Nairobi riding high on global summits, with more lined up

Delegates during the 14th Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) in Nairobi on July 19, 2016. Kenya is riding high on international conferences. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Come October 28 and the Broadcast, Film and Music Africa 2016 conference takes place in Nairobi with a confirmed delegates’ list of 2,500 people drawn from TV, radio, film, music, mobile technology, telcoms, advertising, animation and gaming segments.
  • The Call Centre Africa Conference takes place on August 29 to 31 in Nairobi, while the top-level East Africa Water Summit — bringing together presidents from East Africa, governors and private sector players in the water sector — will be held on November 30.

Nairobi’s stature as Africa’s conference capital continues to rise, with a series of global events slated for the rest of the year.

Top on the list is the high-level meeting bringing together African heads of state for the Japanese government-sponsored Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development, scheduled for August 27 and 28. At the event, African investors will meet their peers from Japan’s private sector.

On October 28, the 2016 Broadcast, Film and Music Africa (BFMA) conference takes place in Nairobi, with a confirmed delegates list of 2,500 people from TV, radio, film, music, mobile technology, telcoms, advertising, animation and gaming.

The BFMA conference is the continent’s largest annual gathering of creative arts and the digital media industry, including innovators and professional players. It will host 120 conference speakers with exhibitors on the sidelines.

At the UN headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi, the 2016 Sustainable Futures Conference is slated for August 30 to September 2. It will be the final conference for the EU-funded university co-operation JENGA (Joint Development of Energy-Efficient Courses for Sustainable Housing in Eastern Africa).

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Attendants will come from academia, professionals and students from across the world with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The conference’s major emphasis will be promotion of energy-efficient and sustainable architecture, and construction in the Global South.

The Call Centre Africa Conference takes place on August 29 to 31 in Nairobi, while the top-level East Africa Water Summit — bringing together presidents from East Africa, governors and private sector players in the water sector — will be held on November 30.

With African governments and private sector players adopting information technology in their operations, the third Africa Hackon Annual Cyber Security Conference is also set for Kenya’s capital, bringing together government officials dealing in oil and gas, power and utilities, infrastructure, policy makers, regulation, law enforcement, forensics and education sector players.

From the private sector, finance, telecommunications, healthcare, commerce companies, audit firms, education institutes, insurance companies and manufacturing have also confirmed attendance on July 28 at a Nairobi hotel.

Nairobi, which is riding high as the leader in mobile money, also plays host to the continental AITEC Banking and Mobile Money Comesa conference on August 30.

Women in technology from across the world will attend the Socially Keen Individuals Redefining Tech Spaces (SKIRTS) conference slated for August 16. The forum seeks to create awareness on online harassment of women and girls, with a core purpose of offering digital security training to the gender so as to enhance online protection.

HARDWARE, SOFTWARE DEALERS

On August 30, the 2016 Optix East Africa will draw dealers in IT hardware and software to town. East Africa’s experts in fibre-optic communication will meet to do business and learn about the latest innovations and strategies driving forward fibre-optic connectivity in the region.

Kenyans from the diaspora converge on Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, on July 26 to 28 for the fifth Diaspora Development Dialogue (DDD5), whose theme will be “Actions Needed to Reduce Remittance Costs in Africa”.

The diaspora forum is jointly organised by the Foreign ministry and the African Institute for Remittances.

On nutrition, Catholic Relief Services on July 26 to 28 will convene a global Integrated Nutrition Conference for global leaders on food matters, water and sanitation, health and early childhood development, as well as agriculture, gender and education.

It seeks to share experiences on ways of improving nutrition through an action plan for public and private sector players.

Participants will share tools, technologies, business models and multi-sectoral strategies that improve the nutritional health of vulnerable people.

The Nairobi calendar of events looks clogged to the end of the year, with more conferences being booked at various venues.

Interestingly, recent visits by heads of state from Israel, India, Turkey, the US, Italy and from around Africa have provided Kenya with a wide clientele for its hospitality industry.