Annepeace Alwala, vice president of global delivery at Sama.

Sama, an artificial intelligence (AI) company, plans to develop an AI curriculum specifically for vocational training colleges in Kenya.

It has worked with the western Homa Bay County (province) to implement the plan.

Vocational training institutes in Homa Bay will serve as the launchpad for the project, as Sama plans to extend its delivery centers across the country.

As part of the agreement, students from these institutions will contribute to the value chain of Sama's delivery centres throughout the East African country.

The partnership will begin by building an AI curriculum for Homa Bay's vocational institutes and establishing an AI value chain delivery centre in Homa Bay, with the potential to employ approximately 350 young people at the outset.

Annepeace Alwala, Sama vice president of Global Delivery, commended the county's commitment to assisting Sama as it seeks to expand its operations beyond the traditional investment hub in Nairobi, while also providing competitive growth incentives.

“We are excited about the potential possibilities of the partnership with Homa Bay to create opportunities within the AI value chain,” she said.

Alwala explained that Sama had been operating in Kenya for the past 15 years, constantly producing quality formal jobs for Kenyans.

The company offers AI value chain solutions in industries such as self-driving cars, virtual reality games, fashion segmentation, and crop disease protection.

During the tour of Sama's Nairobi delivery centre, Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga underscored Kenya's large pool of talented youth capable of contributing to global AI development, similar to the success seen in India and Poland's Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors.

She revealed the county was at the tail end of setting up a well-developed special economic zone equipped with essential infrastructure, which would be ideal for the BPO sector players, including those in the AI field.

“Homa Bay is an ideal investment destination for the BPO sector,” Wanga said.

According to Sama, the global BPO market is valued at over US$262 billion, with African countries emerging as the next growth frontiers.

The United States-headquartered Sama is a training-data company, focusing on annotating data for AI algorithms.