Nairobi to host two entrepreneurship events in February and April

Wanjiku Gitau ,Senior Marketing Executive Resolution Insurance presenting a sponsorship cheque for the SMEFest 2016 to Dorcas Muthoni, the lead organiser of the SME expo. Courtesy/ East African Press Service, Nairobi

The confirmed events include the Sankalp Africa Summit and the SME Festival 2016.

The Sankalp Africa Summit will be held from 25-26 February, 2016 at the Kenya School of Government, while the SME Festival 2016 will be held between 7 and 9 April, at the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) Nairobi.

The sixth Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) was co-hosted by the US and the Government of Kenya in Nairobi, and was the first of its kind to be held in sub-Saharan Africa.

The summit brought together over 1,000 entrepreneurs and investors from across the world who participated in outcome oriented sessions, mentoring programmes and had opportunities to showcase their work.

Details on the outcome of the GES indicate that more than $1-billion or Ksh100.72-billion was committed by investors to spur investments around the globe.

Sankalp Africa Summit, which is in its third edition, is an initiative of Intellecap, a global investment and advisory firm. The registration for the summit tickets it still ongoing here.

The Director of Sankalp Forum, Aparajita Agrawal, said the Sankalp Africa Summit will take a comprehensive look at the different strata of society which shape, influence, and stimulate inclusive and high-impact businesses, while also building markets to carry these businesses to scale, enabling them to reach their full potential.

“Africa has always had a leadership position in ICT and Technology, but increasing activity by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in sectors like healthcare, clean energy, agriculture and financial services is booming. To support the growth of such SMEs, Intellecap, has expanded Sankalp Forum, one of the world’s largest SME focused platforms to Africa,” he said.

He said over 800 delegates and reputed leaders are expected to participate in the Sankalp Africa Summit together with prominent social impact partners like World Bank Group, USAID, The Lemelson Foundation, Shell Foundation, Kenya Climate Innovation Center, Educate Global Fund, and ICCO Cooperation.

On the other hand, the SME Festival 2016 will host a thought leader’s conference, a leading SME Expo and growth seminars, that will enable the SMEs to develop local business models that can be exported to other regional and international markets.

The SME Festival 2016 is supported by, among others, Kenya Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Industrialization & Enterprise Development, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), Export Promotion Council (EPC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and Kenya Investments Authority.

“We want to keep up the momentum that was set by the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2015. This involves connecting entrepreneurs with the people they need for their businesses to grow. Our plan is to make the SME Festival an annual Africa event,” said Dorcas Muthoni, the lead organiser of the SME expo. Muthoni said entrepreneurs should register at www.smexpo.co.ke/ to attend the festival.

Agrawal further said Sankalp will recognise high potential entrepreneurs with the Sankalp Africa Award during the summit.

“Over the last two years, Sankalp has recognized 20 enterprises in Africa and facilitated investments worth US$ 200,000 (Ksh20.38 million) into one enterprise. Globally, Sankalp has supported 500 such businesses and channeled investments worth US$ 120 million (Ksh12.23 billion). This year, 13 enterprises will pitch to the audience at Sankalp to compete for the coveted Sankalp Africa Award,” he said.