President Ruto promotes Kenya as an ideal tech investment hub in Silicon Valley visit

• President Ruto pitched Kenya as a prime investment destination for tech companies.
• He assured the investors that the Government will carefully consider and address any concerns they may have to increase their confidence in Kenya.
• Tim Cook said Apple will consider setting up a developer’s academy and will also tap into Kenya’s green data centre potential.

In his recent visit to San Francisco, California, President William Ruto engaged with numerous tech CEOs from Silicon Valley, inviting them to set up manufacturing operations and regional offices in Kenya.

The President met with Chief Executive Officers Tim Cook (Apple), Patrick Gelsinger (Intel), Google’s Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet Ruth Porat, Brad Smith (Microsoft COO) and other executives from Microsoft, Nike, GAP and Levi Strauss in San Francisco, United States.

In a recent tweet, Kenyan President William Ruto expressed his joy for the interest shown by Apple, the world’s most valuable multinational technology firm, in collaborating with the government to foster the growth of Kenya’s innovation and startup ecosystem.

“We welcome the consideration by @Apple — the world’s most valuable multinational technology firm — to work with the Government on the growth of Kenya’s innovation and start-up ecosystem. In San Francisco, United States, met the Apple Chief Executive Officer @tim_cook. Kenya’s green data centre potential is one other area that Apple will look into tapping for achieving the company’s sustainability goals,” he tweeted.

Data centres are significant consumers of energy due to their high demand for power to operate servers, cooling systems, and other infrastructure.

According to the International Energy Agency, the global electricity consumption by data centres in 2022 ranged from 240 to 340 terawatt-hours (TWh), accounting for approximately 1 to 1.3 per cent of the world’s total electricity demand.

Consequently, reducing the energy consumption of data centres has become a key focus for companies and governments seeking to minimize their carbon footprint and energy costs. Various strategies, such as improving energy efficiency, using renewable energy sources, and optimizing data centre design, are employed to address this issue.

Ruto pitched his nation as a prime investment destination for tech companies, saying: “If you set up in Kenya. Your African footprint is guaranteed.”

“Kenya is a full package investment destination; economically stable, entrepreneurial, secure, innovative with a favourable tax environment, skilled labour force, technological expertise, green energy credentials and a gateway for six undersea fibre-optic cables providing reliable data connectivity,” the president said.

He assured the investors that the Government will carefully consider and address any concerns they may have to increase their confidence in Kenya.

American companies expressed confidence in the country as an ideal investment destination.

Tim Cook said Apple will consider setting up a developer’s academy and will also tap into Kenya’s green data centre potential.

Patrick Paul Gelsinger, CEO of Intel identified Kenya as a good investment destination.

Brad Smith (Microsoft COO) said Kenya’s impressive returns on investment position it as an appealing destination for American venture capital.

He noted that Kenya, despite offering solutions with broader applicability to connectivity and energy, remains largely unexplored.

Google’s Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet Ruth Porat said the tech company has committed to investing USD 1 billion in Africa to bolster its digital training and innovation initiatives.

Visa Global President Oliver Jenkyn said Kenya has played a vital role in enabling Visa to establish a strong presence in the East African market.

He said the organisation has picked Kenya as the only African country to host Visa’s global digital innovation studio.

“Less than a year ago Visa made a commitment to invest USD 1 Billion in Africa over the next five years and a large portion of that is going to Kenya,” he said.