The government now wants to have Boda boda operators incorporated into the country’s courier sub-sector, tapping both government services and the private space.
This is part of the ongoing government-backed reforms for the industry which has created more than 1.5 million direct jobs (riders), generating about Sh360 billion annually, underlining the importance the motorcycle business to Kenya's economy.
It fuels last-mile delivery for both people and goods, supports e-commerce, connects farms to markets and sustains a wide network of service providers, with many Kenyans using motorcycle taxis to supplement other income, support families, or save for rainy days.
The President’s Economic Empowerment and Sustainable Livelihoods office yesterday said operators are being registered into cooperatives, which will then be used to formalise their operations with both government and private enterprises.
“We are organising them at the same time already talking to different companies on how we can formally bring the industry onto the courier space where apart from normal operations, they can earn extra. Our strategy is to enhance partnership between the private sector and government and empower this group more,” said Jaoko Oburu, Special Adviser, Economic Empowerment and Sustainable Livelihoods in the office of the President.
While the Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta Kenya) is the national postal service and a prominent courier service provider in Kenya, there are about 261 private national courier companies and 54 international companies licensed as couriers by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
The domestic market remains the biggest, where, according tothe third quarter sector statistics report for the financial year 2024-2025 (January–March), 2025 by CA, courier traffic on domestic parcels closed at 2.8 million with 764,948 domestic letters.
“Domestic letters and parcels delivered through licensed private courier operators declined by 6.0 per cent and 25.5 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, all outgoing and incoming letters and parcels recorded growth, except for international incoming parcels, which declined by 5.9 per cent from 206,369 volumes recorded in the previous quarter,” CA says in its latest report.
Formalising the Boda boda sector will also see the onboarding of individuals into the Social Health Authority (SHA) healthcare system and NSSF, among other benefits.
“They don't have retirement schemes and you know you cannot ride forever, it will reach a certain point where you have to now find an alternative and then even their savings that they can get. So we said, what if we can find a way to increase that income? We found an opportunity in courier service. They can be couriers, not only for government, but even in the private sector, for household items,” said Oburu.
This, even as the government continues with other job creating initiatives while supporting entrepreneurship in the country with a keen focus on youth, women and persons living with disability.
President William Ruto’s government aims
to create at least one million digital
jobs for the youth within five years, with Kenya's digital economy projected to increase to $23 billion (Sh2.97 trillion) by end of this year.
Government funds specifically designed to support women and youth-led businesses and initiatives include the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, Women Enterprise Fund and Uwezo Fund, in addition to Hustler Fund which has increased access to financing mainly for small businesses and households.
Additionally, the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme reserves 30 per cent of government tenders for women, youth, and persons living with disability.
Meanwhile, Oburu said the government will continue investing in Special Economic Zones for value addition which will help the country cut on imports and increase exports, while creating more jobs, improve farmers earnings and drive the country’s industrial agenda where manufacturing contribution to the GDP is targeted at 20 per cent by the year 2030.
