>> u.s. commerce secretary gina >> good morning. my name is john murphy. i'm senior vice president and head of international here at the u.s. chamber of commerce. today is a great day for the chamber. and we're honored to host these auspicious meetings. the chamber of course is the world's largest business federation, representing the interests of millions of businesses of every size, sector and region. our membership includes hundreds of thousands of

and a majority of the nation's largest companies. includes 130n chambers of commerce abroad. including our fantastic partners at amjen kenya who are well represented here today. perhaps you knew most of that. precisely because of the broad reach of our m is an organization that never stops reaching for commercial opportunities outside our borders. 95% onsumers live outside of the united states. and our members never forget that. and so we have the privilege of advocating for business interests and sound policies that will support greater trade and investment in capitals all around the world. one of the jewels of our international programs is the chamber's u.s.-africa business center. through this important program, we're focused on leading the u.s. business community into

deeper engagement with partners across africa. this includes africa's different communities in different regions and small and medium sized companies in both africa and the united states. i'm pleased to report that we are increasing our focus on building business linkages with our counterparts across africa. this growth comes from bilateral partnerships like the one we enjoy with kenya. or more broad-based through our partnership th the african continental free trade area secretariat. it also comes through the african growth and opportunity act, the cornerstone of u.s. trade ties with the continent, which was signed into law 24 years ago week. as a younger man, lobbying for congressional passage was the first job i had here at the chamber when i joined 25 years ago. and i saw then what we see today. american business is kean to strengthen commercial ties with

africa. as are members of congress on both sides of the aisle. appropriately, the theme for today's u.s.-kenya business forum is fostering trade and investment through bil ties. and we're honored to host his excellency, william ruto, president of the republic of kenya, on the occasion of his state visit. i'd li partners today, among them are platinum sponsors google, our gold sponsors, abbott, flutterwave, mastercard, m endeavor and seaman's health, and also our silver sponsors, pfizer and my hydro. these companies, likeoday, are encouraged by the opportunity to contribute to the economic transformation and growth that kenya has seen under president ruto's leadership. and these companies are eager to support the exciting economic development that kenya's striving not just within its own borders but across the

subregion. last month the chamber's u.s.-africa business center was also honored to join the president of kenya, secretary of commerce, gina raimondo,■ and leaders across the continental in nairobi at the business suit, focused on catalyzing commercial ties across the continent. today's dialogue is part of our strategy to elevate the u.s.-kenya commercial relationship as a means of spurring additional business connection and crowding in investment. the u.s. chamber commends president ruto's leadership in championing business-friendly policies. including enhancing the digital ecosystem and promoting climate-smart technologies to ensure sustainable and innovative growth. kenya has made significant progress in lifting millions out of poverty through these developments, making significant progress towards achieving its sustainable development goals and championing the role of women and youth in the economy. american companies are already

contributing to thatnd again today. but we want to do opportunitiese in areas such as the digital revolution, health care, agriculture, the clean energy transformation and beyond. and the innovation of the privatell be critical in accelerating progress delivering solutions across all of these areas. so during today's forum, you will see action on the progress we hope of dollars in deals are signed on this stage and in our deal room. we will learn of public-private partnerships and hear inspiring examples of the private sector innovations that driving development aligned with the president's thoughtfully stated ambitions shared throughout earlier segments of his historic state visit. it's not insignificant that we're convening this forum on may 24, on the ao*efbg of ar can

day, and kenya has become in many ways a model for sustainable development and inclusive economic growth across africa. and we know that sustaining this growth can only be achieved through continued collaboration, commitment and creativity of the sort we have the privilege to experience today. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for the u.s.-kenya business forum and warm -- to all of you as we formally begin our program. thank you. [applause] announcer: building strategic partnerships to promote investment.■

>> good morning. slept. i would like to really thank all of you for coming. but this is my distinct honor to please have a seat. it's my distinct honor to introduce this important panel. i have with me some very thought leaders and experts in their own rights. it is my honor to introduce this first panel, this panel about trade and investment, how to promote trade and investment in

kenya. so■ú today i have with me four distinguished panelists. let me start by introducing mr. mike ber the berns brothers. have with■@ me the director of u.s. trade and development agency. next i have a doctor, i hope i'm pronouncing it well. the founder of the semiconductor technology limited and also next to me i have mr. paul, founder and chairman of -- and c.e.o. of my hydro. my hydro i think is going to tell us a bit more about it.

but i would like to really set the stage by saying that as you know, kenya has been at the forefront of innovation in it is a country that is well diversified. his home and in order to have his excellency, president ruto, who has been received by president biden and today we gather here to lrn about all the opportunities that we have in this very vibrant country. so today this panel will allow us to really impact the opportunities for trade and investment in kenya. so this is a unanimously will be about 20 to 30, 35, 40 minutes. so we don't have a lot of time.

we're just going to dive straight into the convenel to re important work they're doing on the continent. but also proffer some advice for folks that are interested in investing this vibrant market. so let me maybe start. i will start by asking each of you probably to introduce you properly. by the way, if you go on extenss for each of those so you can read a bit more about the wonderful work that they are alh doing. let me start with you. for you to speak a little bit about whatnization is all about and what you do. i'd like to say her organization is part of the 17 agencies. sec.

