Tech-savvy individuals, the business community and organizations drawn from across Africa have converged in Nairobi for the Seamless East Africa 2025 event to have a conversation about driving change in digital commerce to boost the economy. The two-day event held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, which saw companies showcase their products, brought together over 2,000 leading players in fintech, payments and digital commerce, as well as financial service industry decision-makers from large enterprises, small and medium enterprises, start-ups, NGOs, regulators and government. Speaking at the event, the Secretary ICT E-Government-In-Charge of Systems in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, Ms Mary Kerema, said the government is putting in place cyber security policies and regulations to curb cybercrimes and threats. Ms Kerema, a panellist who spoke on the topic 'The Transformative Power of New Open Payment Integrations for Consumers and Companies in Africa', told participants that cross-border discussions are being held in the East African Community so that countries can work together in coming up with seamless payments for online goods and visas, among other activities. She added that Africa and East Africa in particular are having conversations to build solutions for the region and its citizens, with the aim of liberating the region from importing solutions by creating its own solutions that are Africa-driven and domesticating them. "We need to build our own system and have a common currency and cybersecurity policies that can cut across Africa.
If we work together as Africa, we are stronger," she stated, adding that open-source intelligence will help the entire continent to grow and build its own indigenous model and objects. The Secretary of ICT announced that Kenya is setting up an open source that will help the young people to undertake their innovations. She at the same time disclosed that the government is coming up with policies that encompass emerging technologies, among them the blockchain, whose bill is currently in Parliament to regulate blockchain. "If we use blockchain, we will be able to identify owners of unclaimed assets," said Kerema. She said the Kenyan government is automating all its data and services it offers the citizenry to improve service delivery. She said the government has collaborated with the World Bank to automate government services.
The Secretary of ICT added that the government is keen on collaborating with citizens when developing technology solutions, which will be done through stakeholders' engagements. Kerema said the government has a programme for educating and guiding members of the public on internet use besides training trainers to train the youth and empower them to use technologies to monitor and package their data to earn income that can enable them to put food on the table. "Government wants the citizenry to be part of the solution from incubation to development.
This will make the citizens understand what they are using and use technology responsibly," she said. Kerema urged the youth in the country to visit the digital Ajira, Jitume and Konza Technopolis hubs, established by the government to provide them with digital jobs and promote their innovations, while assuring them of the government's support in scaling up their innovations. "Konza Hub is equipped and helps the youth to incubate their solutions, simulate their innovations to meet global standards and package them for export," she stated. During the event, 70 companies from various countries exhibited their products, among them from the United Kingdom, Kenya, China, South Africa, India, Bahrain, and Ireland. By Bernadette Khaduli
