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Kenyan Investment Meeting ends with Great Pledges despite Low Turnout

Guests during the KDIC 2010 final session at the Radisonn Hotel in Chelmsford,Mass. , on Saturday October 16.The event suffered a low turnout despite having great presentations of increased investment opportunities in Kenya as a result of the new constitution in line with Vision 2030. H.Maina/Ajabu Images

By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, Posted October 26, 2010 .Updated 10/27/10: 9pm

LOWELL, Mass_Surprised with a low turnout, absence of top invited guests, and occasional change of venues, the briefly publicized Kenyan Diaspora Investment conference nearly hit the skids, causing the organizers to work with the limited human resource available, and vowing to go back to the drawing boards to make a better conference next year.

However, the conference yielded crucial information for Kenyans in the Diaspora to know about investing in their motherland.

The four-day conference which ended Saturday October 17 with a dinner gala night was expected to attract a big number of highly skilled technocrats representing companies and the government from Kenya and other places, but only a few top guests showed up.

A final dinner gala planned for Sunday night was also cancelled when it became apparent that the turnout may not justify the expense after other guests went out for a closing golf tournament at the Merrimack Golf Club in Methuen, Mass..

The local organizers who originally expected to bring in over 10,000 Kenyans from within USA for the conference, had booked the massive DCU center in Worcester, Mass. as the venue, for the conference which had originally been planned to take place in September this year.

The state of Massachusetts alone is estimated have approximately 15,000- 20,000 Kenyan citizens although conclusive figures are hard to establish.

However, due to conflicting schedules of the anticipated top guests, including the Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, organizers rescheduled the event to take place from October 14-17 at the same DCU Center.

But two days to the start of the event, close sources say that the organizers downgraded the number of Kenyans expected to show up to the DCU center to about 3,000, and hence split the venues between three cities; Chelmsford, Lowell and Worcester in a bid to attract more Kenyans from the area of Lowell.

Chelmsford neighbors Lowell, a city with a large Kenyan population. The two cities are both about 41 miles from the city of Worcester, also with a sizeable Kenyan population.

Wilfred Saroni, second left, thanks the organizing commitee of the KDIC 2010. Among the commitee memebers are Peter Wairegi (far left), Susan Kikwai, second right , Paul Waithaka, far right .

However, most Kenyans in the USA only came to learn of the event two weeks prior to the kick off, leaving them with little time to adjust their schedules both at home and with their employers in order to avail themselves.

The conference started with a lowly attended opening ceremony on Thursday night amid rumors that Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta had already returned back to Kenya from an official government meeting he had attended in Washington DC.

A town hall meeting in which the US Ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranenberger did not take place and was rescheduled for Friday morning.

However, the Kenyan Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Dr. Josephine Ajiambo, and about four permanent secretaries, addressed several dozen Kenyans who showed up.

On Friday, the much awaited Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta and other top Kenyan ministers like Amos Kimunya, Wycliffe Oparanya, the Kenyan Ambassador to the US, H. E. Elkanah Odembo were not able to make it to the meeting, leaving guests disappointed.

However, the assistant minister of foreign affairs, Richard Onyonka addressed Kenyans , guests and exhibitors present. Onyonka has first hand experience of life in the Disapora as he was a long time cab operator in New Jersey before relocating back to Kenya and joining politics.

Hon. Richard Onyonka, Assistant Minister in the ministry of foreign affairs

With the unexpected absence of the top guests on Friday and the low turnout, Susan Kikwai, who heads the Kenya Investment Authority, one of the major sponsors of the event, and who had expected arrangement for the conference to be done in a top notch fashion by local organizers, swung into action to try and stem the damage.

Sensing that there might be a similar low turnout at the DCU center in Worcester, and the inconvenience to exhibitors who would have to take down their booths to re-assemble them again at DCU center the following morning, Kikwai led organizers into quickly changing the Saturday event to stick with the Radisson Hotel in Chelmsford.

The move pleased the exhibitors and avoided a major embarrassment, but did not bring in the numbers as previously anticipated.

