On Thursday, 25 September, I was delighted to be invited to moderate “Kenya – The Next Frontier of Exceptional Return” at the Bullish Kenya 2025 event in New York, at the margins of hashtag#UNGA80.
There is something really exciting about being a hashtag#Kenyan (and hashtag#African) at this time in history, where change is everywhere, and many things feel possible. A powerhouse panel was deployed to make the case why the time is now for US investors to put their capital into Kenyan opportunities:
➡️Dilip Pal, CFO of Safaricom PLC (the parent of the famous hashtag#mPesa)
➡️Paul Russo, CEO of KCB Kenya KCB Bank Group (the largest bank in East/Central Africa whose CEO was part of the # 50by35 Initiative for African youth launched at the Africa House House in hashtag#Davos earlier this year!)
➡️ Ambassador Philip Thigo, MBS,Special Envoy on Technology, Executive Office of the President
➡️Mrs Brenda Mbathi, CEO, TRIFIC SEZ (Two Rivers International Finance & Innovation Centre Special Economic Zone).
The speakers described how they are positioning themselves, and the country, for success, notwithstanding the regulatory, macroeconomic and political challenges that face many African businesses. They also described the tailwinds, including demographic and technological trends (did you know that, according to those who keep track of these things, hashtag#Kenya has been ranked the No.1 country in usage of hashtag#ChatGPT?!) propelling the private sector forward.
The private sector as the domestic job-creation engine (including via greater foreign direct investment ) must become stronger. We see our mission at 8b.africa to create a superhighway connecting African youth with global opportunity is only one part of the broad church that will steer Kenya and Africa to shared prosperity. We need an all-of-the-above strategy to growth, so I was delighted to hear about how Kenyan talent is being positioned a key to unlock many of the outsourced opportunities ahead. With an 80% literacy rate, Kenyans can do big things!
Grateful for the opportunity to gather in community with fellow Kenyans, and to The Kenyan Wall Street & Wall Street Africa Group for convening. Thanks to Andrew Barden John (Yianni) Nikolaou,John Mwendwa, OGW Kenya Investment Authority (InvestKenya) Erick Asuma Joe Sang, EBS Kenya Pipeline Company Limited for the dialogue.
