Let us not kid ourselves please.

IBM and co. are not here to 'help' Africa in general or Kenya in particular. They are here for the money to be made. The massive investment they claim they are making is a drop in the ocean for their annual budgets at the mother companies. All this talk of potential and next big thing uncannily reminds me of naive girls being tuned by older, mischevious more experienced boys. You should know who is left smiling in the end.

Of course they are. Why would they do it if there was nothing in it for them? I also point out to you that nowhere do they say they're doing this from an altruistic motive. This does not mean their work will NOT help Kenya or Africa. Profit or gain is not mutually exclusive with societal benefit, in fact, I think you'll find that both are symbiotic.

I am not anti-american or anti business but romantisizing a business transaction is getting ahead of ourselves. Why should they hire locals other than using cheap labour? What is the value local graduates afford them? N/B I am yet to graduate and I fully expect such an interrogation if I am to walk up to a firm wanting a job.

Again, they have not said they're not hiring locals, be it for menial/cheap labour or more senior positions. They are saying they're having a hard time recruiting because they can't find people of the calibre they require. If you have the skills they seek I would bet they would be more than willing to take you on.