Kenya’s leading research firm Mwelekeo Insights, through its digital media platform Mwelekeo TV, recently shared an important conversation that speaks directly to the growing struggle many young people face when trying to earn money online. A lot of youth want to build digital careers, but they lack the basic skills needed to start. They often admire the success of others on YouTube, social media, or websites, yet they do not understand how online visibility works, how search engines rank content, or how digital ads actually bring in income.
This skills gap is now one of the biggest barriers preventing them from turning their online ideas into real earnings.
In the episode, digital marketing expert Dan Majani breaks down these challenges using simple language that beginners can understand. He explains that most youth are not failing because the opportunities are few, but because they do not know the steps that lead to visibility.
SEO Expert Dan Majani. Photo Credit/ Mwelekeo TV.
Many post content, open online pages, or try freelancing, but their work remains unseen because they have not learned the foundations of digital strategy. Dan insists that once these basics are understood, even someone with limited resources can grow steadily in the digital world.
A key focus of the discussion is search engine optimization, widely known as SEO. Dan describes SEO as the process that helps your content appear higher on Google when people search for information.
Without it, even good content gets ignored. He shares simple tips such as choosing keywords that match what people type into search engines, creating helpful and original content, and building links from other websites. He encourages young people to start small by improving their YouTube descriptions, blog posts, or social media captions. These small adjustments can slowly increase organic traffic without needing money for ads.
Paid advertising is another important topic covered in the episode. Dan explains how Google Ads and Meta Ads work, and why young entrepreneurs should not fear them. He breaks down how to choose the right audience, how to set a small budget for testing, and how to track performance so that every shilling spent produces value.
Mwelekeo TV Host Fridah Mong’are. Photo Courtesy/ Mwelekeo Insights/Facebook
In places like Kenya, where many people spend hours on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, paid ads can help youth promote their products, services, or personal brands more quickly than relying on organic growth alone.
He also talks about the growing role of artificial intelligence in digital work. AI tools can help with writing drafts, generating content ideas, choosing keywords, and designing simple graphics.
Dan highlights that many of these tools are free or affordable, which makes them accessible even to beginners. With these tools, young people can start offering services such as social media management, SEO work, ad campaign setup, or content creation for small businesses in their communities.
Throughout the conversation, Dan gives clear steps for getting started. He advises young people to build a simple online presence, learn one skill at a time, and practice by helping friends or small local businesses. He warns against copying others or expecting quick results. Instead, he emphasizes steady learning, small improvements, and consistency.
The episode acts as a practical guide for anyone who feels stuck or unsure about how to begin earning online. It shows that success does not require expensive equipment or advanced degrees. All it takes is curiosity, commitment, and the willingness to learn the basics of digital skills that are in high demand today.
With the right mindset and the support of resources like this discussion from Mwelekeo Insights and Mwelekeo TV, young people can begin to close the digital skills gap and build real opportunities for themselves in the online world.
Mwelekeo Insights also does a lot of opinion polls, one of their recent works they’ve done is the issue of bride price where by a study released in July 2025 showed that 53 percent of men support the bride-price tradition, while 47 percent are against it.
A Mwelekeo Insights survey on bride price. Photo Courtesy | Mwelekeo.com
The same study found that 65 percent of men believe the bride-price should be shared, and 83 percent prefer paying it in stages.
In a separate survey from February 2025, the firm found that only 29 percent of women under 30 in Nairobi see marriage as a major priority.
More than half 53 percent said marriage is not important to them, and 67 percent of career-focused women also placed it low on their priority list, mainly because they value independence and career growth.
