As Kenya speeds toward a digitally connected future, Huawei is still one of the engines powering this transformation. At the Huawei Kenya Cloud Summit 2025, with 27 years in Kenya, the company once again committed to the long-term evolution, reinforcing its key role in the country’s digital transformation journey.
“We are not just Huawei in Kenya,” said senior Huawei executive, Mr. Gao. “We are Huawei for Kenya.”
The summit showed how Huawei has evolved and continues to evolve—from a company focused on the creation of infrastructure to one that promotes ecosystems, skills, and sustainable developments in various sectors.
A Legacy of Digital Firsts
The seeds of Huawei’s role in Kenyan digital transformation were sown decades ago. It launched the first 4G network in East Africa and partnered with Safaricom for the first commercial 5G network in Kenya. Furthermore, alongside government and regional operators, Huawei supported East Africa’s first 5G livestream, giving the world a streaming experience of the Great Migration in Maasai Mara.
These milestones are the pathways for Kenya’s ever-growing digital infrastructure, thereby strengthening Huawei’s presence as more than just a mere technology provider-but a partner in transformation.
Four Pillars of Smart Progress
Mr. Gao said that Huawei’s strategy basically rests on four pillars of digital transformation — Connecting, Accelerating, Powering, and Transforming — each reflecting its role in Kenya’s digital transformation.
- Connecting: Huawei continues to lay down the digital foundation in Kenya, in line with the President’s Digital Superhighway vision. Its infrastructure offers access to consumers and enterprises across the country.
- Accelerating: By working with government and industries, Huawei enables faster adoption of smart technologies from city traffic solutions in Nairobi to agricultural digital platforms for economic modernization.
- Powering: Huawei is pushing for clean energy adoption through digital innovation. The Garissa Solar Plant, the biggest photovoltaic station in Kenya, produces nearly 90 million kWh during a year-from solar power generation perspective-part of Huawei’s bigger energy strategy under the digital transformation agenda in Huawei Kenya.
- Transforming: Huawei is supporting the Konza National Data Center, conceived as the digital core and onshore innovation of the future Kenyan economy, through extensive development of AI and cloud infrastructure.
Skills and Talent at the Core
No digital revolution can unfold without having people with skills — and Huawei knows it. Through its ICT-related talent programs, the company has trained over 12,000 students in Kenya, many hailing from underserved or remote communities.
With over 60 partnerships across Kenyan universities and colleges, Huawei builds a strong pipeline of local digital talent — a core premise behind the Huawei Kenya digital transformation perspective.
“Talent is the foundation of a smart digital future,” stated Mr. Gao.
A Shared Vision for the Future
The Huawei digital transformation strategy follows very closely the national ambitions of Kenya for economic digitization and inclusion. The role for the company is therefore beyond technology to systems, energy, people, and governance for sustainable smart growth.
“Let us seize this moment to turn vision into action,” Mr. Gao concluded. “Together, we can build a smart digital Kenya.”
With a 27-year strong foundation of investing in infrastructure, energy, innovation, and talent in Kenya, Huawei can be seen as a long-term partner for the digital rise of Africa and a key player in the country’s digital transformation narrative.
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