Lessons for Kenya from France’s Sh25b tech city

Known as Station F, it will be the world’s biggest start-up campus. The idea was pioneered in 2014 – a year after former President Mwai Kibaki unveiled Konza Techno City – by French entrepreneur and philanthropist Xavier Niel in Paris. Station F will host about 1,000 start-ups.PHOTO: COURTESY

As Kenya painstakingly tries to build an awe-inspiring technopolis in Makueni County, the French are preparing to unveil a simple but grand idea in April 2017 – a start-up campus.

Known as Station F, it will be the world’s biggest start-up campus. The idea was pioneered in 2014 – a year after former President Mwai Kibaki unveiled Konza Techno City – by French entrepreneur and philanthropist Xavier Niel in Paris. Station F will host about 1,000 start-ups.