By Beatrice Obwocha
For along time, Nakuru has been regarded as a town of flamingos with tens of domestic and international tourists flocking to watch the pink birds.
However, another attraction has people flocking in droves.
The town is now being regarded as the fastest growing in East Africa as a conference and retreat centre for civil society organisations, parastatals, companies and various Government ministries as they seek serene environment for meetings.
A street in Nakuru town. The town was one of the most affected by post-election violence and most NGOs started conducting peace and reconciliation workshops there. Photo: file/standard |
Notable organisations that have held meetings in the town are USAid, UN, various government ministries, parastatals such as Kenya Power and Lighting, Geothermal Development Corporation and Mombasa based Kenya Maritime Authority.
Private companies and banks have also been holding conferences in Nakuru.
These conferences have filled in the void that low tourism season used to bring. A check in most hotels revealed that there are at least two seminars a day.
Influx of organisations
The marketing manager of one of the hotels, Christopher Komen, says there has been an influx in the number of organisations holding meetings and training in Nakuru.
"This started late 2008 after post-election violence," he says.
The town was one of the most affected by post election violence and most NGOs started conducting peace and reconciliation workshops there.
Komen says one advantage is that Nakuru is centrally located since it is about two and half hours from Nairobi, Eldoret and Kisumu.
"More and more organisations started having workshops and meetings here," he says.
He also attributes the rise in the number of conferences to Government’s recognition of capacity building of its employees.
Training civil servants
He recalls training on performance contracting for civil servants by the Office of the President in February this year when they had 300 participants.
With the high number of conferences, hotels have had to create room for conference halls.
A manager in another hotel says conferences are the main income earners for most hotels and bring about 80 per cent of business.
Another hotel manager, Ezekiel Kemboi, says even international organisations from US and Canada now prefer having their meetings in Nakuru.
He says this has also created employment and booming business for traders dealing in different commodities.
Kemboi says the prospects of Nakuru County are looking even brighter if attention is paid to infrastructure and other social amenities.
