The Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) is hosting a high-level North African innovation forum this week, positioning Kenya as a strategic corridor for startups from Tunisia and Egypt seeking a foothold in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The event, IPDAYS Nairobi x Silicon Savannah Startup Fair 2026, marks the first Kenyan edition of IPDAYS (Inno’Preneurs Days), Tunisia’s premier startup and intellectual property platform, established in 2022. Previous editions have been held in Tunis, Cairo, and Abidjan. The Nairobi instalment was organised through a partnership between KoTDA, RedStart Tunisie, Seketak Solutions, Fie Labs, and GAK Advisory.
The forum has drawn six Tunisian startups alongside more than 60 Kenyan ventures, as well as investors, policymakers, and ecosystem enablers from Kenya, Tunisia, and Egypt. Programming spans B2B and B2C matchmaking sessions, investor pitches, policy briefings, and capacity-building workshops focused on cross-border market entry, financing, and IP commercialisation.
KoTDA Chief Executive John Paul Okwiri used his opening remarks to call for deeper intra-African collaboration as a prerequisite for startup growth, framing Konza’s role as providing a structured entry point for ventures moving south.
“For KoTDA, this occasion is more than a gathering; it is a statement of intent that Africa’s digital future will be built through collaboration, innovation and partnerships. Innovation must be protected, commercialised, financed and supported through skills development if Africa’s startup ecosystem is to thrive.”
Okwiri acknowledged that African innovation ecosystems have historically operated in silos, a dynamic he said has constrained growth and limited cross-border partnership opportunities.
Douja Gharbi, CEO of RedStart Tunisie Accelerator, noted that the Nairobi forum builds on a trade mission to Kenya nearly a year ago. “We return to deepen collaboration, align roadmaps and create scalable pathways that support startup growth across borders,” she said. Assem Kamel, CEO of Seketak Solutions, added that prior editions had successfully connected African startups to new business and investment pipelines.
A key deliverable of the forum is the signing of a collaboration agreement between KoTDA, RedStart Tunisie, and Seketak, covering startup exchange programmes, soft-landing initiatives, joint acceleration, capacity building, and broader ecosystem development, giving institutional structure to what has so far been largely informal North-South African startup mobility.
The event aligns with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agenda, which seeks to unify African markets for goods, services, and digital trade, and underscores growing momentum for intra-African economic integration at the startup level.
The forum’s timing is notable. It comes a day after President William Ruto assented to the Technopolis Bill, 2024, legislation that establishes a formal legal framework for the development of technopolises under Kenya’s Vision 2030 blueprint. The bill is expected to attract technology-driven enterprises, streamline compliance, and strengthen the governance infrastructure underpinning Kenya’s innovation ecosystem ambitions.
Kenya’s growing regional pull is already reflected in investment flows. In 2025, Tunisia’s Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Anouar Ben Youssef, disclosed that 15 Tunisian companies were entering the Kenyan market as a gateway to East Africa, a number that has since grown, according to KoTDA.
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