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The Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) is the learned society of engineering professionals in Kenya and co-operates with national and other international institutions in developing and applying engineering to the benefit of humanity. 

The membership comprises engineering students, graduates and professionals working in various government institutions, consultancies, financial institutions, contractors, academia, manufacturers, and other persons interested in engineering across the country.

Today, the 2nd day of November 2021 we are pleased to announce the launch of the 28th Edition of the IEK International Annual Conference that will be held from 8th to 12th November 2021 at Pride-lnn Paradise Beach Resort in Mombasa. The Annual conference is the premier event for the Engineering fraternity in Kenya. It will be a hybrid conference with both physical and virtual participants and all attendees stand to gain 25 CPDs. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on many industries and labor markets. Disruptions in production, logistics networks and planning projections have impacted virtually all economies across the world. Construction, manufacturing, transportation, tourism, and many other service industries have seen significant decline in business activity. Each country is looking to develop their own strategies to bounce back as quickly as possible in a sustainable and efficient manner. Engineering and technology remain critical to the much-anticipated recovery in all sectors.

The Chief Guest at the conference opening ceremony on Tuesday, 9th November 2021 will be His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Hon. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta. The Chief Guest at the conference closing ceremony on Friday, 12th November 2021 will be the former Prime Minister and Fellow member of IEK, Right Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga.

Senior Government officials and policy makers in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure will be in attendance to deliver keynote addresses to the delegates. Significantly, among the speakers are eminent leaders in the world of engineering including:

1. Prof Dr. Gong Ke President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations 

(WFEO), 2. Dr. Marlene Kanga, Immediate Past President, WFEO 3. Eng. Carlien Bou-Chedid, President of the Federation of African Engineering 

Organizations (FAEO) and 4. Dr. Dato’ Lee Yee Cheong, Chairman of Governing Council, International Science 

Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation under the auspices of UNESCO (ISTIC). 

This year’s Conference fosters the 4th IEK Women Engineers Summit as well as a special program for men engineers, both events running on gth November 2021. The young and upcoming engineers will benefit from a unique mentorship opportunity from senior engineers in attendance and have an opportunity to showcase their work on Friday 12th November 2021. 

The premier ‘Awards of Excellence Ceremony‘ will be held on Friday 12th November 2021, in honor of the many engineers who have made immense contribution to engineering in Kenya and society at large. The conference program includes a vibrant social, networking and entertainment activities to invigorate the delegates after a year of hard work.

We are grateful to our partners and sponsors for their support in hosting the conference. You are all welcome to attend the conference, see you in Mombasa! Eng. Nathaniel Matalanga CE, FIEK President The Institution of Engineers of Kenya

Kenya is among 105 countries that on Tuesday promised to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is leading the Kenyan delegation, where he has been calling for the rest of the world to help Africa deal with the effects of climate change.

Kenya’s forest cover stands at 7.2 per cent but the state wants it increased to 10 per cent by 2022.

To achieve this, some two billion trees will have to be planted and raised between now and then at a cost of Sh48 billion.

This was the first major deal on the last day of the World Leaders Summit at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

The pledge was announced by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson during an ‘Action on Forests and Land Use’ event.

“We have to stop the devastating loss of our forests, these great, teeming eco-systems, three trillion pillared cathedrals of nature that are the lungs of our planet and the destruction together with agriculture and other change of land use that accounts for almost a quarter of all global emissions,” Boris said.

The event brought together an unprecedented alliance of governments, companies, financial actors, and non-state leaders to raise ambition on forests and land use.

World marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge used his sub-2-hour run in 2019 to call on rich countries to help Africa deal with the climate crisis.

“There are western countries who are so advanced in data and innovation but who have futile moves from that initial feeling for the climate whereby in Africa we feel so closely,” Kipchoge said.

He added; “I urge all of us to bring our worlds together whereby we can combine our unique skills where we can stay connected with our feelings added to the strength of data and innovation.”

US President Joe Biden announced up to $9bn of US funding through to 2030 “to conserve and restore our forests and mobilise billions more from our partners”.

“The United States is going to lead by example at home while supporting other forested nations and developing countries,” he says.

There has been a significant shift in consumer online shopping behavior, with everyday product categories such as fast-moving consumer goods and beauty products noticeably picking up across the continent.

In a new report, e-commerce platform Jumia indicates that the products accounted for 57% of gross merchandise volume in 2020, up from 44% in 2019. Under the same category, phones and electronics, however, dropped marginally, by 43% in 2020, down from 44% posted in 2019.

The ‘Africa E-commerce Index 2021’ reveals that this shift is part of a broader economic transformation led by the continent’s young, urban and tech-savvy population. In terms of best-selling products, the 2-kilogramme sugar pack was the best selling product on Jumia in both 2019 and 2020 in Kenya.

