In anticipation of the 6th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which Kenya will host between 25 and 26 of July 2015, and which will be addressed by US President Barack Obama and attended by many influential business leaders from around the world, various peripheral activities have been organised by different industry players, with the aim of leveraging the event to showcase Kenyan innovation and explore the possibilities of attracting investment and forging partnerships with international players.
Understanding that ordinary Kenyan entrepreneurs and innovators will not have the ability to fully participate in the Summit itself, the government of Kenya has organised a pre-event conference and exhibition, running from 22 to 25 July at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi.
This pre-summit event has attracted dozens of Kenya innovators and entrepreneurs, including many drawn from the ICT space, to showcase their services and products with a view to attracting interest from the international audience of investors, mentors and business leaders that have descended on Kenya for the event.
While a shared expectation of the ICT entrepreneurs is to attract investment from investors, some players feel that more support could come from local venture capital players.
According to a post by Mbwana Alliy, Founder and Managing Partner of Savannah Fund, a seed capital fund specialising in early stage ICT start-ups, there is not enough support coming from local angel investors.
"One of the first questions many investors visiting Kenya will ask is how the local angel scene is thriving and can they co-invest or rely on others for local context. I fully expect this to be laid bare and hopefully encourage the government to put in schemes to invest in their own people vis a vis investing in real estate or overseas," says Alliy.
Currently the landscape is characterised by more support from foreign investors, including donors for various social enterprises in fields such as healthcare, agriculture and education.
"If this issue is not tackled, we will see the usual ventures like M-KOPA, Bridge Academy get all the attention from investors and less focus on the native local innovators," he adds.
Alliy also urges entrepreneurs to be more articulate about their ventures. "How start-ups describe their audience and objectives in the context of a high growth start-up versus social enterprises needs to be made explicit or risk confusing everyone whether foreigners should choose Kenya as a 'charity case' or 'investment destination'."
Among those rising to meet the challenge of local funding is Kenya's leading mobile operator, Safaricom, who set up a US$ 1 million fund in late 2014, to invest in Kenyan ICT start-ups either by purchasing equity or through debt instruments. This fund will initially run for 2 years.
Another key challenge affecting many start-ups in Kenya, and indeed in Africa, is the lack of both a global view and exposure. According to Josiah Mugambi, executive director of iHub, an innovation hub for technologists, investors and start-ups, this event affords start-ups a very good opportunity to engage an international audience comprising individuals and organisations representing considerable investment potential including grants.
"Entrepreneurs should be ready to engage, pitch their products and companies, and also need to be sure what they need at the specific stage in their company. It is also important for them to be ready to listen and learn, absorb as much advice, tips as possible," says Mugambi.
"Also, entrepreneurs need to be on the look-out for overall trends in technology from a global perspective. This can inform new products and markets, and having this melting pot of different cultures and industries offers a unique opportunity," he adds.
Mugambi also feels that, with the expected participation of government representatives, this event provides a good platform to address regulatory issues affecting the business environment for both start-ups and investors.
"If there are regulatory issues that as a business person would need addressing, this would be a good time to share them, in a way that would be helpful to policy makers as well as other business people." he said.
The organisation of the pre-event summit underscores the importance the government of Kenya attaches to ICT entrepreneurship as a key driver of economic growth.
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