Kenyan and Swedish firms target new trade deals at forum

Kenyan Ambassador to Sweden Diana Kiambuthi. [File, Standard]

Kenyan and Swedish firms will this week explore ways to grow trade and investments between the two countries at a business and investment forum in Nairobi.

Kenyan Ambassador to Sweden Diana Kiambuthi said the forum, which runs between tomorrow and Thursday, would look into ways to grow investments and trade, particularly in the ICT sector.

The Swedish firms, she noted, are keen on working with the huge pool of talent in the Kenyan ICT sector. The forum, which has been organised by the Swedish East Africa Chamber of Commerce (Sweacc), is themed “digitisation for social-economic development.”

“We thought it is relevant because of the economic activities that are taking place in the region that are aligned with ICT,” she said.

“We have a huge youthful population and these are the people actively involved in the ICT sector, which is actually the case around the world. We have an opportunity to ensure that our youth are employed or self-employed. They can create SMEs that can grow to be big companies.”

“A major challenge for start-ups in Kenya has been financing. One of the sessions at the event will be on financing and we could be able to enable them to figure out to get financing and in their ideas off ground.”

Ms Kiambuthi added that there is huge interest among Swedish firms in the local technology sector.

“The companies are attracted by our young developers and are looking for avenues to tap into this talent,” she said.

The investment forum is in its tenth year.