So, is bachelor of commerce marketable in Kenya?

Well, below is the answer to the question “is commerce marketable in Kenya”, in our opinion here at www.kenyaeducationguide.com

Is bachelor of commerce marketable in Kenya?

Now, we think that bachelor of commerce is not marketable in Kenya ….

Sure, we know that the course was really a hotcake one in the past – when I say hotcake I mean that people with Bcom would get nice jobs in banks, hypermarkets, and other big corporates- but now we feel that Bcom graduates boat sailed a long time ago and people often tarmac for years before getting relevant employment.

But why?

There are several reasons that explain this and we shall look at a few below, just to make you see why the course needs you to have a very good network (‘connections’) if you are to take up the course.

The market is flooded

Perhaps the greatest challenge is that you’ll find thousands and thousands of others who have done Bcom but are yet to get employment.

In fact, a good number of these unemployed BCom graduates have gone ahead to do other additional courses (CPA and even masters degrees in commerce) in an effort to make their CVs more marketable.

Unfortunately, those with masters are often seen as overqualified by employers and are given a wide berth because you’re likely to ask for a bigger salary when you have higher qualifications.

Okay, having a CPA+ a BCom can be great because it is, in general, what many employers who are looking for finance professionals (or ACCA instead of CPA) like.

However, as I had said, jobs are not many enough for everyone and graduates –even those with CPA/ACCA alongside the BCom- are taking too long to land jobs.

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Now proceed reading below..

Emergence of AI and other technologies

People also tend to forget that one of the major reasons why BCom graduates would get jobs so fast in the years gone by is that finance work involved a lot of paperwork- everything was manual.

So companies would need more staff to be able to work efficiently and get required reports in a timely manner.

What about today?

Things are very different…

Not only did simple accounting software like QuickBooks lead to reduced demand for junior finance professionals but they, over the years made it possible for small businesses to work without professional finance guys.

That’s true- I have seen small entrepreneurs pay someone to teach their receptionists how to use these accounting software and many times these receptionists end up doing the work an accounts assistant would have done.

After all, once you know how to enter the source documents (receipts, invoices, petty cash vouchers, etc.), the software will generate reports automatically …

So that has also contributed- and in some instances it is the entrepreneur him/herself who gets trained to do the role and many manage to.

That is not even to include the threat that AI (artificial intelligence) is bringing to the finance sectors…

You see, when machines start doing your work- invoicing, transactions processing, reporting, and real-time data recording (thanks to continued business process automation made better by AI), you might at best be made to work differently (less jobs) and at worst, be made redundant!

Just Google “will AI replace accountants” and see what research is saying.

So, in short,  technology is likely to make a bad situation worse when it comes to job opportunities for BCom graduates.

I know you might label me an alarmist but trust me, what I’m saying is very real and I have no interest in painting a positive picture to you when things are so negative for students who did BCom at the University.

But if you have good connections (maybe you have an Uncle or friend to your parents who can link you to jobs), go ahead and do it- it might be worth taking the risk..

Remember there’s no single course that guarantees work straight from campus today- even Doctors (imagine that) are taking a while before getting absorbed by the government.

Another thing that could make the course worthwhile is going the self-employment way (think of starting a finance/investment consultancy or even becoming a freelance accountant/financial advisor)…if you have a good strategy especially when it comes to marketing it, you won’t sleep hungry.

Is bachelor of commerce marketable in Kenya? – Recap of our answer to the question “is b.com marketable in Kenya”

No! The course is flooded making it difficult to get employment straight from campus not to mention that technology and AI (artificial intelligence) have been talking over jobs that BCom graduates used to do traditionally.

So think of another course, unless you have a very strong network you can leverage on when looking for employment.

Otherwise, do it but with an aim of starting your own finance/investment consultancy.

Our two cents..

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