government agency and you'll understand why i say that. it a one of the agencies that is most liked by the private sector. i don't want to offend anybody else, but this is truth. i have to tell you that. then we'll come to the other panelists. please. >> thank you so much. it's such you, outside in that reception room where we were having breakfast, it felt like weeding. i mean, so much -- wedding. i mean, so much energy, so fantastic to see our yen can partners, our private sector partners. i have to thank the chamber, first of all, for convening us here today. my name is enoh ebong and i have the great privilege to lead the u.s. trade and development agency, we're an independent government agency focused on promoting the development of high quality infrastructure in emerging economies around the word and doing so in a way that

brings the best of what the u.s. has to offer in terms of solutions and innovation, in terms of technologies. we are pleased to work in key sectors of clean energy, in transportation, in digital infrastructure and health care infrastructure. and we have been in kenya for a very long time. just about the 30 years of our inception. the wa our work, of bringing together the u.s. private sector with key infrastructure projects overseas is to address that age-old problem of the cost of developing projects in emerging economies. so what we do is provide grant funds for the activities that help to define and prepare projects. technical assistance, feasibility studies and pilot projects. and these funds help with taking

that concept into a well-defined project that can attractimpleme. not enough to just prepare projects. we have to build partnerships. so we conduct partnership building activities. we bring delegations to the united see our technologies and also to engage with our regulators, our financiers. and we makee that we touch the parts of the ecosystem that are going to help the implementation of projects. procurement is one of them. we have a global procurement initiative in which we train procurement officials in life cycle cost analysis, best value determinations, whichjust makesl competing on a level playing

field and we work hard to connect with financiers so our partners see the benefit of that. i'll stop there. >> excellent. i think you all understand why i was saying that. now, michael, i hope you do not mind me starting with a lady, i always say ladies first. let me go back toilet know you're part of the -- back to you. i know you're part of the berns brother. i just want to let us know what you actually do, what your organization is all about. you're the managing partner and co-founder of the bern brothers. what brought you to kenya? and can you tell us what you do. >> i absn. thank you for having us and i say us because the berns brothers is truly an organization, not just one or two people. and i love energy, right? i'm glad you started with my esteemed panelist to my left because her energy is contagious. but to just give you a quickover view of what we do -- of what wn

organization. we're a full service holding company that actually holds about six organizations underneaths i umbrella. every organization has -- underneath its umbrella. every organization has the mission to drive change through the common thread of understanding. we do that in so many different ways. we have a talent and culture company that focuses on large and small organizations, how do we drive change through understanding of the employees, the people inside those organizations. we have a market and communication company. you can traineo to communicate . we do both large and small srep events. you can teach, youbut at some pn time you need to bring people together. we have a membership house, we have a location a location righe of nairobi in a new city called tattoo city. and then also we do a lot around wellness p*erp.

and the reason why we are here is tied to our six business line which is dedicated strictly to the talent of africa ands called -- and it's called global talent africa. we truly believe that the future of not just africa, not just kenya, but the future of this world is going to be found on the continent of africa in places like kenya. so we have dedicated the past five years working on bringing organizations across the globe to, understand, demystify what they think kenya is, what they think africa is so they can tap into this amazing resource that is the talent of africa. the talent of kenya. >> thank you invest. this is really exciting. i'd like to turn now to the next speaker. i don't even know where to start in terms of introducing this gentleman. he's very bold.

and he is somebody who has an advanced knowledge on semiconductor manufacturing. if you know what semiconductor means, this is very niche and very specialized skill set. people around the world are trying to have access to that. he decided to go to africa■g and establish that, not only that, kenya. can you explain more on that, what really brought you to come to this sector and kenya. can you tell us that? >> absolutely. thank you for hosting us and being the moderatinger of this amazing session. really thanks to the chamber forgiving us the opportunity to talk about the things we do. my name is dr. tony githinji. semiconductor technology is

something we've heard about recently. but it is difficult for us even as we sit here to think about semiconductor technology and chips manufacturing in africa. so it gives me great pleasure that we have such an industry taking root in our country. in no small part that has been because of the partnerships we've created, including usda, the mission, u.s. mission in kenya, ambassador wittman, and the support of the kenya government. what we do and what trying to■bo is diversify the global supply chain. the global supply chain by definition is a very complex relationship between suppliers and demand that bring in finance, raw manufacturing technology, and so on. and the reason why this is in the news so much now is it's because it's elevated itself to

where it borders on global security, national security and otherwise. it is also very important to say that semiconductors are ubiquitous and that means that they can address the majority of the problems we have, whether it's in health care, agri tech, advanced communication, satellite, you know. so i that bringing this industry into kenya is significant and it's significant because the workforce in that country is 25 years old, right in the median of what we will have by 2050. africa will have the youngest and largest -- 25% of the global population will be in■7 africa. what i have found about kenya and the reason why we're in kenya is that the be a sopgs rate of advanced technology is extremely high, from mobile technology, from health care and others. and now in the area of semiconductor technology, i'm happy to say i represent over 100 employees of whom 70% are

powerful young women. you got to give an applause for that. [applause] >> wow, wow, wow, wow. this is wonderful. >> and they have managed to absorb such a complex manufacturing process and made our country very proud. so that's why we're in kenya and why we'll continue to push really, really hard to get u.s states government, the kenyan government, to give this impetuo transform africa and kenya. >> wow. this is really impressive. thank you. thank you for that. ani hope you'll be expanded. we'll come back to it. paul, i want to -- of course with you here, you were somebody that does not need an introduction but we have to do it because that's the right g continent for a very long time. and the reason i'm saying that is because you're e largest u.s. investors in the power sector.

i believe you have worked on establishing igawatt of energy and 3,000 line of transmission. on the continent. can you tell us a little bit more on what you do on the continent? i mean, more specifically in kenya, and what is my hydro all about? >> yeah, it does feel like a very long time that i've been working on the continent. about 40-something years. we are energy investors i'd say until the last few years, until recently, we were a mix of thermal power and renewable energy. we're now pretty much renewable energy and we are building at the moment a new platform in hydropower. you say why hydropower?

