President William Ruto visited to Silicon Valley in San Francisco Bay, California, to promote Kenya as a premier technology hub.
The President met with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Intel's Pat Gelsinger, Google CFO Ruth Porat, and Nike, GAP, and Levi Strauss executives.
Ruto praised Google in a series of tweets on Saturday for "actively contributing to Kenya's development by granting Ksh 600M (USD 5M) to enhance connectivity for crucial citizen services, assist in affordable smartphone device creation, and support SMEs through the Google Hustle Academy."
He also stated that Apple is collaborating with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) to improve healthcare technology and innovation in the country.
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"I believe that contact with companies such as Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Intel provides a firm grounding for our future tech entrepreneurs in an environment where possibilities continuously germinate and thrive, thus enriching Kenya's entrepreneurial dynamism," he stated.
At the same time, President Ruto urged worldwide tech behemoths to invest in Kenya as the "gateway to the Silicon Savannah," boasting of the country's potential as the continent's innovation capital.
President William Ruto also hinted at a collaboration between Apple and Safaricom's mobile money application M-Pesa to increase its reach.
“Safaricom is developing a partnership with Apple Inc to integrate MPESA and its Paypal platform to extend MPESA’s transactional reach globally,” he said.
President Ruto praised M-Pesa's reach in Africa, claiming that it has over 51 million customers and is present in seven countries.
He stated that the expansion of M-Pesa was significant in encouraging connectivity following Safaricom's newly launched 5G internet network, which made it the fastest on the continent.
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