Roundtable with Governor Peter Anyang' Nyong’o, Kenya

The roundtable meeting with Governor Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o of Kisumu County, Kenya, on June 12, 2024, included the manager of International Government Affairs of Abbott (Jose E. Ledonio), Chief Strategy Officer of Bower Group (Ryan Sickles), Senior Manager at Development Finance International, Inc. (David Rosenblum), Research Associate of KRL International (Nani Detti), and Broker-Political Risk at Alliant Emerging Markets(Theo Guidry III). The meeting started with a brief introduction from CCA’s Director of Member Relations, Justin Underwood, who stressed the importance of sustainable development, economic development, and potential avenues for collaboration between the different entities. The Chief Strategy Officer of the Bower Group quickly mentioned the desire of a pool of investors to invest in the African Market. He was followed by Governor Nyong’o’s remarks which focused on the areas of significant priority in his county of governance, including highlights of the investment opportunities in his region: water resources management, agroforestry and floriculture, and health-related matters. The governor strongly emphasized healthas it is a pressing issue affecting the population inhis community. He stated how cancer diagnosis and treatment is a significant issue in Kenya and underlined the deficiency of the healthcare system. The governor stressed the need to train more health professionals for the delivery of primary health care in villages to avoid the abuse of drug usage. Furthermore, he discussed the effects of Malaria and sickle cell disease and explored potential solutions such as early vaccination for children against sickle cell. The managing trustee of the African Cancer Foundation, Dorothy Nyong’o, stated that the objective of her organization is to increase awareness within the country regarding cancer from a grassroots perspective. She stressed the need for collaboration between stakeholders(government, private sector, etc.) to better address cancer-related issues in Kenya. She stated the need for more HPV vaccines, technology, and capacity building. She explored the idea of Kenya becominga medical tourism hub as it can serve patients from different countries such as Tanzania, Sudan, and Uganda. A senior manager at Development Finance International, Inc., David Rosenblum, stressed the importance of addressing cancer issues and mentioned the model being implemented in West Africa with the International Finance Corporation (IFC)as a leveraging option. The guest of the governor, Jamie Whitehead and Alyne Cistone of GlobalTides, LLC, emphasized how previous collaborations with distinctive stakeholders have brought solutions tackling health issues and emphasized the benefits of joint ventures. Theo Guidry III brought to attention the wind capacity of Kenya and the potential to leverage renewable energy production, which is cost-efficient for medical facilities. He was supported by the governor, who mentioned that the national electricity company bill costs 25 percent of the facility’s operational costs. The director of the Health Program at CCA, Morayor Essieh, mentioned the different avenues for collaboration between member companies, U.S. agencies, and Kisumu County. The governor also expressed hisambition to build a theater center to empower the talented youth in his community through potential collaboration with David Adjaye, the architect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.