it's because, a, it's the lowest cost and affordable. some people think that hydropower does not compete with solar because they take the price of solar on grid which these days can be very low, five cents, sixt,in the middle east, three cents per kilow att hour, where hydromight be six, eight, 10 cents. works . you don't have to switch it off at night. so we're using a new type ofture pwaoeup that has been -- turbine -- of turbe has been re-engineered in sanrancisco by a woman-owned company. they've joined forces with our mother company to create

my hydro-- myhydro. which also by the way i woman-owned company. and we are launching that right now in the congo. but we're looking at the sites, we're going through regulatory ro agrees in places like -- progress in places like south africa, cameroon, a number of different places. idea is to launch small hydropower sites, do many of them eventually, and sell what we would classify as affordable electricity. so that's the sort of myhydroin a nut shell and that's what we're promoting very heavily at the moment. as regards my african experiences, my life has been africa. i love africa. i've had fantastic experiences

and have had some bloody awful ones too. it is not always the easiest place on the planet. there's challenges there. so i'm a -- let me come to kenya very quickly. kenya must be my favorite. i really love kenya and i think kenya is going to great places. i've got to know the leadership there since the last election. and the way i see it at the moment is what's happening is the center of gravity for investors in africa is shifting from the south of africa to the northwards and northeast and northwest. we're seeing a shift where i think money's going to flow into kenya in a huge, huge way. >> excellent. excellent. [applause]

michael, i hope you don't mind, coming back to you. i was intrigued when you were speaking, you spoke about tattoo city. and what is interesting is that you decided to go -- leave the u.s. and go to kenya and go to tatu city and establish a call center. can you tell us a little bit about that experience and how as an investor in kenya, what has been that experience for you. >> absolutely. so one of the actual co-sponsors for this event is an organization by the name of rendevor. and it has given itself a very ambitious mission of building cities on the continent of africa. and the business case is actually pretty sound/prolific. if we truly want to bring multinational organizations to kenya, then we can't just do a

patchwork exercise on the current infrastructure. we need to kind build from the ground-up. so ren tkefber has actually -- rendeavor has built a city and they have laid the water systems, they have laid the electrical grids. by the time the city is fully occupied it, will have a population of residents of around 250,000 people. when we talk to people about this, they have a hard time conceptualizing what this is. because we're not talking about building a residential complex, we're not talking about building a strip mall. we're talking about building a city. and when we decided to partner with rendeavor and partner also with an organization called c.c.i. global which is one of the largest if not the largest employer in kenya, we said, we need to do it right. because if we do it right, then we position kenya in a way that

knocks down any bices or misperceptions -- biases or misperceptions that people have of the country or the continent and our goal is over the next 10 to 15 years to continue to not only grow what is tatu city but bring resources, bring multinational companies in so they can employ this amazing talent that is in kenya. and we had the honor of doing a summit about two weeks ago where president ruto and the ambassador were able to help us open up our partners' state of the art call center where they will employ 5,000 kenyans on day one. and so that was all about highlighting the talent of africa but, more importantly, helping to reposition the narrative around kenya. >> thank you very much. this is really impressive. [applause] i know you spoke about the tools

that you have, the the ustda and a lot of people really don't know too much about those tools. if you are an investor here in africa, here in the u.s. interested in investing in africa, you can actually go through the ustda, allow them to work with them andty study. if you have a bright idea. all those tools that unfortunately are not well known around. so i would like for you to tell us how can people really access those information? but i also want you to expand on the interesting collaboration that you have right now with the semiconductor and what you think is the significance of this major, major initiative for the kenyan. >> thank you so much for that question. and i will start with the partnership with tony and the amazing s.t.l. because it is

groundbreaking the actual work of s.t.l. but what i can say is we are using our tools, in fact, we will right after this be signing the grant agreement that will support the planning for expansion of the semiconductor manufacturing, chip manufacturing facility. this is important for a number of reasons. number one, the jobs and the expertise that will reside in kenya. secondly, the ability to really be that technological regional hub that will be critical. representing the united states, i cannot omit the opportunities for our companies in providing

components of will be as of this nature. so the potential for exports is there and then as you alluded to, which i frankly find the most compelling reason is the workforce that's being developed. the focus on stem, particularly amongst women. i visited the lab in april as part of the american chamber of kenya's summit, business summit. we took time to go and visit with you onsite and it was an amazing experience. the young people are engaged. where it's located is about two to three hours, 2 1/2 hours away from nairobi. and you might think, ok, young people would be focused on nairobi. no such thing. first of nierri's beautiful and they are so engaged in at they're doing.

and so to be able to contribute to that, and i have to point out, it's not just ustda. the group have received support from usaid through prosper africa, and so we've been able to coordinate as a government and build upon the opportunity to really bring this to impact . i will just very quickly close to say you can reach us through ustda.gov. we are here, our regional director, and fantastic team that develops our projects. we will make sure to make ourselves known to you because we want to hear from you and help to catalyze your investments on the continent. >> thank you, thank you very much. i think this is very important for the audience. tony, i want to really come to you and for you to comment on how that support that you received from ustda, what, you

know, what difference did it make in your business? but also as a diaspora-owned business. i would like for you to expand and probably proffer advice to all the folks who are still thinking, how did your experience in kenya and what advice do you have to offer? >> thank you for that. this ustda grant is an enabling grant. in other words, it's -- tuck frame -- if you can frame the semiconductor ecosystem, it is extremely capital intensive. it requires a very specialized workforce. it requires facilities that are up to par with international standards. because the building of chips cannot be done in an ad hoc fashion. it has to be planned out right. the marketplaces have to be the road maps about how you go

