William Ruto, President of Kenya, has extended an invitation to American technology firms to establish manufacturing facilities and regional offices in Kenya.
During a recent US-Kenya business roadshow, Ruto engaged with several CEOs from Silicon Valley to promote Kenya's “Silicon Savannah” as a highly attractive investment destination for US-based tech companies. He emphasized Kenya's economic stability, entrepreneurial spirit, security, innovation, favorable tax environment, skilled workforce, technological proficiency, green energy credentials and robust data connectivity through six undersea fiber-optic cables.
Ruto expressed confidence that choosing Kenya as a base ensures a solid footprint in Africa. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, expressed interest in potentially establishing a developer's academy and exploring Kenya's potential for green data centers. Ruto welcomed this consideration, highlighting the positive impact on Kenya's innovation and startup ecosystem. Additionally, a partnership was announced between Kenyan operator Safaricom's mobile financial services platform, M-Pesa and Apple, set to enhance M-Pesa's global reach. This collaboration aims to expand M-Pesa's transactional capabilities worldwide.
Ruto also met with executives from Elon Musk's Starlink, seeing it as a promising solution for achieving universal Internet access, especially in overcoming infrastructure challenges. He encouraged Starlink to work on reducing Internet connection costs in Kenya and across Africa. The President also engaged with leaders from Intel, Microsoft and Alphabet, highlighting various collaborations that are enhancing access to technology and connectivity in Kenya. Ruto underscored Kenya's abundant opportunities for American tech and manufacturing companies, positioning the country as a pivotal hub for tech, manufacturing, connectivity, infrastructure and garment production in Africa.
