Kenya: The epicenter of the future of African entrepreneurship

NAIROBI, KENYA: This week and the coming days, Kenya will be at the epicenter of global attention as Nairobi hosts the Global Entrepreneurship Summit which will be graced by US President Barrack Obama.  

This Summit that brings thousands of entrepreneurs running some of the biggest businesses in the World marks the biggest swerve for economic growth and transformation in the country and across the East African region.  

This is clearly an African moment. It is exciting that across all the countries in Africa, Kenya was selected to host such a summit that has brought into Nairobi global billionaires and some of the greatest business minds the World has to offer. And the bigger journey is coming. The event is demonstrating Kenya’s strength as a country, the innovation spirit for our people across the region and our ability to build a bigger potential for our transformation across telecommunications, innovation and businesses, agriculture, industries and other sector.

Kenya as a country is going through an exciting stage. The latest World Bank Report indicates that the Kenyan economy is expected to grow 6 per cent this year; up from an earlier projection of 4.7 per cent has made the country, an envy amongst her peers across the region and Africa. The attainment of the lower-middle-income status to become the fifth-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa has put the country at a very strategic position as it emerges as the most promising economy in the emerging markets.

We are already seeing all the EA countries moving up the World Bank’s Doing Business benchmark index. In the next two years, I believe that Kenya is going to make it to the top 20, top 30 best countries to do business. We have seen Rwanda already at that level.

Kenya is a very exciting country –the optimism, the energy, the enthusiasm and also the innovation. If you look at the big innovations like mobile money in the last eight years, our innovations in businesses like enterprises into horticulture exporting into European markets, our transportation sector and logistics into the region, Kenya naturally plays a big frontier.

Whether it is in Nairobi, or in Lagos, or in South Africa, or in the Middle East, or in European markets, that ethic to go out and build a new business and look for solutions is depicts the Kenyan heritage. I am always very excited as an organization when I am in let’s say in New York, or Washington, or California or London and I find Kenyan entrepreneurs running logistic innovation businesses, airline businesses across the world. So Kenya is playing a global study of global businesses in its space in Africa. And this is going to be. If you look at our population in the region, we have roughly 200 million people within the 6 countries.

We have very strong neighbours, we have Egypt in the north, we have the DRC and Mozambique on the side, Zambia as well and Somalia. This is a natural market for us; the average age is around 25 and when you look at that, the opportunity, these are very connected people. That is the space, with the demographics right, the innovation right, if I look at the innovation hubs, the ICT hubs, the technology labs in Nairobi today, the silicon savannah we talk about in Kenya; Technology is going to be a big frontier. Nairobi is bubbling globally for the innovation and technology.

The positive reviews for the economy can largely be attributed to the unwavering entrepreneurial spirit from the Kenyan population who have taken it upon themselves to steer the economy. Today Kenya is extremely ripe for risk takers, fearless,   innovative and creative individuals. For the start, the Vision 2030 the national long-term development blue-print aims to create a globally competitive and prosperous Kenya while at the same time transforming the country into a middle-income country that provides a high quality of life to all its citizens by the year 2030.

Entrepreneurs are widely recognized as the prime movers of economic development; the people who translate ideas into action. While formal employment is still highly prized, some encouraging trends are emerging. Recent times have seen opportunity-driven entrepreneurship gaining some traction in our societies as more people embrace it for self-development.

President Obama is expected to lead the over 3000 entrepreneurs drawn from across the globe in discussing pertinent issues affecting Kenya that includes measures to accelerate economic growth, ways of strengthening democratic institutions, and how to improve security, one of the areas of concern that has put Kenya on the spotlight for the last two years.

For Kenya, the GES 2015 is the World Cup of investment opportunities. Entrepreneurship is essential to a nation’s ability to prosper in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive global marketplace, the GES 2015 is our launch, our takeoff strip to prosperity. Entrepreneurship is essential to a nation’s ability to prosper in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive global marketplace. When we think of an entrepreneur, we often envision someone in high technology.

There is no denying entrepreneurs have improved our lives by revolutionising how we communicate, manage money, and follow the world around us. Central to this conference is entrepreneurship; that “spark” characterized by innovation and risk-taking. From world-leading commerce and banking technologies like M-Pesa to veterinary smart apps assisting small-scale dairy farmers like iCow, Kenya is a pioneer in businesses improving the lives of millions.

The Summit offers a significant opportunity for big indigenous corporations like KCB to showcase entrepreneurship in Kenya and by extension Africa. For KCB, the biggest financial services firm in the region by assets, this is a platform for the bank to demonstrate its strong impact and heritage in Africa and its future commitment to the Continent.

We have formulated and implemented a number of multi-million dollar strategic initiatives and projects while some are scheduled to deepen financial inclusion and grow entrepreneurship on the continent, thereby transforming the lives and experiences of households and businesses.

Over the past few years, the Bank has invested more than US$1Billion (KShs. 100Billion) in socio-economic developments across the region, effectively boosting entrepreneurship. We are committed to the African Agenda, we are optimistic about the continent’s future potential in the area of entrepreneurship, innovation and we continue supporting regional legacy projects to drive national development and economic prosperity.

Despite the fact that Kenya has made major strides in promoting entrepreneurship, efforts still need to be made to promote high impact entrepreneurship based on opportunity rather than necessity.

Initiatives like the Youth Enterprise Fund, the Women Enterprise Fund and Enterprise Kenya that focus on the development of national incubation hubs and accelerators will go a long way in reaping the benefits of incremental and separate areas of research and progress; as well as implementing initiatives to support entrepreneurs in various sectors.

In Africa, the bigger challenge for us is how we connect and plug in the various innovative minds that we have using the resources that the continent has. We are ready as an organization to partner, with various other like-minded organizations in Kenya and East Africa to use this moment to build up a new platform for growth in our businesses.

The Writer is the Chief Executive Officer of KCB Group and the Chairman of the Kenya Bankers Association