about the business have to be established. and these are all outputs of the ustda support that wee getting■2 and, yes, i was a bit remiss, we did get a $1 million grant from usaid for capacity development, which we are already seeing great results from. but i think that one of the things that we always have to keep in mind is that notwithstanding the advancements in exponential technology, you still need a workforce. you still need to develop upskill, reskill our engineers. the vice chancellor of the university might be here, peter, and the partnership we have with them is one that allows for us to have a feedback loop between the academic side and the commercial side. so that t output of the universities is consistent with industry practice. so we have shovel-ready engineers coming out of that in to inspire the

united states companies and frankly companies around the world to invest in kenya. i think ambassador wittman has done an amazing job in demystifying kenya and making it clear to us, all of us, that there's great opportunities in that country. we have the p.s. of trade here who is doing a wonderful job of negotiating the strategic trade and investment partnership. we have our i. kr-frp kr-frpt t. ps here who is guiding us through the legal in country and start your business and make it successful. so the one thing i will say is of course clear it with your wife first, before you come over. [laughter] i'd like to thank my wife and kids, they're watching right now, they allowed us the opportunity to invest in country. clear it with your wife first. in with enough vision and realize that it's not just the kenyan market. it is an african market. the east and central africa is

five hundred million customers you can acquire. whether you're in hyperscaling like google or manufacturing or otherwise. and because it's an ecosystem, there's enough for all of us. so i encourage all of you to come to kenya first, come and see us. take our example, take the example of other businesses that are working there. and take confidence in the fact that i believe the u.s. government is behind us and this relationship, this 06-year relationship -- 60-year relationship that we have with the united states is critical to making sure we secure these supply chains. >> thank you. you said it all. [applause] i would like to come to you, paul. you have been on that long journey on the continent but if you have to speak to both the policymakers from the u.s. and also from kenya, what would be in your view policy change that

need to happen to help your sector really move to the next level? because kenya is doing quite well, specifically on the renewable energy. i think they'rone of the leading on this in the sub-saharan africa in terms of the composite of renewable in the whole energy please offer s- >> let's talk about kenya more globally, not just on the renewable energy. i wear several hats and one of them is that i'm the chairman of another similar organization that promotes trade and investment with africa. and we're all out there all the time trying to other american investors that the afrd as some seem to think. you know, a lot of investment goes in from europe.

and there they don't seem to see the same level of risk as they do here. so i've experienced this over many, many years, decades, of seeing this reluctance from american companies. but what we're seeing in kenya right now is, mine, if you go to kenya, it's not going to be long before you meet an american who is investing, whether he's a small startup or he's working for a big multinational, they're everywhere. that is because, i think, first of all, it's got a good legal framework. people tst the legal system in kenya.

it has strong institutions and people trust those institutions. and it's business-minded and it always has been. ever since i has been the real s driving force of east africa. as i said earlier, what i see the moment in real-time is that kenya is becoming -- as i said, the rt of gravity has shifted in that direction for investors and the investors that i know all want to go to kenya now. they all want to start in kenya. everybody knows about rwanda. they know what a great success story the business environment has been in rwanda. but it's■f,ma standards. >> sure.ople want to be in kenya, they want to be in other places in africa. but i think kenya is ahead of

everyone. >> absolutely, absolutely. that's why -- [applause] that's why we are all here celebrating that partnership. i would like to come to you for maybe some final reflection. what would you like to add more in terms of that policy space? what do you think needs to do to be done to allow to you move to th■ge next level? >> absolutely. i'll just take 30 seconds. i had the opportunity of serving in the u.s. army for 13 years and leading some amazing men and women and one of the first lessons that was ever taught to me when i was a young lieutenant was that any time i with dollars and cents before you invest in hearts and minds, is going to be a poor long-term investment. and so as we think about kenya and as we talk about this concept of investing, i challenge us to all look beyond like the dollars and cents.o.i..

type of investments and figure out what can we do to invest in this amazing talent that will ultimately make our dollars and cents investments grow at a higher rate. and if there is anyplace to invest in hearts and minds, it is in the country of kenya and i invite all of you who are not already doing so to join us on the mission. [applause] >> excellent, excellent, excellent. excellent. well said. we started with you, we want to end with you. do you have any final reflection on this whole experience of ustda on the continent and specifically in kenya? >> if i may, i'll split my time with tony because i think he should have the last word. but just to say that there's a whole constellation of u.s. government agencies who are working together to enable us to think of the hearts and minds,

to enable us to build partnerships and to implement on the that our government has framed our engagement in. we are here to serve. we are working diligently and we look forward to working with you in your endeavors. over to you. >> that's very kind of you, director. my words to all of us are this. there's not a mort conversation in our time than that of partnership. and partnership comes from shared visions, shared vs, to rr president his excellency, president ruto, lot of credit for the direction the country is taking with respect to the rule of law, making sure that we're subscribing to the best practices in trade and investment. looking at the basics of th. but really we come here with a lot of gratitude to ustda

especially as you heard that we're signing a grant and i really do appreciate your team, lisa, heather, mike in kenya, and others, who have done such a wonderful job in showing us how possible it is to get the confidence of the greatest economy in the world so that they can support all the things had and all the professionals in government are doing here. to me it's gratitude and hoping we can push this to the next level. >> excellent. thank you so much. ladies and gentlemen, we have come to the end of this wonderful conversation. you'll hear i'm sure from the president himself. kenya is indeed open for business. and you'll hear from all these formidable panelists that it makes business sense to invest in kenya. so i would like for you to join me and really thank this distinguished panel. thank you very much. [applause]

announcer:ex ruth, president and chief investment officer at c.f.o. of afl bet and going -- alphabet and google. >> good morning. it is wonderful to bhere with everyone and such an honor to spend time this week with presidents biden and ruto. secretary ray mannedo for -- raimondo to what has been an extraordin

