100 Indian companies participated in 2nd Edition of Indo-Africa ICT Expo

The 2nd Edition of Indo-Africa ICT Expo saw participation of 100 Indian companies at Nairobi in Kenya.

India’s Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC), in conjunction with NASSCOM & ICT Authority of Kenya embarked on the 2nd edition of the Indo-Africa ICT Expo. The event is supported by government of India and government of Kenya.

Indo-Africa ICT Expo was inaugurated by the India’s minister of communications Manoj Sinha and Kenya's minister of ICT cabinet secretary Joe Mucheru.

The event is aimed at enhancing cooperation between African countries and India in the area of ICT. The event also saw attendance of South Sudan’s deputy minister of ICT & postal services Akol Paul Kordit, Uganda’s principal secretary - ICT Dr Jimmy Pat Saamanya, and Malawi’s secretary of ICT and civic education, Justin AdackK Saidi. The event also saw participation from business leaders from India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, Israel, South Sudan, Rwanda, Mauritius and Commonwealth Telecom Organization.

Inaugurating the event, Manoj Sinha said, "I strongly believe that India has a vast experience in setting up of ICT infrastructure and the experience can be leveraged by government as well as private sector in African Nations. To explore synergies on the ground, I have with me about 100 ICT companies from India participating in this event that will facilitate growth of business opportunities in our nations."

Sinha stressed on the fact that India as a country has conditions similar to those in the African Nations and also has special ties with East African countries. Together India sees many opportunities for cooperation and transfer of expertise in the areas of setting ICT infrastructure, solutions and application development, skill development and innovation that can be leveraged by the governments as well as private sector in the continent and India is keen to find ways to increase the business between India and Africa in ICT sector.

Joe Mucheru called upon Kenyan businesses to tap into the huge reservoir of knowledge among their Indian counterparts and develop technology based solutions for the Kenyan, African and even the global market.

A key highlight of the Indo-Africa ICT Expo on 1st September 2016, was the ICT Ministers Round Table Meeting on 'Digital Dreams of the Developing Nations', wherein ICT ministers/secretaries from India, Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda and Malawi participated. Government to government bilateral talks were also held between Indian government and official government delegations from Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and South Sudan.

The event was attended by over 2,500 visitors and over 300 conference delegates with a world class speaker panel. The expo is designed to be a platform to build synergy among India and African countries to showcase innovative and diversified products and services and to bring together thought leaders across the entire ICT value chain to discuss solutions to regulatory and business.

The event also had more than 400 business to business meetings between Indian and African countries. The event saw very large number of business enquiries. There were already more than 10 MoUs and more than Rs 40 Crore worth of business. In addition there are demand for setting up of training center and technology transfer.