The Vision stands on three pillars of Economic, Social and Political wellbeing                                                 Click here for a full Vision presentastion in Powerpoint                                                                                         

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By Harrison Maina
BOSTON- February 17, 2007

A panel of five top Kenyan technocrats vividly described the big Vision for Kenya by 2030.
The Kenyan top cream panelists shared the big vision, following its unveiling this year by the
government of Kenya.The vision creates a pathway which will see Kenya transformed into the
likes of the ‘Asian Tiger’ economies by 2030, with well developed infrastructure systems in
transportation, Information technology and financial markets, among other objectives.

The event started on Friday February 16, at Harvard Business School, Harvard University,
during the 9th annual Africa Business Conference.The occasion attracted a number of business
and media professionals, filling the auditorium to its maximum capacity. It was difficult to move
a leg.  

In attendance were top-ranking entrepreneurs, most of them post graduates of Harvard, the
world’s most esteemed Business Management University. They included the PS for Planning,
Dr. Edward Sambili; Barclays Bank Managing Director, Mr. Adan Mohamed; Mr. Karanja
Kabage, Chairman Federation of Kenya Employers  and Chairman, Kenya Business Council; 
Mr. Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom Kenya Ltd;  and  Mr. Justus Nyamunga, Fiscal  Policy
Advisor, Kenya Ministry of Finance. 

The panel was moderated by Mr. Acha Leke, who is a partner with McKinsey & Company,
based in the Johannesburg office, South Africa.  He is also co-founder of the African Leadership Academy,  a private co-educational boarding school aimed at developing the next generation
of African leaders.
    
Interactive session: Kenyans packed in the       Dr. Sambili (far right), Adan Mohamed,
auditorium to listen to their business leaders      Michael Joseph, Karanja Kabage and Justus                                                                                 Nyamunga elaborating on the Kenya Vision

Other top-ranking Kenyan business moguls were also addressing participants in other panels that were simultaneously taking place  in adjacent conference rooms, making it hard for one to apportion equal time for each. However, ajabuafrica.com  did access each  panel, discovering the main content of these discussions to be the strategies that Africa needed to implement for poverty eradication. 

Notable business leaders included George Lutta, Managing Director of the rapidly expanding Media Initiative East Africa company; Vimal Shah, Vice Chairman of Kenya Association of Manufactures; and Dr. Jeniffer Riria, CEO Kenya Women Finance Trust,  and Nancy Barry, former President of Women’s World Banking.  Dr. Riria delivered a keynote address-cum-interview, alongside other equally powerful Kenyan businessmen.  

Other remarkable figures from the business fraternity included Allan Kamau, Executive Editor, Africa Investor Magazine (published from London), also senior Director with Africa Practice;  Tony Wainaina,   CEO, Trans-Century Ltd., a pan African investment company based in Nairobi Kenya, and a founding partner of Origins Venture capital Fund for Africa;  Rumit Mehta, who was born in Kenya and is a Director of Business development, Safari Ventures, in New York City;  Peter J. Mwenguo, Managing Director, Tanzania Tourist Board, who is doing a tremendous job at revamping the Tanzanian tourist industry. In addition to his other three languages,  Mr. Mwengo is fluent in Japanese.

Hundreds of Kenyan MBA students  from various universities, as well as Kenyans working in top business positions in the US  attended the event.  They asked various important  questions pertaining to the achievement of the Kenya Vision 2030.
    
Mr. Vimal Shah and Karanja Kabage                 Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph is cornered (center) pose with two future                                by  Kari  K Njiiri of 88.5 fm Radio entrepreneurs                                                       ( Western  Massachusetts, USA)
                                                                                                                               
As the conference progressed, it was evident that high caliber Nigerian businessmen outnumbered other panelists from the of the African countries. They described how Africa’s  most populous Nation was leading the way in transforming business practices in Africa.   They put emphasis on African business ownership and strategic partnerships with major western world corporations.  The West African businessmen informed participants of their country’s  plans to become the financial hub of Africa by the year 2020.

In the key note interview, Dr Riria (PhD), a Kenyan women's rights and empowerment champion
and a distinguished Microfinance Banker, challenged the learned participants by condemning the
negative image created by the mainstream western media when reporting about Africa.  She decried
people and organizations who commercialized chaos in Africa for big  sums of money,  without
building any lasting systems for the natives.  She further informed participants about the presence of countless positive developments in Africa, yet these were continuously ignored  by reporters in the
western media.

Dr. Riria outlined some of the vital steps that Africa needed to take in order to develop broad-based, sustainable businesses that would end the exploitation of African resources by foreigners.  Among them was the need to address and end the abuse of women and girls.   As the majority population,
women were at the center of business in Africa, and as such, needed more access to micro-credit
services in order to bring about realistic economic changes.  She asked the highly skilled Africans
working for huge corporations in the western world to return home and help build systems that will
benefit the continent,  long after the western world corporations have made their profits and
repatriated most of them.  “If you love Africa, go Home,”  she challenged.