announcements. the culmination of a lot of work an extended time. i think it's fair to say we are ered here in an absolutely extraordinary time, not just the anniversary of an important bilateral relationship, but at a time when technology is opening up a whole new set opportunities. new possibilities, new solutions. when i talk to google scientists who have been at google since inception, they praoetedly say -- repeatedly say, this is the most exciting time in computer science. because of the opportunities that it can unlock for economic growth, advancements in health care, addressing inequities in education, dealing with climate-related issues and so much more. and so today i'm very proud to be here because we're announcing new investment commitments to ensure that kenya and africa broadly can realize the benefits

of what this technology can do. we're really proud at google that wstarted our journey in kenya 17 years ago which for google was at the earliest days of our life as a comny we began with an investment in kenya, our first office, in nairobi. and what we saw then, a young entrepreneurial population, a country that was focused on the■ possibilities of technology. that's even more profound today as many of you in the room have witnessed firsthand. a in africa, a digitally savvy workforce, a regional financial andding destn for f.d.i. and for venture capital. and so our announcements today from google really continue this journey that we've been on with president ruto and kenya and it's really in three key areas. connectivity, security and

skilling and i'm going to quickly touch on each one of them. in terms of connectivity, reliable internet connectivity is the foundation on which we can unlock all the rest that i'm going to take you through and this week we announced the construction of the first ever fiber opc route connecting kenya and australia. it's a terrestrial route that ts in kenya, goes through africa, then down to south africa, then connects to australia. we've named this cable moja. [applause] for those of you who were not applauding, it's because you don't know swahili and in swahili that means unity and we think it is a very fitting name for our cable. we're really proud of what this does to help increase reach, reliability, resilience of digital kefbgttificity on the -- connectivity on the african continent. we're really proud we built this with our partner who is also here today and liquid telecomwho

have been our implementing partner as built the terrestrial route which was a true engineering feat running through one of the most difficult routes but built to design to carry enhanced traffic and run on solar power. where there is no grid connectivity. really proud of this and in particular we embarked on this project years ago and the recent outages that many in the room are very aware of underscore the imperative for this strong, resilient connectivity. second, one of the greatest threats to ever company, every government, every individual is cybersecurity. so to fortify kenya, google is partnering with kenya on cybersecurity as they digitize government services, employing google's cybersecurity shield to protect kenyan citizens on their platform and we're really proud that governors around the world are turning to google's cybersecurity shield to defend against cyber attacks, an area in which we've invested for quite some time. and then finally, to unlock all

of this, it's about talent and making sure that everyone everywhere has the ability to benefit from what is the technology and the opportunities that come. i spent most of my career in finance and what i saw there is you can't have sustainability economic growth if we do not ensure that we have inclusive growth and so we are very proud to be expanding our digital training programs called grow with google and what we've announced is that we're adding $15 million of training through our digital skilling program, our digital sprinters initiative, to ensure that everyone has access to the training that then gives them the opportunities that are available with this technology. and what we're already seeing is the impact. the impact of a.i. applied to so many solutions. so as an example, one of the places that really i found quite moving is in maternal health. what we're seeing with a.i. is you can allow nonspecialists to

go into rural markets and help women understand when they need to get to a hospital, when we need to intervene. the notion of what a.i.■ú can do for early diagnosis, for intervening to really democratize what is the benefit of health care, is just one application. we can see it in education, in agriculture, andhave this foundation, a foundation on which to build, a foundation that's a continuation of a journey that was started some time ago. and look forward to our continued investments in strengthening the relationship in kenya and across africa. just want to thank you all for being here and all that you're individually and collectively doing. thank you. [applause] >> please welcome our second panel. scaling opportorting the digitam to accelerate inclusion. ♪

♪ >> good morning, everyone. i'm pleased to be leading us in a conversation about a topic that has been at the forefront of the discussions this week, as

we celebrate the historic state visit of the president of kenya to the united states. and that is really the question of scaling opportunity in the digital ecosystem. my name is kendra. i'm pleased to serve as president of the u.s.-africa " in the interest of time,■e'm going to just let you know that the bios for our esteemed leaders are available on q.r. codes that are available in the rooms but wreng to have a chance to, as they say, allow those who need no introduction to present themselves to all of you. i'm g.d.p. going to begin to my right. again, with a person who needs no introduction, the vice chair and president of microsoft, mr. brad smith. welcome. >> thank you. >> would you talk to us about

the connection microsoft has to kenya? >> we've been in kenya a long time. it's been a huge source of development for us. we have more than 500 employees, software developers, working in our africa development center in nairobi. but i think ruth captured it well. this has been an extraordinary week and i think it's just so fitting that today is the cap stone for it. because it is all ou think, investment that is being driven, not just by the potential of but the reality of the present. for us at microsoft, that's all about partnering with others. it starts with the partnership with g-42, our most important partner for investing in kenya. and a billion-dollar commitment to build a data center run entirely on green geothermal energy. [applause] get more into it, but it's about connectivityt

security. it is about putting a.i. to work not only in english, but in swahili, with a swahili-english large language model. it's about making kenya a trusted hub for all of east africa, with a trusted data zone being put together with the help of the kenyan government, all of this with the support of the u.s. and the u.a.e. governments as well. >> that's tremendous. thank you so much. that's quite a connection to kenya indeed. we are going to be joined by our esteemed panelist in a moment but let me turn to dr. james, someone who is an eminent person and needs no introduction. but would you tell us about the work that equity group holdings is leading not just in kenya but on behalf of the continent, just a brief introduction? >> thank you very much. equity group is a financial group with operations in eastern, central africa.

