The Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry Rebecca Miano, said on May 10, that stronger linkages between training institutions and the industry, and collaboration on innovation matters can have positive effects on academia, innovators, start-ups as well as student community.
“I have a target to double foreign direct investments as well as domestic investments, increase exports and reduce imports of products that we can produce in the country and grow our manufacturing industry from 7.6% to 15% to drive a double-digit economy by 2027. This can only be possible through the acceleration of innovation in this country which is key for industrial breakthroughs and economic growth. I commend the University of Nairobi for bringing together a very rich of stakeholders today within the innovation ecosystem,” Ms Miano said during the Nairobi Innovation Week held at the University of Nairobi last week from May 8-10, noting partnerships will enhance innovation
Speaking during the event themed “Strengthening Innovation Ecosystem in Higher Education Institutions through Academia-Industry-Government-Community Linkages for Sustainable Development”, Absa Kenya managing director Abdi Mohamed said Kenya is a pivotal market for innovation. Globally, it is viewed as one of the hotspots of innovation in agriculture, health and fintech sectors gaining the name ‘Silicon Savannah’ for Kenya.
The youth population stands at 19.5 million, projected to increase by 16 percent to 22.7 million by 2030. A significant portion of these young people are educated and inclined towards innovation-driven growth.
In the investment space, in 2023, Kenya was the largest recipient of fintech investments across the African continent, receiving approximately 670 billion dollars spread across 665 start-ups, making Kenya Africa’s top destination for start-up funding. The technology landscape has rapidly evolved and as of March 31, 2023, the number of mobile subscribers reached 66.1 million, with 17.86 million internet users recorded in January 2023.
“As a private sector, we have a big role to play in driving the innovation ecosystem and we are keen to be part of such conversations. Our approach as Absa is to look at innovation as an ecosystem in a way that can be commercialised to scale up ideas of our innovators and start-ups to be the next Absa or M-pesa through strategic partnerships that are crucial in taking this conversation to the next level,” said Mohamed.
He noted that in the area of innovation, it is time to prioritise entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurship and prepare the youth of this country for the market; job market and entrepreneurship.
In 2017, he said, “we launched the Ready To Work programme, an online free training programme for young people, that targets to train 1 million youth and so far we have impacted over 300,000 young people with digital and soft skills to help them transition smoothly from institutions of higher learning to the job market.”
Kenya’s workforce has been ranked among the best globally in terms of innovation, creativity and productivity. The World Intellectual Property Organisation ranked Kenya’s innovation ecosystem at number 8 out of 28 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa in its 16th edition of the 2023 Global Innovation Index Report.
“The Nairobi Innovation Week is a platform by the University of Nairobi to bring together different players and stakeholders, a linkage between the industry and the academia to provide solutions, that is through innovation and entrepreneurship, to problems that confront us as a nation and contribute to the 2063 African Agenda and the attainment of SDGs,” said University of Nairobi Vice-Chancellor Prof. Stephen Kiama.
