KC expands into East and West Africa amid visa points throughout continent

The company at the moment has an officer every in each Ghana and Kenya, however the latest transfer will see a much bigger presence on the bottom and extra officers in each international locations.

It comes after KC’s annual survey exploring scholar perceptions in each international locations reveals motivations are excessive to review overseas.

“Beginning operations in these key areas in Africa underlines KC Abroad Schooling’s dedication to offering localised assist and personalised options to our valued channel companions and college students.

“By having a bodily presence, we are able to higher perceive and handle the precise necessities,” stated co-founder and CEO of KC Abroad Pankaj Agrawal.

A consultant for KC Abroad Schooling additionally instructed The PIE Information that the additional growth on the bottom may even be based mostly on “market dynamics and present demand”.

The growth into Ghana and Kenya follows its launch of operations in Nigeria in September 2022.

“We’re assured that our presence in these markets will allow us to forge new partnerships, drive sustainable progress and make a optimistic impression on the communities we serve,” Agrawal added.

The transfer by the company has been made amid latest discussions of US visa delays which can be disproportionately affecting college students in Africa – particularly rising international locations like Ghana and Kenya.

“Our presence in these markets will allow us to forge new partnerships, drive sustainable progress, and make a optimistic impression”

“Kenya has a 235-day wait-time [for visa appointments]”, stated MPOWER enterprise growth director for Africa, Munya Chiura.

“By the US’s personal admission, they’ve a backlog of instances. These are difficult elements for our college students, a few of whom are already not capable of get loans, and lots of African college students are going to the US,” he stated.

Whereas there are totally different issues affecting the pipeline to different main locations, such because the UK’s new dependants rule and disarray amongst Australia’s work rights panorama, the US is having extra problem.

“By way of what’s going on with the visa appointments and the obstacles, that does depend upon relationships that every particular person nation has with the US authorities.

“What I’d love is to see us transfer in direction of some uniformity – for instance, the US overseas coverage pursuits on the continent are pretty uniform,” stated Lydia Bosire Kemunto, CEO of 8B Schooling Investments.

“We need to win the battle for affect right here – and we might love for them to prioritise making these visa processes rather a lot simpler than they’re proper now,” Bosire added.

KC Abroad Schooling, which is conscious of the present visa scenario, instructed The PIE that they all the time endeavour to “make college students conscious of the lifelike timelines for them to begin their course of effectively upfront”.