forecasts on the bottom of the pyramid, one of the most financially crucial, financial groups from refugees, socio safety net beneficiaries, all the■ way, my he could, small, medium enterprises. and we're big beneficiaries of applications that microsoft offers in the region. >> thank you. i'm pleased that we are■ joined by mastercard. >> thank you very much. apologies for being late. i guess in this context, the only excuse is if it's a conversation with president ruto. otherwise i hate coming late. so our connection to africa goes back about 15 years.

mastercard tried to unlock the entrepreneurial power of africa by providing financial inclusio■ solutions, giving an opportunity to be part of the digital economy. what does it mean? it means making it possible to make payments and receive payments for people and businesses in an easy and secure fashio that's what we do at mastercard. and we felt with 1.4 billion people, we have to make this available to everybody because for us that's long-term market building, that is commercial sustainability, and of course for each and every country, that's a big unlock to really deliverl economy. kenya is the host of our global financial inclusion lab where we took these solutions and the learnings we had in africa around the world. today we're invested in africa across 45 countries and we're powering the digital economy

there. the thing, though, is the digital economy is not just about payments. it's about a broader set of digital services. we just heard, i listened to you from behind the stage, there's a lot of things that microsoft does on this and many other companies and i think here's a big unlock and i think the future connection to kenya should be around coordinating the efforts of the private sector, really putting the might in the reach of the private sector to work in a coordinated fashion, not all things. so i'm excited to announce a new initiative, initially co-chaired by the african development bank and mastercard, called the made alliance africa. made is an acronym that stands for mobilizing access to the digital economy, maid alliance africa. remember the maide part. and basically what the effort is, to deliver on a goal of pulling 100 million people and

businesses into digital services over the course of the next 10 years. we're excited about founding partners. two of which sit here on the stage. microsoft and equity bank. and the whole idea works as follows. imagine a farmer in kenya. the farmer needs to -- needs $100 to buy seeds. imagine tzed and it's digitizedn a way that it works in an offline and an online environment because you have both in kenya. that data is available to equity bank and equity bank can give different working capital access to this farmer because there's a data track record for that. and imagine this same digitized solution gives visibility to market prices and allows the farmer to be connected to global fair market trading prices. and a virtual circle begins. that is exactly what the alliance is trying to do. one company provides

connectivity, another company, in this case mastercard, provides the digitization, a bank provides capital access. there's a set of foundations that provide skillingother educl aspects of it. it all comes together in declared communities. so you have an ecosystem chang instead of everybody doing their own thing. very similar concept. very hard to execute. that's why 10 years, but some of the biggest companies on the continent and the world are on it. very exciting. >> that is exciting. and say that again for us. tell us what maide stands for so people remember it. >> mobilizing access to the digital economy in alliance. made. >> i believe that's connected in some ways. we have some collusion here on the stage, we have three of you together. we should have mixed up the seating. i believe that's connected to some of the work you're doing in response to the call to action from the vice president. is that connected as well? >> oh, absolutely. so back i think in april, vice

president harris said, we need the private sector to step it up, very clear call to action, here's the answer. >> wonderful. thank you. and congratulations for all you're doing in that space. sherrill, welcome. please the work that black ivy group is doing in kenya. >> thanks. it's a pleasure to be here. i want to thank certainly thank you for hosting this panel. and i'm really excited to hear about all of the transformations that are happening here because we are the off taker. so maybe as a place to start, black ivy is a company that i founded now 10 years ago and have been operating on the continent in ghana, kenya and tanzania. and in doing that what we do is we focus on essentials. food, housing, health care, logistics, we build those businesses from scratch to establish a foundation. then we go about ensuring that they are creating the value for the regions and for the people where we are operating. in kenya we have the pleasure of doing food production and our

number one partner are farmers and we are looking at the ways in which you can monumentally transfer just even one value chain by ensuring that's guaranteed offtake. we have the privilege of now being a partner with k.f.c. and they are going to extend their partnership for three years so we will be able to drive the kind of transformation and offer the kind of opportunities that farmers are looking for for the guaranteed offtick after they have access to finance, after they have the kind of technical support they need. what they really need also is a consistently there with the kind of pricing that allows them to reliabilitiy sreufpbt -- reliably invest in seeds and the kind of investments that are there. we are deeply excited. we know that this means in the end not only does k.f.c. use 15 containers on the water every month, it means about 1.7 metric tons of carbon emissions that will not happen because the potatoes will be grown in kenya and they will be processed in kenya and and they will be processed in kenya, and they will be sold there, so we are very excited

about everything that each of you all are doing. kendra: thank you for that. building value chains, which is a great priority, i think also speaks to the work being done in the space, value change in the digital space. if i might think of that point a little bit,■v increasing accesso open, interoperable, reliable internet for african communities across sectors, we just heard a example of, is truly essential for expanding greater economic growth across the continent. i might put this to all of you, andbe i will start with you to kick this off, what are the greatest obstacles to achieving that goal in kenya, and how is equity withholding working to be able to expand greater access for economic growth? >> thank you very much. it is true for inclusion, it is

essential for access to economic opportunity, for greater inclusion, whether it is financial, inclusion of all kinds. essentially for digitalization, it is convenience, and then it empowers the individual, because you give them that power to process and transact for themselves, and everything that goes with that. but for us, the financial system , digitization allows us to significantly reduce the cost of financial sovereignty. it definitely leads to a backend system. it allows us to scale debt quickly.

