President William Ruto has said Kenya is emerging as an attractive global investment destination for technology.
He said investments in the digital sector will enhance the country’s economic growth.
The President said the establishment of the Amazon Web Services Development Centre in Nairobi will create job opportunities and enhance skills development.
He said the Centre will make Kenya the second African hub from which its teams will be developing solutions for partners.
The launch comes just a fortnight after the President met AWS Executives in New York.
“We agreed on sustaining the development of a conducive business environment for them to expand their investment in Kenya,” he noted.
He spoke on Wednesday during the launch of the AWS development centre at Kofisi Riverside Square in Nairobi.
Present were Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, US Ambassador to Kenya Amb. Meg Whitman, Amazon Web Services Support Satheesh and Heddese AWS regional lead, public sector sub-Sahara Mr Robin Njiru.
President Ruto said Amazon’s choice of Kenya as its base to extend its global and African footprint was an endorsement of the country’s competitiveness in the digital sector.
“Kenya has emerged as one of the most exciting frontiers of global tech competitiveness, with high revolutionary potential across all Amazon,” he said.
President Ruto said efforts to strengthen education in the country are meant to enhance Kenya’s human capital.
“We will continue investing in education so that companies like Amazon can come to invest in Kenya,” he said.
Amb. Whitman pointed out that the launch of the AWS development centre is an endorsement of Kenya’s business environment.
“AWS is one of the most important tech companies in the world, the fact that they have decided to set up a development centre in Kenya speaks volumes about this country and this administration,” she said.
Governor Sakaja said the AWS development centre will create numerous opportunities for talented youth in the country.
“As a country, our cash crop is our talented and resilient youth,” he said.
Heddese said AWS is keen on working with the Government in leveraging technology to impact meaningful change in the country.
Njiru lauded the government’s decision to abolish the policy that required foreign-owned firms to sell at least 30% of their stakes to local investors.
He noted the Government is committed to making the digital economy a priority citing the digitisation of 5,000 government services and the development of support infrastructure.
