I am a Kenyan and I know a couple of people engaged in "academic writing". They do it because they don't have any other better paying job opportunities. Most of the people I know doing this work are college educated but cannot find gainful employment. It is actually pretty interesting since they are a few Kenyans who own the platforms and have connections with college students in the US. They then sub-contract the actual work of writing the essays to other Kenyans and take a commission. Owning one of these platforms is lucrative since it scales pretty easily.