PS Susan Mangeni Champions Green Innovation and Inclusive Enterprise at Conecta Africa Launch

By John Kariuki

Kenya is reaffirming its commitment to inclusive economic empowerment and sustainable enterprise development, as underscored by Principal Secretary for MSME Development, Susan Auma Mangeni, during the official launch of the Conecta Africa Initiative at the prestigious Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club in Nairobi.

Conceived as a transformative pan-African endeavour, the initiative is co-led by Bridge for Billions, with strategic backing from The Coca-Cola Foundation, IDRC, Grundfos Foundation, and Strathmore University. It aims to fortify early-stage entrepreneurial ecosystems across Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa, with a special focus on youth and women-led enterprises.

PS Mangeni articulated a policy shift towards green innovation, scalable enterprise solutions, and ecosystem-driven growth, recognizing these as essential pillars for the future of Africa’s MSME sector. She called upon corporates and development stakeholders to move beyond pilot interventions and co-create robust, long-term systems that facilitate access to capital, markets, and technical know-how.

Over 100 high-level stakeholders including government officials, development partners, private sector leaders, academics, and ecosystem enablers graced the launch. Their presence signaled a unified resolve to catalyze economic transformation through entrepreneurship.

The PS lauded Conecta Africa not merely as a program, but as a continent-wide movement aligned with Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. She described it as a timely and strategic intervention to strengthen resilience, foster innovation, and unlock transnational opportunities for emerging entrepreneurs.

PS Mangeni also revealed that the next phase of the Hustler Fund will focus on scaling promising enterprises. This expanded rollout will offer enhanced credit facilities, sector-specific interventions, structured mentorship, and direct integration into global value chains.

Kenya’s approach, she affirmed, is to cultivate an entrepreneurship ecosystem that is inclusive, adaptive, and globally competitive one that promotes simplified business registration, climate-smart innovation, and enterprise resilience.

“Kenya is honored to host the launch of Conecta Africa,” said PS Mangeni. “This initiative embodies our collective aspiration to empower a generation of African entrepreneurs to build boldly, innovate sustainably, and scale globally.”