it has held back digitization in the african continent, of course, initially, cross sector. the backbone is cross structure. we are excited about particularly, whether it is microsoft or mastercard, the backbone infrastructure, together with the government. the send, of course, is policy framework. the policy framework came too late, and people did not adopt interoperability as fact. without the interoperability, it is a huge hindrance to connectedness, and he needs to be addressed, at policy level. the biggest challenge is the capacity of lead users. when you talk about particulay t

only lack the connectedness, but they need to be capacity to come they need to enhance, and lastly, we talk tecol but the consumer is not as enlightened, and what you see is not. so broadly, what we've tried to address is to seek pattern issues. that is why today we will be announcing major, infrastructure into end, because this is more than infrastructure that could be able to connect with the rest of the world. the second, it is no longer about legacy systems. we must move toward industrial

technology. we are lucky that we have $200 million up to the year 2030.jb we will provide the processing capability. then we have cloud capability. it is only when you have those basic infrastructures that you are able to do. the second aspect partnerships and corporations. as michael said, when it comes to small-scale farmers, the global infsture that mastercard has, that you could then use that infrastructure. then you outsource, regional, you solve that to a global company. thank you. kendra: thank you for that. i would notice you talked about

key tenants in the digital transformation with africa, next to the key tenants you just mentioned, brat, in the context of the announcement you made, infrastructure being the backbone, digital preservation and scaling opportunity, workforce opportunity, the policy mix, the ecosystem. can you talk about the work that microsoft is doing and not just responding to that call to action but the work that you all are doing in that digital transmission agenda? brad: sure. i would highlight two aspects here and put them into the context of the opportunities and challenges we all have the opportunity to address. the first is connectivity. there's 54 million people who live in kenya, and we need to bring the internet really at broadband speed to everyone, and what they we have to remember for all of africa is it is a continent where 43% of the population still lacks access to

electricity. and in so many ways, while the backbone is indispensable, it is the last mile that is the most difficult, especially when people do not have access to electricity. but i think there is so much about the power of partnerships, really the point you make it at microsoft, we have been working on this in kenya for 15 years, with partnerships with mawingu, the company whose name is what healy means cloud. and in working with coca, they ha■wve pioneered a business modl that provides people with electricity and the internet at the same time, and i think that is a brilliant collaboration you have alluded to it, we have to ensure that this moves

forward in a way that starts to close the gender gap, and that has been a priority for vice president harris. she made it a big theme last year when she reached out to people like michael and me and asked us, what can we do to help across africa? meg whitman, you talk about three extraordinary women. and what it has brought together this week. as we focus on scaling, as we are, as you heard, are and google and others are, we need to recognize that we, especially in the tech sector, are an industry where women arez underrepresented. you see this in the united states and in kenya. if you look at the early numbers for ai adoion, unfortunately, it is continuing, this divide, yethi and i think that, too, is calling for new initiatives of the source that are being launched here this week but i

think can bring us all together on a sustained basis. kendra: i think that is wonderful, and as you note, if there is no access, then there is no ability to scale, and as those gaps continue to widen, it only creates more inequality and set us back. thank you for that and for the opportunity to call on a fourth aordinary woman this morning, cheryl mills, on our panel. i'm struck by, in this conversation, that we are talking about scaling opportunity, partnerships in the digital, but how much agriculture has come up in this conversation. i think that speaks to the impact that the digitalit is bet impacts everything. i might ask you, cheryl, you haven't been on the government side as well as the business side and seeing the partnership and seeing it in your work, can you share how stakeholders some of both in government, here in

the united states come across the continent, collaborate to facilitate better investment and trade partnerships in the digital economy but also in the diaspora to be part of the effort. cheryl:ank you for that. i had the pleasure and privilege of working in the state department, with president obama, secretary clinton, in championing the future. how can we go about in so many emerging markets making investments that would be long-term impactful? how do we think about not only the digitization with the digital economy and make sure we are applying it in those areas that are impactful, particularly across africa could obviously come agriculture is a big part.

when we were sitting on the government side, it was always the hardest figure out how to get together in partnership, so it is inspiring to see the level of partnerships already happening. but i do think the most important thingunle. we think about partnership as e stage when really it is the 15 years, 10 years of work that people are doing behind the scenes, and then being accountable when they show up for having their part. that accountability is starts to be part of governmt as well. art partners, but we have to deliver on our promises and commitments in a timely way. we have to have the leadership of kenya and people and can yet to speak to the partnerships and their needs in an intentional way about what thing what matters for them. but then when the private sector can crowd in and be the kind of thoughtful and deliberate partner of delivering what is sought, of, in ensuring of delivering what was sought, it

is delivered in a meaningful way, and i'm excited to be here, because this is a chance. kendra: that's wonderful. =wank you for that fit i want to sort of stick with you maybe to help us go through some closing thoughts, and i want to work with you -- start with you, cheryl, and work our way down t thinking of technologies and platforms that are critical to scaling technology in the innovation inc. a system of which these leaderships are a part, at the heart of the partnership. we talked about government's involvement, we talked about business involvement, but we have not talkedl institutions and stakeholders. perhaps put some closing thoughts, if i could ask each of you to share, how can u.s government and private sector, in collaboration with regional institutions, and stakeholders likehe development bank, really strengthen authorities to help drive innovation, the cheryl: regionalthe

ground in a very different way, and i think that means we are able to lean into their expertise lean into their leadership to be able to understand the kind of for information that we seek. i have the benefits of having had the night safe government investing through usaid with us, allowing us to scale, which is important fopawe've also been le of the other banks who are there, who are right on the ground and can make a difference. from my perspective, the opportunity is in recognizing each individual's role, each institution's role, and where they can be excellent. i think when we do that well, then the partnership is like an orchestra, everybody is playing their p that's what i'm hoping they can do more of. thank you. and thank you for letting me be here today. it's nice to be here with everyone. kendra: thank you. michael, same question, please. michael: kate is a huge undertaking,■&■v opening up the

