Huawei Cloud Joins the Kenya AI & Cloud Pioneer Initiative to Accelerate Intelligence
May 19, 2025
[Nairobi, Kenya, May 16, 2025] Huawei Cloud successfully hosted its Huawei Cloud Kenya Summit 2025 in Nairobi, centered on the theme "Accelerate Intelligence, Ignite Smart Kenya" and the transformative power of AI across industries. The event brought together over 500 customers and partners from Kenya to exchange insights in digital transformation and intelligent upgrades in the AI era and collectively accelerate intelligence.
Accelerate Intelligence, Ignite Smart Kenya
In her opening remarks, Jacqueline Shi, President of Huawei Cloud Global Marketing and Sales Service, stated: "The best time to develop cloud and AI is now. For young Kenya, talent is the key. We will upgrade the current ICT training program with new technologies. For intelligent Kenya, AI is the foundation. We hope to build a sustainable AI foundation in Kenya to light-up more industries. For dynamic Kenya, practice is the approach. In the digital journey, the most important approach is to combine technology with industrial knowledge, and make more impossible possible. Huawei Cloud will cooperate with our customers and partners to build a young, intelligent, and dynamic Kenya together."
Jacqueline Shi, President of Global Marketing and Sales Service, Huawei Cloud
Gao Fei, CEO of Huawei Kenya, commented: "Huawei has grown together with Kenya for 27 years, always moving in step with Kenya's development, from building communication networks to today's work in enterprise, cloud, and digital power. We are committed to helping Kenya build a smart future by leveraging AI & cloud. Huawei looks forward to continuing our hand-in-hand work with Kenya, our customers, and partners to build prosperous, inclusive, digital, and smart Kenya."
Gao Fei, CEO of Huawei Kenya
Mr. Washington Okoth, Secretary for ICT Infrastructure at Kenya's Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy (MICDE), delivered a keynote speech at the summit. MICDE released Kenya AI Strategy 2025-2030 and Kenya Cloud Policy in 2025. Kenya is aiming to be a regional AI leader across the African continent, leveraging the power of technology to enable inclusive socio-economic development, benefiting all their citizens. Now Kenya is prioritizing the adoption of cloud-based Information and Communication Technology and achieving a seamless transition from traditional on-premises data centers to advanced cloud computing technologies.
Mr. Washington Okoth, the Secretary ICT Infrastructure, MICDE
William Dong, President of Huawei Cloud Marketing, stated: "Huawei has collaborated with global industries to implement AI practices, including intelligent driving training, train defect detection, AI-powered code generation assistants, and digital human-based SIM card sales systems. Data is also critical for AI development. We have comprehensively upgraded our data solutions, transitioning from a data-centric to a knowledge-centric approach. This builds an AI-ready data foundation to help customers accelerate their intelligent transformation."
William Dong, President of Huawei Cloud Marketing
Kenya AI & Cloud Pioneer Initiative Launch
At the summit, the MICDE officially launched the Kenya AI & Cloud Pioneer Initiative—a bold call to action for AI trailblazers across sectors to drive intelligent transformation and shape a smart, inclusive future for Kenya.
The launch brought together leaders from organizations across industry, academia, and technology, including Huawei, Konza Technopolis, Co-operative Bank, Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), ABSA Bank, University of Nairobi, Royal Media Services (RMS), and Kilimall. These partners pledged to collaborate on advancing AI and cloud computing capabilities to power industrial innovation, improve service delivery, and unlock new economic opportunities.
Announcements from Huawei Cloud
Roc Bai, Director of Huawei Cloud Sub-Saharan Africa Marketing & Solution Sales Dept, announced: "Today, we bring you Huawei Cloud Stack 8.5 and the upgraded DataArts platform. Huawei Cloud Stack 8.5 is our hybrid cloud that supports the local deployment of intelligent industry solutions for government, financial, and enterprise sectors. It integrates over 120 cloud services and AI capabilities. DataArts introduces a knowledge-centric data foundation to enhance AI training and inference efficiency."
Roc Bai, Director of Huawei Cloud Sub-Saharan Africa Marketing & Solution Sales
Frank Shi, Managing Director of Huawei Cloud Kenya, also unveiled exciting new offerings. "Let me introduce you five industry solutions targeting government, finance, telecom, media, and e-commerce sectors. These solutions leverage Huawei's global expertise to address local needs and accelerate Kenya's smart transformation."
Frank Shi, MD of Huawei Cloud Kenya
Aka Dai, Vice President of Huawei Cloud Marketing, emphasized: "Cloud and AI technologies are making a positive impact on our lives, environment, and sustainability. Each story I've shared with you today is a chapter in our 'Cloud for Good' narrative. We will continue to leverage our capabilities to collaborate with more customers and partners to accelerate the digital journey in Kenya's concerned sectors such as nature conservation, agriculture, inclusive finance, healthcare, and talent cultivation."
Aka Dai, Vice President of Huawei Cloud Marketing
Collaborative Success Stories: Leading Kenyan Companies Choose Huawei Cloud
The summit highlighted Huawei Cloud's partnerships:
M-PESA: Built their continental operations hub on Huawei Cloud, supporting 21 billion annual transactions across seven African nations.
Konza: Deployed Kenya's first Tier 3 cloud data center, serving 120+ industry clients and 70+ government applications on cloud.
Royal Media Services (RMS): Built a one-stop digital media OTT platform leveraging Huawei Cloud, reducing program launch cycles from 3 days to 1 day.
Kilimall: Upgraded its e-commerce platform to handle 3x traffic surges during promotions.
Now they are investing in Kenya's digital talent cultivation. Huawei Cloud has been operating in Kenya since 2020, serving 100+ industry clients and becoming the fastest-growing cloud provider in the region. Huawei will continue to invest in local talent through DigiTruck, Seeds for the Future, and partnerships with 60+ Kenyan universities. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MICDE will train over 6,000 students annually in ICT skills.