Kenya could be staring at mega investment deals following the visit by President William Ruto to the US.
In a case of Silicon Valley leaders meeting with leader of the “Silicon Savannah”, the President has pushed for more investments into the country.
Already, Kenya and US firm, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), have penned $60 million (Sh8.8 billion) agreement to improve urban connectivity and promote economic growth in the country.
Kenya signed the deal following a visit to an investment forum at Silicon Valley in San Francisco to convince US businesses to invest in Kenya.
The programme, jointly designed by the Kenyan government and MCC aims to address challenges that limit connectivity in urban areas.
It will focus on Nairobi, where it aims to strengthen institutions and support improvements in long-term planning for integrated, accessible and safer transportation and land use.
MCC threshold programmes are grants that allow partner countries to demonstrate their commitment to democratic governance, economic freedom and investments in their people through targeted policy reforms and capacity building programmes.
In so doing, partner countries focus resources and support to tackle constraints to economic growth.
Ruto’s tour is also eyeing for investments from the Franklin Templeton, one of the leading global investment management firms based in California.
“The firm has shown interest in entering Kenya. I encouraged them to exploit the great opportunities that our country offers,” the President said.
Ruto, who is in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, has been engaging world leaders in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the conference, among them the Switzerland President Alain Berset.
He said Kenya is keen to explore more opportunities for cooperation with Switzerland to bolster trade and investment.
In a one of the engagements, Ruto revealed that the Development Finance Corporation will facilitate private sector investment in key sectors of the economy.
“They will avail more than $863 million (Sh127 billion) to Kenyan companies to fund health systems, small and medium enterprises, agribusiness logistics and SMEs development, among others,” Ruto said in a statement.
Of the meetings, the one that stood out was Ruto’s meeting with Sam Altman the founder of beleaguered WorldCoin and OpenAI.
It is not clear what the President and Altman discussed. Worldcoin operations in Kenya have halted and the company is under investigations.
During his visit to Apple, the President unveiled a collaborative venture between M-Pesa and Apple, with the aim of bolstering M-Pesa's worldwide presence.
The President revealed plans for Apple to explore investments in environmentally friendly data centres.
Still on the sidelines of the UNGA, President Ruto met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on September 19.
The President pledged his support for Ukraine during this time of war following an invasion by Russia.
“We believe in a world order based on rules,” President Ruto said.
When President Ruto met World Bank President Ajay Banga, he said the bank is a valuable partner to Kenya, providing technical and financial assistance towards development programmes.
He said Kenya and Africa are looking forward to the bank's support towards the realisation of the Nairobi Declaration on climate change in 2023.