Global Alliance Africa partners with ASENTI in Kenya to connect the African entrepreneurial ecosystem on a global stage

In a continuous effort to drive knowledge transfer and collaboration that foster long-lasting, strategic partnerships between Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa and the UK, Global Alliance Africa at Innovate UK KTN has partnered with African Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation to host the 8th Annual Conference in Nairobi, Kenya on 10 November 2022.

Under the theme ‘Innovating for Africa’s next frontier’, the gathering is designed as a premier physical and virtual (hybrid) business summit that brings together over 500 delegates and over 30 speakers and exhibition companies from across Africa and globally, 30 countries and over 50 investors and investment companies globally to increase economic participation and create sustainable jobs and growth through science and innovation.

While Kenya is a regional leader in innovation, ranked number 62 globally and number one for startups in Eastern Africa, a large percentage of entrepreneurs still lack access to the professional networks of more experienced business owners or business graduates. This means they aren’t able to access mentorship, funding, more prosperous markets, and the many other benefits that connecting to leaders in the industry can bring about.

Global Alliance Africa’s Country Lead for Kenya, Sheilah Birgen notes:

Our aim as Global Alliance Africa is to accelerate innovations that promote inclusive economic growth, job creation and reduction of poverty. We do this by creating strategic connections by providing platforms that will bring together stakeholders, entrepreneurs, academics and even corporates that have a common purpose.

We are honoured to receive the opportunity to facilitate conversation on innovation across the continent as we strongly believe that the only way African entrepreneurs can showcase their talent globally is through strategic collaboration. Such collaborations have played a vital role in the scaling of our entrepreneurs in Kenya, such as the founder of Plusfarm, Stephen Mwongela, adds Birgen.

Through Global Alliance Africa’s Place-Based Innovation (PBI) networking approach, Mwongela had the opportunity to leverage UK and pan-African expertise, networks and resources in order to maximise the creation of inclusive market access, funding and investment opportunities through innovation knowledge transfer. He will  be speaking at the ASENTI under the Agribusiness panel: Mainstreaming; youth-specific efforts to enforce the role of agripreneurs in African agricultural transformation for sustainable food security in Africa. Other topics will include Green Energy & Sustainability, Health Innovation, Education and Technology, Financial Technology, Women in Business, and Media new technological trends.

The summit will take place in Nairobi, Kenya on 10 November 2022. Delegates can register here for the physical summit, and here for the virtual experience.

About Global Alliance Africa

The Global Alliance Africa project is a six-year project funded by UK Aid through Innovate UK (GCRF) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

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