Huawei Cloud successfully hosted its Huawei Cloud Kenya Summit 2025 in Nairobi, centered around the theme “Accelerate Intelligence, Ignite Smart Kenya” and the transformative power of AI across industries. The conference brought together over 500+ customers and partners from Kenya to discuss digital transformation and intelligent upgrades in the AI era and collectively accelerate intelligence.
Keynote Speeches
In her opening remarks, Jacqueline Shi, President of Huawei Cloud Global Marketing and Sales Service, stated:
“The best time to develop Cloud and AI is NOW! For young Kenya, talent is the key. We will upgrade the current ICT training program by new technologies. For intelligent Kenya, AI is the foundation. We hope to build sustainable AI foundation in Kenya, to light-up more industries.
For dynamic Kenya, Practice is the approach. In the digital journey, the most important approach is to combine technology with industrial knowledge, and realize more impossible possible.
Huawei Cloud will cooperate with our customers and partners to build a young, intelligent, and dynamic Kenya together.”
Gao Fei, CEO of Huawei Kenya, commented:
“Huawei has grown together with Kenya for 27 years, always moving in step with Kenya’s development, from building communication networks to today’s work in enterprise, cloud, and digital power. We are committed to helping Kenya build a smart future by leveraging AI & Cloud. Huawei looks forward to continuing our hand-in-hand work with Kenya, our customers, and partners to build a prosperous, inclusive, digital, and smart Kenya.”
Mr. Washington Okoth, Secretary for ICT Infrastructure at Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy (MICDE), said:
“Kenya is aiming to be a regional AI leader across the African continent, leveraging the power of technology to enable inclusive socio-economic development, benefiting all our citizens. We are focusing all our efforts on building AI digital infrastructure, data ecosystem and AI research and innovation. We officially released the “Kenya Cloud Policy” to clearly prioritize the adoption of cloud-based Information and Communication Technology and is committed to achieving a seamless transition from traditional on-premises data centers to advanced cloud computing technologies.”
William Dong, President of Huawei Cloud Marketing, stated:
“Huawei has collaborated with global industries to implement AI practices, including intelligent driving training, train defect detection, AI-powered code generation assistants, and digital human-based card sales systems. Data is also critical for AI development. Huawei Cloud has comprehensively upgraded its data solutions, transitioning from a data-centric to a knowledge-centric approach. This builds an AI-ready data foundation to help customers accelerate their intelligent transformation.”
Kenya Launches AI & Cloud Pioneer Initiative to Accelerate Intelligent Transformation
At the summit, the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy (MICDE) officially launched the Kenya AI & Cloud Pioneer Initiative—a bold call to action for AI trailblazers across sectors to drive intelligent transformation and shape a smart, inclusive future for Kenya.
The launch brought together leaders from across industry, academia, and technology, including Huawei, Konza Technopolis, Co-operative Bank, Kenya Urban Roads Authority(KURA), Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), ABSA Bank, University of Nairobi, Royal Media Services (RMS),Kilimall among others. These partners pledged to collaborate on advancing AI and cloud computing capabilities to power industrial innovation, improve service delivery, and unlock new economic opportunities.
Announcements from Huawei Cloud
HCS 8.5 and DataArts Platform
Roc Bai, Director of Huawei Cloud Sub-Saharan Africa Marketing & Solution Sales Dept, announced:
“We released the Huawei Cloud Stack 8.5 (HCS8.5) and upgraded DataArts platform. HCS8.5 provides hybrid cloud and industry intelligent solutions for government, financial, and enterprise sectors, supporting localized deployment. It integrates 120+ cloud services and AI capabilities. DataArts introduces a knowledge-centric data foundation to enhance AI training and inference efficiency.”
Industry-Specific Solutions
Frank Shi, Managing Director of Huawei Cloud Kenya, announced:
“We unveiled five industry solutions targeting government, finance, telecom, media, and e-commerce sectors. These solutions leverage Huawei’s global expertise to address local needs and accelerate Kenya’s smart transformation.”
Cloud for Good: Sustainability and Social Impact
Aka Dai, Director of Huawei Cloud Marketing, emphasized:
“Cloud and AI technologies are making a positive impact on our lives, environment, and sustainability. Each story I’ve shared with you today is a chapter in our ‘Cloud for Good’ narrative. We will continue to leverage our capabilities to collaborate with more customers and partners to accelerate the digital journey in Kenya’s concerned sectors such as nature conservation, agriculture, inclusive finance, healthcare, and talent cultivation.”
Collaborative Success Stories
The summit highlighted Huawei Cloud’s partnerships:
M-PESA: Built its continental operations hub on Huawei Cloud, supporting 21 billion annual transactions across seven African nations.
Konza: Deployed Kenya’s first Tier 3 cloud data center, serving 120+ industry clients and 70+ government applications on cloud.
RMS: Royal Media Services, Kenya’s leading media conglomerate, built a one-stop digital media OTT platform leveraging Huawei Cloud, reducing program launch cycles from 3 days to 1 day.
Kilimall: Upgraded its e-commerce platform to handle 3x traffic surges during promotions.
Investing in Kenya’s Digital Talent
Huawei Cloud in Kenya
Huawei Cloud has operated in Kenya since 2020, serving 100+ industry clients and becoming the fastest-growing cloud provider in the region.
Huawei Kenya reiterated its commitment:
“We will continue to invest in local talent through DigiTruck, Seeds for the Future, and partnerships with 60+ Kenyan universities. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MICDE will train over 6,000 students annually in ICT skills.”
