The Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy, and Sports held a breakfast meeting at Villa Rosa Kempinski.
The event marked the end of the 2023-2024 Presidential Innovation Award (PIA) Accelerator Program and launched applications for the 2024-2025 cohort.
During the meeting, Hon. Kipchumba Murkomen, the Cabinet Secretary, emphasized the importance of innovation in job creation and wealth generation.
He highlighted plans to expand the PIA program to four categories, targeting youth, university students, mature startups, and researchers.
Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports, Hon. Ismail Maalim Madey, highlighted the success of the previous PIA cohort, noting significant improvements in job creation, market expansion, and profit margins among participating startups.
Hon. Maalim said, that the grants have been instrumental in assisting innovators with research and development, leading to the creation of impactful solutions that benefit our communities.
The CEO of KeNIA Dr. Tony Omwansa unveiled the plans for Kenya Innovation Week 2024, themed “Re-imagining Africa’s Future:
The event aims to showcase Kenya’s innovation ecosystem and align with the African Union Agenda 63 – creating the Africa we want.
KIW-2024 will be running concurrently, and the AfCFTA Youth Symposium which will feature the Wall of African Textiles Fashion Show and African Bloggers Panel, focusing on youth integration in continental trade.
AfCFTA links with the innovators to the market as well as identifying gaps in the market that would need innovation.
The meeting recognized thirty PIA innovators who successfully completed the program for the 2023/2024 cohort and the launch of registration for the 2024/2025 cohort.