Dr. Riria  said that the majority of those who will change Africa were not even in business. 
She pointed out the dire need to expand micro credit activities to the  poor, but  very  enterprising common  men and  women.  This, explained Dr. Riria, was especially  important at this time when most of the big world corporations are going for a second  helping on Africa, signing big contracts for the massive African resources,  as the  average Africans watch helplessly. She also added that there was need to provide a level playing field in the tarrifs and protectionist laws. She emphasized the importance of developing the African Agenda, by asking good people around the world to support it.

Nancy Barry, who is recognized as a world leader in building financial systems that work for the majority, also reiterated similar ideals. She had two buzz words for African expatriates: “Go Home.”   Repatriating skills to Africa was a necessary factor for the mobilization of the private sector, which would in turn build enterprise solutions to poverty.  To the utter shock of the listeners, Nancy quoted from Making Globalization Work, a book by world economist, Joseph Stiglitz, which describes how  a typical farmer in the US and UK spends 2 dollars a day on  his cow, while a whole family in Africa lives on less than one dollar a day. 
     
   Dr. Jennifer Riria is mobbed                             Nancy Barry is quizzed by curious African
    by proud Kenyans                                              Business students          

During the vision for Kenya by 2030 panel discussion, it emerged that Kenya was already on the fast track with technology developments. Mr. Michael Joseph, CEO Safaricom, informed the listeners that his company was partnering with a major US  financial services company to provide Kenyans in the Diaspora with the ability to send money back home using their mobile phones.

In a separate discussion,  Mr. Adan Mohamed, Managing Director of  Barclays Bank East Africa, revealed to ajabuafrica.com that online banking was in the pipeline for Kenyans in the Diaspora.  This technology would afford users easy and quick financial transactions with Barclays Bank.

Other high ranking personalities attending the conference were Ayaan Adam, a native of the little known Somaliland in East Africa. A Master of Science graduate from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Ms Adam heads the Private Equity and Investment Fund Portfolio, International Finance Corporation. She explicitly explained her experience in   developing  financial systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Latin America. Her main interest was working with small and medium sized businesses, leasing, private and micro-finance. Ayaan said that previously, some African countries were hostile to businessmen from other African countries doing business on their soils.She exlained that this is bad for development of African systems, adding that Africans needed to embrace each other.China Onyemelukwe, Managing Director & CEO Zenith Capital Ltd., also a lifelong musician had this to say: "If you think there are too many players in Nigeria, then go to any of the neighboring countries, you will find a lot of business. There is a lot of goodwill towards Africa right now, take advantage of it," China advised.

Also present was the African Development Bank (ADB), represented by Ada Osakwe, the Treasury and Portfolio Manager. She described the role of ADB in developing African Capital Markets.
    
ADB's Ada Osakwe (L); a West African                  African Business heroes discuss how to
Capitalist (center), and Ayaan Adam                        develop African Capital markets
chart the future for Africa                                

The Africa Channel was represented by Mark Walton, who has over 20 years experience in sales and advertising, TV and film distribution, marketing and General Management. Mr. Walton is an African-American with a true passion for mother Africa. He has been traveling to Africa for leisure and business for the last 20 years.  He is very eager to help Africa develop systems  that will bring an end to poverty, and also to foster positive response from the western media.
 
Mr. Karanja Kabage, drew repeated laughter from the Kenyan audience who were not well-versed in constitutional matters, with his specific quotes from various sections of the constitution of Kenya.  He challenged  Kenyans to digest the meaning of what he quoted.

Other topics deliberated by the highly interactive panels included Real Estate, Tourism, Financial Services, Social Enterprise, and Leading Women in Business, Telecommunications, Health care system building and self sufficiency.  Also highlighted were strategies on how to make Africa more attractive to Private Equity/Venture Capital Investors, Developing Africa’s media and entertainment industry, International Trade and Investment, and rewards of private-public partnerships in the utilization of natural resources

On the social menu, the conference also included topnotch African entertainment groups like soulfe`ge, an increasingly popular Pan-African fusion band that is enchanting audiences from Ghana to USA and beyond.  The band leader, Derrick Ashong  (aka DNA), is a graduate of Harvard University.  Ashong also played a supporting role in the movie, Amistad (1997), by Steven Spielberg.   He has also worked with high profile  celebrities, including Janet Jackson.   Other entertainment bands included Samba Mapangala  of the famous Vunja Mifupa hit song; The African Great lakes Ensemble (AGLE), which is a project of the African Foundation for Culture and Development (AFCD); and Kuku, a self-made musician from Nigeria. 

The event also boasted a career fair, a gala banquet and the presentation of the second ABC Leadership Award at the Hyatt Hotel in Boston.
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ajabuafrica.com News, © 2007

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