At least 250 guests attended the conference on Friday and about another 100 on Saturday, including exhibitors, disappointing the organizers and companies that had paid large sums of money to travel from Kenya to Boston for the opportunity to meet Kenyans abroad.

This prompted the chairman of the organizing commitee, Mr. Peter Wairegi from Ohio, who also served as the master of ceremonies, to apologize several times to about 50 attendees packed into a small room for the Saturday morning session.

Peter Wairegi from Ohio,
chairman of the organizing commitee

“We really apologize to all of you for the inconveniences and various hitches that occurred during this year’s conference,” said Wairegi.

“There are some things that did not go as planned but I promise you that next year, we will be more prepared and will have a better conference than this one,” he added.

However, despite the various hitches, exhibitors and leaders present did their best to present various products and services they believed would be appropriate to Kenyans in the Diaspora.

Among the major companies involved in sponsoring the event and who presented their products included the Heart for the City, an organization based in the United Kingdom that has several products for Kenyans abroad.

The new services offered by the institution included a new money transfer system (Ushindi Money Mobile) that will enable Kenyans to send money to their loved ones in Kenya as well as a Diaspora support services section that will act as a bridge to Kenyans who want to Invest in Kenya and the services they need in order to do so without loosing their hard earned money.

“We know many Kenyans have lost a lot of money trying to invest in projects back home,” said Lee Karuri, a director at Diaspora Support Services while talking to Ajabu Africa News at the conference.

“Some of this money has actually been lost through brothers and sisters who did not deliver what was intended for the money. That is why our company comes in and provides you with the needed representation on any investment deal you are planning to do,” added Karuri.

Lee Karuri, a director of the Diaspora Support Services received an award of recogtition during a closing dinner gala at the Umass Inn & Conference center in Lowell. With him to the right is James M. Kiiru, the Commercial Attaché at the Kenyan Embassy in Washington DC.

Speaking during the event, Susan Kikwai praised the conference as having crucial information for Kenyans in the Diaspora that was in line with the Vision 2030, the ambitious plan mooted by the government of Kenya that has a road map for transforming Kenya into an industrialized nation by the year 2030.

“The investment opportunities that exist for the Diaspora are actually the same ones in line with Vision 2030,” said Kikwai.

During an interview with Ajabu Africa, Kikwai told Kenyans in the Diaspora that Kenya has always been ripe for business and that a new political dispensation occasioned by the new constitution has made the investment opportunities even much better.

“Previously, most of the growth and GDP was produced around Nairobi and Mombassa. But with the new constitution, we have 45 new growth centers that are presenting opportunities for investment,” said the director, who previously lived in Rhode Island and Maryland for about 12 years before returning home and taking charge of streamlining the crucial investment arm of the government.

“The Kenya Vision 2030 is on track to becoming a reality and we would like to engage Kenyans in the Diaspora in the process as we believe they have many solutions to offer, and opportunities to make business for themselves,” said Emmanuel Nzai, an executive officer with Kenya Vision 2030.

Accepting an award for his role at organising the event during an awards gala night at the Umass In & Conference center on Saturday, Wilfred Saroni, CEO of Boston Media Group, a company that was contracted to handle the organization of the event in partnership with the African American Lifestyle magazine and the Kenya Investment Authority, congratulated the event's organizing commitee for the hard work that resulted to the success of the event.

He also thanked all the different sponsors of the event and especially the employees of the Boston Media Group which is based in Nairobi, Kenya, for working tirelessly to promote the event back home.

Wilfred Saroni of BMG, receives an award from Susan Kikwai, the managing director of Kenya Investment Authority

"This award is not mine but for all the employees of the Boston Media Group over there in Kenya", said Saroni.

It was not clear why the event did not receive huge and timely promotion within the Kenyan community in the Diaspora , the main target of conference objectives .

Many Kenyans interviewed by Ajabu Africa News said they were skeptical about the investment conferences as they have been hurt financially before after attending such conferences and loosing their investments, while others contend that they have their familes rooted in America so their investment objectives are not highly prioritised in Kenya.

