Konza Technopolis Will Drive Digital Economy, CS Owalo Says

Information, Communication and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has described Konza technopolis, currently under construction, as the engine that will drive Kenya’s growth in the digital space.

The CS said that Konza, often described as Kenya’s Silicon Savannah, will lift the country and the entire Eastern Africa region into a prosperous digital space in the coming days.

“We are going to create millions of jobs and generate wealth through the digital opportunities from technopolis. Our young people need jobs. It is for us to avail the opportunities for them,” said Mr Owalo.

Kenya’s description of Konza as the Silicon Savannah borrows from the United States’ Silicon Valley in the southern San Francisco Bay Area of California.

Silicon Valley is home to many start-up and global technology companies. Apple, Facebook and Google are among the most prominent.

Mr Owalo, speaking at Kenyatta University, underscored the importance of ICT and the digital economy as the drivers of the country’s development.

He said that professionals have a critical role to play “in moving communities into the digital age, and into a future post-digital economy”.

“Those who will not adapt risk being left behind and even becoming irrelevant in the emerging world order,” Mr Owalo said when he was feted by Kenyatta University’s alumni class of 1994.

The colourful event at a Nairobi hotel attracted close to 100 former students working in various fields in the country and beyond.

Mr Owalo graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Studies.