When products were split by the number of products sold, fashion-led at 21%, followed by beauty products at 15%; home and living, digital services and food delivery tied at 12%. The report also notes that fast-moving consumer goods accounted for 10%, while phones, electronics and others accounted for 8%, 7% and 3%, respectively.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), internet businesses in Africa, including e-commerce which sits at the heart of the digital economy, could add US$180 billion to the continent’s GDP by 2025. Torbjorn Fredriksson, Head of E-commerce and Digital economy at the organisation, noted that COVID-19 led to a surge in the use of digital solutions, including e-commerce. “This was particularly demonstrated with domestic sales rather than cross-border e-commerce. Food delivery, essentials and pharmaceutical goods were among the top-performing online shopping categories,” he said.

Through the Digital Commerce Program, the partners said they would register and train thousands of businesses to sell online with access to over four million Kenyans that visit the e-commerce platform Jumia every month.

Thursday, 28th October 2021 Nairobi, Kenya: Dr. Kevit Desai, Principal Secretary, Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development of the Republic of Kenya, Mrs. Maureen Mba, Head Mansa Business, Afreximbank, Ms. Emily Waita, EABC Board Director joined by Mrs. Mary Ngechu, EABC Board Director, Mr. John Bosco Kalisa, EABC CEO, Dr. Habil Olaka, Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), Mr. Victor Ogalo, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), Mr. Samuel Matonda, Chief Executive Officer, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industries (KNCCI), Mr. Job Wanjohi, Head of Policy Research & Advocacy, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and Mr. Anders Lindgren Chief Executive Officer, Safal Group officially launched the African Due Diligence Platform in Nairobi, Kenya.

Speaking at the launch, the Chief Guest, Dr. Kevit Desai said “There can be no AfCFTA without the full participation of African economic operators – private-sector players who have to operationalize the agreement.He said the Government of Kenya is keen on supporting businesses to access markets on the African continent and beyond through easing the regulatory framework and promoting exports for industrial, agricultural and services products. 
On her part, Ms. Emily Waita representing EABC Chairman Mr. Nick Nesbitt said “The Mansa Digital platform is one of the digital tools EABC is rolling out to enable SMEs and Corporates to find new partners to scale up their industries across the continent and support business recovery”.
“We salute EAC Heads of State for ratifying the AfCFTA as implementing the agreed commitments is vital to realize the benefits of the 1.2 billion continental market,” said Ms. Waita. She urged the Republic of South Sudan to also ratify the AfCFTA. She said “In 2020 Kenya’s intra-Africa exports stood at US$2.28 billion – a 4.5% increase compared to 2019”
On her part, Mrs. Maureen Mba, “Afreximbank is committed to working with public and private sector to transform Africa’s trade and industrialization.” 

She elaborated that AfCFTA breaks the barriers to trading across Africa corridors and called upon Africa to transform its trade and industrialization in order to boost intra-Africa trade from the current 16%.
She said, “ the Mansa platform will facilitate SMEs to get an African Entity Identifier (AEI) supporting financial transactions and Know Your Customer service in Africa.”
She stated that said 70%-80% of raw materials used across the globe are from Africa hence the need for more value addition to converting African resources into finished goods ready for export to the continent and beyond.

On his part Mr. Kalisa said, “trade information is important for b2b engagement – the Mansa digital platform builds confidence and trust among businesses in East Africa and Africa.” He elaborated trade information, improving productive infrastructure & capacity, access to finance, market factor integration, vaccination and fiscal incentives to businesses form the backbone for the economic recovery of the EAC bloc and will reposition the region to tap into the AfCFTA market.

On his part, Mr. Wanjohi said “Infrastructure development and connectivity, custom documentation & procedures, Rules of Origin under the AfCFTA is important to facilitate movement of goods across Africa borders” He said women are set to benefit from the AfCFTA market and the EAC bloc should reduce the cost of doing business and enhance competitiveness.

Mr. Victor Ogalo said “EAC bloc should boost the productive capacity of exports to the continent and ride on the huge infrastructure development” He stated AfCFTA is set to boost manufacturing output to USD930billion by 2025 from 500bilion in 2015 and called for deliberate policy commitments to integrate East African SMEs in the manufacturing value chains.

Dr. Habil Olaka, said “COVID-19 disruption has reemphasized on importance of data management and data-driven insights and solutions for resilience of financial services sector”  He said the Mansa platform supplement and optimize the established frameworks on credit access& appraisal and bridge information asymmetry between banks and MSMEs. He elaborated the Mansa platform supports Kenyan banks to undertake due diligence on customers and as they spread their wings into the EAC and Continent. 

Mr. Samuel Matonda, Mansa platform is an African solution promoting the trust needed to seamlessly trade under the AfCFTA. The launch was attended by over 100 business captains, leading women in business, industry champions based in Kenya.The MANSA digital platform provides a single primary source of Know-Your-Customer (KYC) data required to conduct customer diligence checks on counter-parties in Africa with a special focus on African Corporate, SMEs and financial institutions. The MANSA digital platform reduces risks to intra-African trade such as increased financial crime and reduces the high-cost acquisition of Customer Due Diligence.