NAIROBI: The Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2015 was a defining moment for Kenya. It gave the country a global platform to showcase its readiness to do business with the rest of the world. And from the optimism expressed by none other than US President Barack Obama, it appears the world, too, is ready to do business with Kenya.
GES 2015 was every bit a platform to engage with the rest of the world as it was an opportunity to reflect on some of the issues holding the country back. It provided useful insights into how to revive sectors such as tourism and how to encourage deeper inclusion of youth and women in the work place.
It also highlighted some of the major barriers to business in the country, not the least of which is corruption.
The road ahead for Kenya after GES 2015 will therefore be an exciting, but also a challenging, one. On one hand, we will be in a better position to cultivate robust business relations with the US and the rest of the world.
On the other, however, we will need to find lasting solutions to the slump in tourism, improve inclusivity, and tackle corruption, among other challenges.
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GES 2015 was a boost, albeit momentary, to tourism. With President Obama in the country, the summit gave the nation global media coverage, particularly in traditionally strong source markets such as the US and UK
Our tourism promotion efforts should therefore focus on maintaining this momentum and leveraging on it to rope in more visitors. GES 2015 also provided an opportunity for Kenya to appeal to the US government to institute direct flights. Even though we were not fortunate to get this, there is optimism that it could happen further down the road, with President Obama saying that "progress has been made" in consultations between relevant US and Kenyan officials.
Even as we talk about reviving tourism, we should not forget what triggered the downturn. Insecurity was the cause and we are glad that the US has renewed its commitment to fighting terrorism, both here in Kenya and elsewhere in the region. We are confident that Kenya will also deepen its efforts in the matter.
This will be a boost for both tourism and other sectors, which have suffered lower investor interest due to insecurity.
Another key take-away from the summit was the central focus on women and youth; more specifically the role they play in economic growth. In the words of President Obama: "If half of your team is not playing, you have a problem. In too many countries, half of the team is women and youth."
Businesses therefore need to give more employment opportunities to women and youth in order to achieve better results in the long run.
Still on the matter of women and youth, it was encouraging that many women and youth entrepreneurs attended the summit. It was even more encouraging that a tremendous number of Kenyan businesses, including banks, set up funds for SMEs and other ventures started by women and youth.
As Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), we would encourage this new crop of young, determined entrepreneurs to not only snap up these opportunities, but follow in the steps of other established organizations which have rallied behind lobby groups such as ourselves.
KNCCI has a domestic and international presence and can give young businesses more direct access to the top table of local and global business, allowing them to pursue greater opportunities and build stronger networks. GES 2015 also provided a platform for President Obama to address the issue of corruption in Kenya.
Although President Kenyatta's purge on corruption began long before the summit, President Obama's timely remarks on the harm that graft visits upon Kenya gave the ongoing anticorruption campaign a heft.
It made us realise that the fight against corruption is a shared responsibility. In line with this, the private sector will need to join this fight. Corruption affects us all and is a hidden punitive tax that businesses know only too well. In as much as GES 2015 put the spotlight on Kenya, it also, to a greater extent, showed that Africa is ready for business.
Therefore, our focus as Kenya should not be exclusively limited to cementing stronger business ties with our American friends. We should also look to Africa, particularly improving intra-African trade, which remains low despite geographical and cultural closeness between African countries.
After successfully hosting GES 2015, we are anticipating similar success in the impending 10th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, in December.
Kenya is indeed transforming into the business hub of Africa. We ought to sustain this spectacular progress.
