment but it sure does have a big impact leading to dignified jobs and careers.

In the case of tech talent the universities we have offer a more general coursework but this can be complemented by coding boot camps and tech accelerators.

So, how does an alumnus from Moringa School perform versus a student who studied IT/Tech related courses in a general university?

The study showed that more than half of the Moringa alumni were able to find employment within a year of completing their course(s). In the cut-throat, ever-changing world that is Tech, Moringa School students have the edge that employers are looking for.

The most popular position held in most of the employer organizations was Software Developer/Engineer with Data Scientist/ Analyst coming in second, with other roles in demand such as Full-stack and Android developers. 

It is important to note that our respondents from the selected alumni were mostly male, with 38 percent being female the majority having graduated in 2022, being self-sponsored students with 71 percent of the respondents having trained in Full stack development.

We also found that a large proportion of our alumni (69 percent) were degree/diploma/certificate holders, while the rest come straight from high school.

The striking finding was the salary progression of our graduates, with the average salary of students before joining Moringa being at Sh15,000 per month (in line with the national minimum wage).

This average grew to Sh36,000 per month being the first salary post-graduation. The progress there on as graduates gained more experience is exponential with the average starting salary in the 2nd job being at Sh75,000 per month and those in 3rd jobs attracting beyond Sh120,000 per month. We are also observing a growing trend in freelancing.

There is still more work to be done when preparing our students for the job market, but could we have gotten one step closer to finding a long-term solution to this monster we call unemployment?

Ms Shah is Moringa School CEO.