President William Ruto has announced plans to integrate MPESA with international payment platform PayPal.
Speaking in the US, President Ruto revealed that Safaricom, Kenya’s leading telco is working with Apple to integrate MPESA into PayPal.
According to the president, this will promote MPESA into a global payment platform.
“Likewise, Safaricom is developing partnership with Apple Inc to integrate MPESA and its PayPal platform to extend MPESA’s transactional reach globally,” said Ruto.
Further, President Ruto held talks with Chief Executive Officers Tim Cook (Apple), Patrick Gelsinger (Intel), Google Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet Ruth Porat and executives from Nike, GAP and Levi Strauss, in San Francisco, United States.
He noted that Kenya has plenty of opportunities to offer American technology and manufacturing companies.
Additionally, President Ruto affirmed that particularly Kenya is a potential vital African base and prime center for technology, manufacturing, connectivity, infrastructure development and garment fabrication.
“Our strong pool of innovative, skilled, and energetic workforce is able and ready to power the expansion of these companies across the African continent,” said Ruto.
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Furthermore, President Ruto thanked the technological companies for their contributions to Kenya’s development agenda.
Also, he revealed that Google granted Kenyan government Ksh.600 million to promote development in the technological sector.
“Glad Google is actively contributing to Kenya’s development by granting Ksh600 million ($5 million) to enhance connectivity for crucial citizen services, assist in affordable smartphone device creation and support SMEs through the Google Hustle Academy,” stated Ruto.
Further, Ruto praised apple for working with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) to enhance the country’s healthcare technology and innovation.
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“Intel has established an AI Developer Lab at Kenya Technical Trainers’ College to train master trainers for youth AI application development and is ready to venture into other areas,” he added.
Moreover, President stated that Microsoft has made a significant impact in Kenya’s economy.
According to Ruto, Microsoft has provided wireless broadband and device recharge facilities to over 1.5 million people in rural areas through a partnership with Mawingu.
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After meeting the companies, President Ruto will attend the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York.
UNGA 78 first high-level General Debate will be on Tuesday, 19 September 2023.
Additionally, a global gathering will assess progress towards the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Moreover, it will address critical global challenges such as the climate crisis and debt concerns in the Global South.
