Africa is the future, invest in it, Uhuru tells Scottish businesses

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday held discussions with members of the Scottish Africa Business Association and invited them to enhance investments in Kenya.

The President was hosted by the association alongside Diageo at the Johnnie Walker Princes Street in Edinburgh.

The meeting was part of the President's engagements in Scotland, where he has been attending the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Uhuru thanked Diageo for its continued partnership with Kenya through the East Africa Breweries Limited on mitigating the effects of climate change.

"We would love to see how through them, we could extend that same partnership with other groups here in Scotland and the entire UK to see what possibilities exist for you also to extend your businesses into Kenya and our subregion in Africa," Uhuru said.

He said Diageo can confirm that besides the organisation supporting the Kenyan economy, its business had appreciated as a result of their investments in Kenya.

Uhuru said Kenya, and the rest of Africa, has a young population whose potential is yet to be matched and thus the existence of immense opportunities for investors.

"We are all looking, each and every day, for new opportunities. For one reason or another, people do not take Africa as one of those continents that are advanced with opportunities," the President said.

He said opportunity is about demand and this has been peaking in the rest of the world, while the future lies in the "young population such as Africa."

Uhuru said Africa has a growing demand for various products, "from a toothbrush to cars."

"And that is where the opportunity lies. We always say that in Kenya we would like to be the gateway for those companies seeking to expand their business and who are looking into the future," he said.

The head of state said there were resources in Africa and opportunities in every field and sector.

Uhuru was joined by Energy Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma, UK State Secretary for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Kenya High Commissioner to the UK Manoah Esipisu.

Diageo's Global Supply Chain and Procurement and Chief Sustainability officer Ewan Andrew led the team from Scotland alongside John Paterson, who is executive chairman of the association.

Andrew said Diageo was keen on expanding its operations in Kenya in a way that help the country achieve its sustainable development goals.

He said the company was investing heavily in green energy and would be expanding the use of renewable sources in the future.

Diageo has said it is committed to getting to net-zero carbon production of all its products.

In Kenya, Diageo has made significant investments retrofitting its plants to be completely green.

For instance, at Kenya Breweries Limited-Kisumu plant, 10 per cent of the electricity requirements are being met by renewable energy from solar.

Paterson said the association will continue to work closely with Kenya Private Sector Alliance and will also open an office in Nairobi to ease coordination.

"We believe Scotland can do much more, especially in supporting the achievement of the Big Four agenda. We see for instance that TVET is a key component of the Big Four agenda and presents opportunities to partner with Scottish colleagues," Paterson said.

Edited by A.N