BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Active

SECTOR
Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

HEADQUARTERS
United States

REGION OF INITIATIVE
Africa

SDG CONTRIBUTION

The Impact Goal

StepWise provides a global workforce solution, powering emerging AI technologies such as autonomous vehicles, chatbots and self-checkout retail. Through its training partner Zalego Academy, StepWise connects accredited talent with the right tools to help global companies solve AI-related data challenges. The company joined Business Call to Action (BCtA) in 2021 with a commitment to increase the revenues of 5,000 young low-income individuals, 2,500 of whom are women and to provide access to quality education for 20,000 young low-income individuals of whom 15,000 are women by 2025.

The Market Gap

The lack of full-time jobs for low-income people in Kenya is a social challenge that needs to be addressed. Unemployment could be reduced if people had more access and opportunities to work for digital solutions and tech companies in Kenya or abroad. However, employment at high-skill professions that can provide digital solutions, requires special education and training, which is not widely available for Kenyan youth. On the other hand, there is a growing global demand for technical skills and digital solutions for companies around the world  and such companies can outsource services globally, including people from Kenya.

The Business Solution

As the first B-Corp. Certified Company in East Africa, StepWise uses the power of technology to train and equip persons from historically underserved communities, particularly, the youth, women, and persons with disabilities, to compete and succeed in the 4th Industrial Revolution.  

Each StepWise subsidiary has a distinct function; integrating operational synergies to build an ecosystem that delivers on the solutions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Impact Sourcing through BPO

StepWise’s subsidiary, Daproim Africa combines the power of technology with talented individuals to provide business process outsourcing services that deliver high quality results.

ICT Capacity Building and Training

Through the Zalego Academy, an ICT Education and Training Centre, StepWise’s main focus is on enhancing economic inclusion in Africa, by building skills for digital jobs, for people from disadvantaged communities, predominately women, the chronically unemployed, and people with physical disabilities.

Software as a Service

Zalda is StepWise's in-house software development, data analytics, data engineering, and data science team, supporting all its initiatives with best-in-class talent to drive growth and optimize operations. Zalda identifies, trains, and mentors’ software developers, data scientists, data engineers and data analysts (through Zalego Academy) to help global companies overcome the severe shortage of available talent by providing: Enterprise Software Development, data science as a service and pre-trained AI models

Social Impact

The StepWise Foundation - is particularly focused on enhancing economic inclusion in Africa. This is achieved through the creation of digital jobs for people from disadvantaged communities, predominantly women, the chronically unemployed, and persons with disabilities

The customer base of StepWise is over 300 local and international clients, including corporations, NGOs, government institutions, donors and UN agencies. 

To this end, 25 percent of the company’s workforce is people living with disabilities. The company has implemented 150 AI projects, provided more than 1,600 scholarships to needy students and trained over 8,600 youth.

About StepWise Inc.: Established in 2006, Stepwise is an impact sourcing service provider with offices in the US and Kenya. With more than 15 years’ experience delivering value to more than 300 customers across five continents, StepWise is one of the founders of the impact sourcing movement. As the first B-Corp. certified in East Africa, StepWise is equally passionate about profits and purpose. StepWise uses the power of technology to train and equip persons from historically underserved communities, particularly women and Persons with Disabilities, to compete and succeed in the 4th Industrial Revolution.