Voices From the Room

The event opened with a guest briefing that brought the key actors in the room into alignment on what SEM Innovation Week is, what it is building toward and what each partner brings to the table.By 9:30 AM, the key addresses were underway — and the voices that took the podium set a tone that carried through the entire morning.

Prof. Robert Gateru, Vice Chancellor, Riara University opened with a warm and unequivocal welcome, committing Riara University’s full support to the initiative. 

Charles Kirui, Head of Innovations and Entrepreneurship, Riara University, reinforced why Riara was the right home for this launch. He highlighted that the university was not simply a venue but an active ecosystem partner, with cross-cutting faculties, a dedicated Robotics Centre and co-creation spaces built to take ideas from concept to creation. Riara is where academic talent meets real-world venture building, and that is precisely the intersection SEM Innovation Week is designed to occupy.

Martin W. Irungu, Executive Director, EmpServe Kenya, framed the morning with a clarification that ” This is not just a week but we are launching a movement.”

His challenge to the ecosystem was clearly that innovators need more than ideas. They need an enabling environment, clear infrastructure and strong investment. The real work is building the bridge between communities where problems exist, innovators in TVETs, universities and hubs, and the private sector where demand lives. SEM Innovation Week is that bridge, connecting Talent, Institutions, Markets and Capital across the region.

He rightly quipped, “It is not how big the innovation is. It is how big the problem the innovation is solving.”

Eng. Anthony Sang, Chief Manager of Construction Operations Management, Konza Technopolis Development Authority, brought the scale question into sharp focus. He highlighted that Konza is not just a technology park  but rather  a city-scale area of innovation, and the question it is focused on is exactly the question SEM Innovation Week is asking: how can innovations be commercialised at scale? The partnership between Konza and SEM Innovation Week signals that the answer begins at the grassroots and scales upward.

Amos W., Partnerships Lead, SIBASI and Microsoft, delivered a message that the room needed to hear: innovators and entrepreneurs in this region will not be building alone. Microsoft is ready to support across technology, tools and hosting — offering mentorship and practical resources to those solving real problems and contributing to the local economy. When global tech backs grassroots innovation, the trajectory changes.

Savio Wambugu, President, Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs (ACIH), brought the collective weight of 165 innovation hubs across Kenya’s regions into the conversation. ACIH’s mandate is to build sustainable, impactful solutions, expand access to partner pools and ensure that hubs across the country are empowering innovators and creating pathways to commercialisation. His words anchored the morning: “We are on a  mission to ensure that where you come from does not determine how far your idea can go.”

Martin Gathu, Executive Director, Nairobits, made one of the most compelling arguments of the morning for why young people must be at the centre of Kenya’s innovation story. Technology, he argued, should disrupt the status quo and unleash the creative genius in all of us. But young people do not just innovate — they localise and contextualise innovation. They are the first consumers of their own solutions. When a solution comes from the community it serves, it works.