digital economy for africa. this will require new thinking and entirely new business cases that were not there fo that is risky. 10 years until payback and so forth. you needed private sectors and the regional institutions like the african deve come in and the risk some of that. you need government to come in and try out new things, to come to the table and bekp flexible, evolving regulation for new, commercial, sustainable business models, come together, because it cannot be a philanthropic exercise. public-private partnership in a coordinated fashion is absolutely essential. dr. mwangi: three things. first one is all of us coming together to make it affordable for the micro, small enterprises andwe need philanthropies, vernment, private sector can

make that happen. the second one is government initiatives, particularly to digitize. at that level, if we don't digitize, we don't digitize government, they are huge players and consumers. whether g2c, they could eventually provide the leadership. the last one we'll need to do is to ensure nobody is left behind, so we must assure digitization for equal opportunities. kendra: brad? brad: i would underscore two things. regional is efficient and government leadership is indispensable for creating the kind of stable, rule-based framework that will open up a larger marketma that brings together the entire east africa community, and part of e working on, in terms

of the data how and data and privacy and security laws that are needed, and that is global open up more opportunities for growth. because in the world today, it is not just countries of 5 with other countries of 50 million come often times it is regional collectives of countries, like you see in europe. but the other thing that is so important for us to leave here with, look at where we are, the american chamber of commerce. this is about business. and i think it is a good time for everybody to recognize that, in part because of the great leadership of people like presidentted states government, this is about long-term investment, in part, as michael mentioned, but this is the right time for american business to invest in kenya. it is the next best business

opportunity, when you look around the world at markets that are reaching that point, that you can see them really start to aci hope that the whole american business community will look at that today and this week. it is smart business as well as smart foreign relations for the united states. [applause] kendra:ould not a better way to wrap this conversation, if i may, as we, i might interpolate that. certainly president ruto knows that kenya means business and is open to business, and he has added another layer to that, that this is the opportunity to work in tandem, to promote the public-private partnerships, like the ones ushering in the digital space, to connect the -- expand the connectivity, so we can attend to filling those

gaps. i thank you all for giving us some food for thought today and for the opportunity to learn from you and learn more about the partnerships and the great things you are doing in your perspective sectors, to be sure that we are promoting digital inclusion. please join me in thanking these panelists. [applause] >> please welcome thegú honorabe gina raimondo, u.s. secretary of commerce. ♪sec. raimondo: hello, hello,

good morning. how is everyone this morning? yeah. i am fired up. ■+we are having a fantastic week with the kenyans. we put a lot of effort into it, and it has just been a tremendous few days. it has been such an honor, really an honor, to welcome president ruto for this historic visit, and i've had the pleasure and honor to join him for a number of events, with president biden, ambassador whitman, who is doing an unbelievable job. everybody give a hand to ambassador whitman. [applause] we were together in kenya about a month ago, and i am in awe,

meg, of your determination, commitment, expertise, it is making a huge difference. thank you. in any event, ruto, biden, the investor, and i were together wednesday with a group of kenyan and u.s. business leaders, talking about what more we can do together. and of course, last night we had a beautiful state dinner. you could just feel it in the room. you could sense the incitement in the room -- the excitement in the room about what we have done, the momentum we have, and where we will go from here. the key at the dinner and now is how do we seize this momentum of this historic visit to do what is next? we cannot go home, in my case, which■ss■ is across the street,n

your case, back to kenya, wherever you go to, we cannot just go home, feel excited for the weekend, and move on. we can't do it. president ruton the u.s.-kenyan economic relationship, we have to go from ideas to action and opportunities to investment. that is what every one of us has to think. i'm going to think myself, what can i do to take the excitement, the buzz, the momentum, and put it into an investment. by the way, has been qte incredible, the announcements we have made from google, huge announcement in infrastructure, digital upscaling of millions of kenyans. same thing with microsoft, the new data center, upscaling

mastercard, we just had the ceo up here, coca-cola, over $175 million investment. that is fantastic. now more, right? how can we do even more than that? i think under president ruto's leadership, your leadership, what is happening in kenya, the entrepreneurial activity in kenya, kenya is leading the way to change the narrative in africa, the whole continent. kenya is a scene of optimism, democracy, rule of law, entrepreneurial,xñ young population, a culture that encourages risk-taking. that is a very big deal. not true everywhere. and, increasingly, it is either on behalf of u.s. investors and entrepreneurs and tech companies

to invest. and so i was there a month ago, as i said, and i felt it, i saw it firsthand, i took with me to present's advisory council on doing business in africa, i met with women leaders in technology, i met with entr the large u.s. also met with venture capitalists. and the fact is, when i was reading my book, when i was preparing for the visit, i was told, kenya attracts four times as much venture capital per capita, and in absolute terms, then any other country in africa. and after being there and experiencing it, i see why. i see why. so the truth is, the policies that presidenttion is pursuing,s deep and abiding commitment to

democracy, transparency, and the rule of law, and the entrepreneurialism of the kenyan people, it is unlocking new opportunities, changing the narrative, in kenya and, quite frankly, on the whole continent. the thing i have heard over and over again throughout this week, and when i came back from kenya, from the business leaders i took with me to kenya, is this -- i did not realize how much opportunity there was. so that's opening that we have to walk through. the door is open, and we have to walk through. pkthe work you are doing here today will help us chart a future of shared prosperity, not aid -- though we do need aid -- but more investment, opportunity, entrepreneurship, and trade, for sustainable economic development on the continent. i feel like we have done so much, but honestly, we are just

at the beginning. we are just at the beginning. so i am thrilled to bei am comm. president ruto said to me, "gina, you are a friend of kenya." it's i'm a friend, but even more than that, i'm committed to continuing the work that you all are working on every single day. so i thank you, i want to thank president ruto and his administration, i want to thank my incredible counterpart who has so much energy for this work, i wantcoons, who has beeno kenya and the continent for decades. [applause] yep, senator coons. if he were up here, he would be speaking swahili. i cannot do that.