Nairobi, 3rd May, 2024
Nairobi County Digital Economy and Startups sub sector held a roundtable meeting with stakeholders at Weston Hotel, focusing on this year’s theme “Innovation for all: crafting a tech-driven future of boundless opportunity” while discussing stakeholders expectations and expected outcomes on the upcoming Innovation Technology week to be held in August this year.
County Executive for Innovation and Digital Economy Sector, Mike Gumo said, “This years’ Innovate Nairobi Tech Week will be community-driven, bringing together people to learn from each other. The tech week will also serve the purpose of linking investors with startups and like-minded people. It will be outcome focused. Together, we will actualize the expectations of everyone involved. ”
County Chief Officer for Smart Nairobi, Tiras Njoroge stated that in this years’ Tech week, the county intends to integrate the start-up community within the government.
He said “H.E the Governor had mentioned that the difference between the National Government and Nairobi County is that the county is agile. The county provides services directly, and if there is a space that is good for startups, it is within the county governments. Our desire is to see that we get to the next level whereby we are not just talking at a start-up level but a level where public solutions eminate from hackathons. ”
He further added that the Hospital Management System, currently implemented by the county, came from the previous Innovate week hackathon 2023.
Mr. Tiras said, “This year let us be very intentional to ensure that we are showcasing what our startup economy and eco system are doing that can be directly integrated into our processes of serving the people. 90% of the issues we are facing in Nairobi may not be solved by the government. It is through these start-ups. We would like you all to contribute positively to this years’ Tech week for us to get more solutions, and even after the tech week, the conversations should continue. ”
County Director for Digital Economy and Startups, Elizabeth Ndung’u said, “We want this year’s Innovate Nairobi Tech week to be more vibrant and an improved version from last years. This year’s theme goes in tandem with H.E., the Governors’ manifesto of creating opportunities for all, so we should all be thinking of the opportunities we will create. ”
Ms. Ndung’u shared that the outcomes and impact from the 2023 Innovate Nairobi Week were; tech talent training with various organizations, local smart city solutions for Nairobi County Government, digitization of the Informal Sector, Juakali among others.
“In last years’ Innovate week, being an inaugural program, we managed to host over 1,500 delegates and over 50 startups getting exclusive deals in our various deal rooms. We had over 40 event speakers, including a fully-fledged hackathon that saw us come up with a lot of solutions from the young people, and the solutions developed were adopted by different organizations. We had over 25 ecosystem partners and international startups participated from as far as Nigeria, Uganda, and United States of America, among other counties and countries, “she said.
The expected outcome of this year’s Innovate Nairobi Tech week will put emphasis on leveraging technology and innovation in employing startups, businesses and investors to compete more effectively on the global stage which would then translate to increase in market share, boost exports and overall economic resilience.
The event will facilitate the growth of vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems by bringing together startups, investors, corporates, academia, and government agencies, fostering collaboration, knowledge exchange, and access to resources needed for startup success. It will also be a platform for tackling pressing societal challenges, among others.
Present were staff from Digital Economy and Startups, stakeholder representatives from Ignite Afrika, HiiL Innovation Hub E.A, Live Your Dream Entertainment Ltd, ELS, Somo Africa, Dimewise Limited, Virify Incubation, Africa’s Talking Limited, Liquid Telecom, Ed Tech East Africa, Kenya Climate Innovation Centre and Association of Startup and SMEs Enablers of Kenya (ASSEK).
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