ICT CS Joe Mucheru is among the elite leaders attending a summit in Morocco on Blockchain Technology.
The forum is set to discuss how to build Blockchain Technology in Africa.
Over 20 of the globe’s most renowned technological thinkers are gathered at Marrakech, Morroco.
Among those attending the exclusive forum that is being hosted by billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, is Google Co-Founder, Sergey Brin and Joe Mucheru - the only African at the forum.
The 4-day Blockchain Summit, which ends tomorrow, is focusing on promising ways through which blockchain technology can improve the lives of people in Africa and the Middle East.
Speaking at the forum, now in its fourth year, Mucheru - who is also a member of the Blockchain Alliance, said blockchain innovation needs to come from within Africa and stay there.
In addition to working with regulators to keep blockchain startup revenue flowing into Kenya by motivating these startups to list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Mucheru said he wanted to help more young African coders learn how to write blockchain code as a matter of preserving their culture itself.
Already, Ghana-based Bitland and Kenya-based Land Layby are working to use blockchain to create formally recognized infrastructures for proving land ownership.
The World Economic Forum estimates that 90 per cent of Africa’s land is “completely” undocumented.
Mucheru further said he is hopeful that Nairobi-based BitPesa, a bitcoin payments firm will list on the NSE someday.
The CS who was also an early investor in BitPesa, divested his shares when he took his current government position three years ago.
Founded in 2013, BitPesa was among the first wave of bitcoin startups and has since grown to 70 employees, half of which are women and 75% of which come from African nations, including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon and Uganda.
CS Mucheru’s participation in the forum comes nearly six months since he formed an 11-member task force on Blockchain and Internet of Things Technology.
Former ICT PS Bitange Ndemo was appointed to chair an 11-member Taskforce on Blockchain Technology.
The task force was set up following a directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta in February to form a task force that would focus on how Kenya can leverage on Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
Uhuru said the country has been a leader in digital innovation and would not be left behind in the latest trends.
He added that the potential for digital dividends is enormous if its transformational potential is harnessed by creating the right policy framework, saying the Internet and associated digital trade of goods and services have led up to 10 per cent rise in employment in Africa.