State of Tech layoffs in Kenya and abroad in 2022

Internet companies around the world are having a tough time. This was confirmed by the number of layoffs, hiring freezes and investment freezes to develop new products and services.

Some of the world’s top tech companies have been hit, including Meta, which owns Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Microsoft.

However, you might ask what’s going on? Well, there’s been talk of inflation, the war in Ukraine and a generally weak economy – all of which have affected these companies and others even outside of the tech space.

The pandemic has also accelerated this development – and the layoffs have been stronger after Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition, and the billionaire fired more than 50 percent of the microblogging platform’s employees, although he has done so since admitted to having made a mistakeand brings back some of the laid-off workers.

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Overall, it can be argued that the layoffs were motivated by revenue concerns these companies have as advertisers reassess their ad spend. Advertisers also fear a case of recession in a highly uncertain macroeconomic environment.

Which tech companies have laid off their employees for this purpose and how many people were affected? Well, here’s a list of the organizations we’ve been able to round up so far:

As of today, we got to know this ecommerce giant Amazon plans to lay off 10,000 employees this week. According to reports, some workers have been informed of this development so that they can take the necessary precautions. Amazon has also reported that it will pause on hiring companies.

Apple, the maker of iPhones and MacBooks, has also slowed hiring and will only fill necessary positions. So far, however, she has not fired anyone.

Twitter, of course, has received more media coverage thanks to its new owner, who is the richest person in the world. When Elon took over the platform, he laid off more than 50 percent of the staff. Up to 5,500 workers and contractors are said to have been laid off so far.

Meta, The company, which operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus, has also announced job cuts affecting 11,000 workers. The company has had a very tough year that has been attractive to both users and advertisers. It was also in a platform battle with Tiktok, which it is no match for. Meta has also massively failed to push the Metaverse agenda.

chip manufacturer intel was not spared either. Apparently it is preparing layoffs this quarter. It also plans to reduce operating costs by up to $10 million. Reason? Well, the PC market is declining worldwide, which has negatively impacted Intel.

Patreon laid off 17 percent of its workforce (80 employees) at the beginning of September.

Google stopped half of its incubation projects. Some like Project Loon were dissolved in January 2021, affecting key markets like Kenya. More recently, incubator workers have been encouraged to look for new jobs and this has affected 1,400 workers.

Snapchat has laid off 20 percent of its workforce. It is also said to have canceled many projects related to the social media platform.

After laying off 260 workers crypt.com reportedly fired hundreds of other employees after August this year. in the same breath FTXa crypto exchange platform has since filed for bankruptcy after losing at least $1 billion of its customers’ money.

automaker Rivianwhich makes electric vehicles, some of which have found their way to Kenya, has now laid off 6 percent of its employees.

Streaming service in mid-2022 Netflix 300 people released. This was motivated by the loss of subscribers, but the company has since regained its numbers. It also has a free service in Kenya and plans to introduce ad-supported and cheaper plans to target more subscribers.

Around June this year also music streaming service Spotify also announced that it plans to cut hiring by 25 percent. Spotify, which has since launched in Kenya, is active in the African market and continues to experiment with new products.

Kenya

So far, some tech startups in Kenya have closed their businesses or laid off some of their employees.

Kune food closed shop after raising tens of millions of shillings. Before the closure in June 2022, 70 percent of the workforce had already been laid off.

Notify logistics also closed his shop. The company said it was unable to stay afloat due to high operating costs.

Last month, Send announced it had suspended utility services. It also came at a cost, as the company was forced to lay off 20 percent of its employees. It now focuses on fulfillment services.

We learned that too today Twiga Foods is reduced. With a workforce of 1000 employees, it is laying off some of them. Twiga will also downgrade some employee benefits. It also plans to upgrade its commercial development representatives to agents and plans to move operations to an agency model for the sales department.

Startups have had a rough time in 2022, and current trends are reportedly not going away anytime soon. It is also now evident that VC funding has been slow around the world. For example, the technology sector has reported poor performance, which in turn has limited VC’s ability to raise money. The general fallout has affected all other startups.

As said, these trends have been attributed to inflation and geopolitical conflicts. Central banks in different parts of the world have been everywhere trying to phase out the COVID-19-era stimulus that was reportedly accelerating valuations. Some have raised interest rates, with notable sell-offs in stock markets, even for startups. Development follows such companies to this day.

The slowing investment is not expected to end any time soon as the recovery from the economic crisis will take a long time.