7 Best Side Hustles in Kenya

Whether you are looking for ways to make money to supplement your salary or you just have a dream to become your boss, starting a side hustle is a great step in the right direction.

Since most full-time 9-5 jobs leave employees with limited personal time, setting a few hours Monday to Friday and the weekend can give you the freedom to run profitable side hustles.

Best side hustles in Kenya

Here are 7 side hustles that will make you rich in Kenya.

1. Freelancing

A freelancer works without any commitment to an employer. Work is based on a contract basis and the freelancer chooses the tasks and companies they would like to work for.

There is an increasing demand for freelancers in different fields such as writing, translating, web design, data entry, transcription, computer programming, graphic design, etc.

Payment for work done is charged depending on time taken or per project basis. In some cases, skills and experience also determine the amount a freelancer can charge for a task.

If you have great writing skills, you can find work as a ghostwriter for bloggers and book authors. You can use web platforms such as Upwork and Freelancer to promote your hustle.

Social media management is easily the best side hustle for university students in Kenya. As you might be aware, many small businesses cannot constantly post content on social media.

You should start by contacting the small businesses in your area and offer to manage their platforms for a contracted monthly fee. This can be a profitable hustle if you manage to convince several businesses. 

2. Blogging

People are always in need of information about different aspects of life such as travel, food, style & fashion, and health among many others.

Starting a blog to share quick updates, personal thoughts and important tips on a certain topic is one of the most popular side hustles in Kenya.

To grow traffic, choose a topic you are passionate about and constantly churn out relevant, involving and educative content that will ensure your readers keep coming back for more.

After growing traffic, you can monetize your blog through ads.

These can be cost-per-click or view ads from marketing networks such as Google AdSense or a flat fee for advertisers who place ads on your site.

3. Online Tutoring

As the name suggests, online tutoring involves imparting knowledge on a certain subject to one or more learners over the Internet.

If you have a skill or knowledge that people are interested in possessing or learning more about, you can coach people on a one-on-one basis and get paid for it.

After perfecting the art of online teaching, you can develop an online course which learners can conveniently access in their own free time at a fee.

You can create and host your online course with platforms such as Udemy or Teachable and harness your skills to create a profitable business.

You may also package the course into a downloadable electronic book and sell it online.

E-books are increasingly becoming popular among young people as they can be obtained from anywhere, anytime and they allow readers to enlarge fonts or use text-to-speech software to read the text aloud.

Online tutorship is indeed the most popular side hustle business idea in Kenya for teachers and university students pursuing a teaching degree.

4. Affiliate Marketing

If you have a huge following on social media as well as on your blog or website, you can advertise products and get paid for any sale that emanates from your site.

This form of advertising is commonly known as affiliate marketing. It is easily the most profitable online side hustle in Kenya, especially for publishers of high-traffic websites.

To be successful, you may need to test the product you are promoting since you can easily relate to a product by knowing how it works. This increases the credibility of your promotion.

Besides social media, blogs and websites which require lots of traffic for you to make good money, you can contact your target audience and advertise your products through email.

5. Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the hottest unique side hustles that are minting money for creatives. It requires you to buy a domain name and create a landing page from where you can acquire subscribers.

By consistently creating and sending a high-quality email newsletter to subscribers, you can start selling sponsorships to brands that could be interested in reaching out to your audience.

In case you do not want to run advertisements on your newsletter, you can upgrade your newsletter into a paid subscription bulletin funded by the audience.

You can use platforms such as MailChimp, Aweber, CovertKit, Lead Pages and Constant Contact to get started with what is easily one of the most profitable online side hustles.

More recently, newsletter entrepreneurs are using Substack, a service that enables publishers to write, edit, and send e-newsletters to subscribers for free.

Publishers can choose whether subscriptions are free or paid. The minimum subscription fee is $5 per month or $30 a year, and Substack takes 10% of all revenue.

6. YouTubing

This is one of the hottest side hustle ideas in Kenya. Creating YouTube content can make you money as long as the content is interesting enough to keep viewers engaged.

Some of the content that can gain good traction in Kenya include comedy, beauty lessons, as well as teachings on diverse subjects such as home décor, cleaning, and cooking.

To get started, you simply need to create a YouTube channel on which your videos will be hosted. As easy as it may sound, making money on YouTube takes a lot of time and effort.

It is important to choose a niche that you are passionate about and one that you can develop and create content regularly. This way, you will avoid the burnout curse that befalls many newbies.

7. Operating AirBnB

This is one of the newest and best side hustles in Kenya, especially for individuals with well-furnished houses in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and other major towns.

It involves renting out your spare room or even an entire home to a guest. The service is popular among travellers as it is typically much cheaper than hotel lodgings.

To get started, you need to list your house with the AirBnB platform for viewing by travellers seeking short-term lodging. If the travellers like your property, they use a chat system that connects them to you directly and handles secure payments through the site.

Airbnb takes a 3% commission from a booking and a 6%-12% servicing charge from guests.

Some youthful AirBnB operators in Nairobi are reportedly making more than Sh100,000 a month by just renting out homes on the “air mattress B&B”.

Join 15,000+ pros getting our weekly digest of news and insights.