Israel4Africa team warps up intensive and successful visit to Kenya

The Israel4Africa team has visited Kenya at the end of February as part of our ongoing efforts to promote cooperation between Israel and African countries.

Over five days, co-founders Simon van Dam and Dan Gerstenfeld undertook an intensive itinerary that included over 60 personal meetings, participation in two key events, and a visit to a pilot site for one of our projects.

The primary reason for the visit was participating at the 11th Sankalp Africa Summit. This two-day event, held on February 28th and 29th, attracted over 1,000 delegates from more than 50 countries. The summit’s core objective was to foster collaborative solutions to global challenges within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

During the event, the Israel4Africa team held one-on-one meetings with dozens of entrepreneurs and investors from all over the world, which have resulted in several very interesting business opportunities.

Before the Sankalp event, Israel4Africa took part in the Kenya-Israel Innovation Business seminar, organized by the Israel Economic Mission to Kenya. This seminar brought together 115 representatives from 84 Kenyan companies to meet with their Israeli counterparts. The event featured presentations by Israeli Embassy officials, local representatives, and six Israeli start-ups participating in the DevTech mission organized by the Pears Program for Global Innovation.

Following the presentations, B2B meetings were held between Israeli and Kenyan participants, culminating in a cocktail event that provided further networking opportunities. We extend our gratitude to Barak Granot, the Israeli Commercial Attache in Nairobi, and his team for their exceptional organization of the seminar.

“The visit to Nairobi marked our first opportunity to set foot in East Africa,” said Simon van Dam, Co-Founder of Israel4Africa. “The experience exceeded our expectations, underscoring the vast potential for collaboration between Africa and Israel across all sectors. We’ve already identified several potential cross-border projects and begun promoting them with our African, Israeli, and international partners.”

“We were amazed by the warm welcome we received in Nairoby and were happy to personally witness how much potential there is for future collaboration,” added Gerstenfeld, Israel4Africa Co-Founder. “We have already started following up on all our meetings in an attempt to turn these opportunities into impactful projects that will benefit all participants.”

Prior to participating at the two events, the Israel4Africa team has also met with local partners, Lenana Super Foods, at their shamba in Nyeri as part of the joint Mama Asili Project, which is dedicated to improving the lives of women farmers in Kenya’s rural areas, empowering them to combat poverty and climate change by ensuring they receive fair wages.

Following our visit to Kenya, Israel4Africa participated in the Water and Sanitation Investors Conference (WASIC) 2024, held in Nairobi from March 6th to 8th, 2024. Our local associate, Ester Biegon, presented at the Israeli booth, facilitating partnerships between local water companies and Israel’s innovative water companies and research institutions paving the way for future cooperation.