Sh75b of deals signed on global summit’s day one

From left: General Electric (GE) Africa President Jay Ireland, Overseas Private Investment Corporation CEO Elizabeth Littlefield, Weber Shandwick Chairman Jack Leslie and GE Sales Director for sub-Saharan Africa Deo Onyango when they announced a partnership with Kipeto Energy to construct a 100 megawatt wind power project in Kajiado County.[PHOTO: ANDREW KILONZI/STANDARD]

 

Kenya’s economy stands to win big after investors, government ministries and entrepreneurs signed more than Sh75 billion worth of deals at the first day of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) yesterday.

The avalanche of business deals and grants came from several companies including General Electric (GE), Chase Bank, IBM, Fanisi Capital, the Mara Foundation among others.

GE began an afternoon of deal announcements at the sidelines of the GES Summit by revealing a partnership with clean energy firm Kipeto Energy to build a new wind farm in Kajiado County.

The project, which will be spearheaded by General Electric Kenya will see the construction of a 100 megawatts of wind power project, with General Electric Africa being the sole equipment supplier as well as providing a 15-year service agreement.

The investment comes on the back of the company’s deal with the Ministry of Health earlier this year for a radiology modernisation contract in 98 hospitals across the 47 counties. “This is a major partnership that signals growing ties between the public and private sectors,” said GE Africa President and Chief Executive Jay Ireland. “GE made significant commitments recently, which include $2 billion (Sh200 billion) worth of investment across Africa.”

Chase Bank

The announcements by US firm and Kipeto Project were followed by a Sh60 billion funding announcement by Chase Bank Kenya.

The funds will be set aside to loan small and medium enterprises over three years - providing credit lines to entrepreneurs at less stringent conditions than conventional commercial banks.

“We see a huge opportunity for Kenyan small business owners to access credit and with the advancements we have made in the credit referencing systems, we should no longer be tying business financing to the availability of collateral,” said Chase Bank Kenya Chief Executive Paul Njaga.

US technology firm IBM, also made an announcement on the sidelines of the event. Flanked by Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, IBM Country Head Nik Nesbit said the company will invest $60 million (Sh6 billion) across Africa with a huge percentage of this expected to be directed to Kenya.

Mr Nesbit noted that the Kenyan component of the deal will see IBM partner with the Kenya Education Network to deliver advanced hands-on certification courses to faculty and students of 50 local universities.

Accelerator fund Village Capital also announced a $13 million (Sh1.3 billion) partnership to provide financing to early stage start-ups in the country. The deal will see Village Capital inject capital in 20 start ups across East Africa over the next five years, with financing from the Case Foundation, Chilton Capital Management, Sorenson Impact Foundation, and the USaid.

Another US technology firm Microsoft, two days ago, announced a deal in partnership with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the US Government to begin financing discussions with Mawingu Networks, a provider of solar-powered wireless Internet across rural Kenya.

Mawingu networks will receive up to $4 million (Sh400 million) to scale its projects across the country.

Mawingu Networks utilises a network of solar-powered “nomadic” wireless internet stations to provide last-mile connectivity access to areas that cannot economically access the Internet.

Kenyan entrepreneurs also did not leave empty handed as three start ups walked away with a total of Sh7.5 million in terms of seed money. Umati Capital, Kytabu Inc and software company Craft Silicon all bagged Sh2.5 million each in terms of seed money from US global bank, CitiBank.

The two-day summit, which was opened by US president Barack Obama and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, comes to a close today with more deal announcements expected from several other companies and investment funds.