"I have 3 children who are born in America. Do i invest for their education and their future here or in Kenya? ", asked one caller who reached Ajabu Africa News by telephone from Baltimore, MD.

"In think it makes more sense to invest for them here, and maybe with any excess funds i can start a business here that can generate profits to invest in Kenya", continued the Kenyan.

Dozens of Kenyans have complained of disillusionment after an investment conference that took place 3 years ago in Georgia that resulted in many Kenyans opening accounts with the some banks present that promised them quick access to investment loans, only to find that it was not going to happen.

Many hoped that the investment conference would provide answers to such problems.

“I opened a savings account with Equity when they were here 3 years ago and it became a nightmare to get anyone there to respond at my loan application,” said Ben Kamiri of Worcester, Mass..

CONTINUED BELOW

Catherine Munyiri of Co-Operative bank of Kenya answers questions from a prospective customer

Sqeeezed hard of customers to give bundles of of free gifts available, these Western Union reps devise an innovative plan- a walking billboard.

“When I finally got someone, they said that my account was placed into dormant status because I did not send money regularly, and I would therefore not qualify for a loan,” added, Kamiri.

Equity Bank was one of the companies whose CEO was scheduled to attend the conference but did not make it.Organizers did not tell attendees why the company CEO did not attend, leaving Kenyans who were eager to meet him and ask a few questions high and dry.

However, Paul Waithaka, the local Equity bank representative, represented the company but interested guests wanted the CEO for questions they thought Waithaka could not handle.

In the absence of Equity Bank, the Co-Operative bank of Kenya, one of the banks with a large network of branches in Kenya, went for the kill and was able to sign up several new accounts.

“We were pleased to open over 35 new accounts,” said Catherine Munyiri, the Director, co-operatives division, at the Co-Operative bank while speaking to Ajabu Africa.com.

Other companies did not fare as good as cooperative bank reported. Western Union and Money gram found themselves competing neck to neck for attention with RIA money transfer, a partner with Ushindi money mobile owned by the Heart for the City organization, led by Dr. Rev.Lucas Njenga.

Dr. Njenga, an ordained minister of the Anglican church, lives in Scotland with his family, but travels occasionally to Kenya to coordinate activities of the organization.

CONTINUED BELOW

Dr. Lucas Njenga, CEO of the new Ushindi Money Mobile during a Sunday service at the Saint Stephen's church.

Robinson Gachuhi from Missouri, (right) the president of the Diasporaa movement of Kenya, tries out the soon to be launched AjabuRadioUSA, an online radio service by locally owned exhibitor, Ajabu Media Communications.

Dr. Rev. Njenga later preached at the Saint stephens church in Lowell where he urged Kenyan christians to realize their economic power was not being used to develop their own institutions but rather those of the very rich and the foreigners.

"Every monday morning, christians bank over 4 billion Kenya shillings in tithes and offerings mainly to foreign owned commercial banks in Kenya", said the man of God.

“The whole event ended up being an Ushindi Money Mobile event, even though we had paid a lot of money to come here,” complained one top representative of a company that had spent a lot of money to be at the event. “We were also promised 10,000 attendees but only 300 people attended,” added the disappointed representative who preferred to remain anonymous.

The conference was also attended by several Kenyan church leaders among them Bishop David Karaya, the chairman of the Kenya Pastors Fellowship, Bishop Joshua Wambua of the Rapture Harvest Church International in Wakefield, Rev. Samuel Kimohu of the Saint Stephens church in Lowell , Rev. Joseph Waiyaki if the CCF church in Lowell, pastor David Kahura of the Hosanna Gospel center in Worcester among others

Among the other companies that showcased their products and services included the Tea Board of Kenya, The African Development bank, both from Kenya, Wambia Capital from Maryland, SASA Net from New Jersey and also Ajabu Media Communications from Boston who gave show goers a chance to test a new online radio service being introduced to enhance their services to the African community in the USA.

The beta version of the new radio service, dubbed AjabuRadioUSA, can be sampled here >>

Many analysts estimate the Kenyan community to have surpassed the Nigerians as the largest African community in the USA.

Links : KDIC website