DIGITAL ECONOMY BLUEPRINT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREAMBLE
12
FOREWARD
11
CHAPTER 3
Digital
Government
32
CHAPTER 5
Infrastructure
44
CHAPTER 4
Digital Business
38
CHAPTER 2
Pillars of The
Kenya Digital
Economy
26
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
16
4
DIGITAL ECONOMY BLUEPRINT
i. MOBILE MONEY
6
DIGITAL ECONOMY BLUEPRINT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Digital Economy Blueprint has been made pos-
sible by multiple stakeholders who pooled together
with the team leadership of the National Communi-
cations Secretariat (NCS), Ministry of Information
Communications and Technology (MoICT).
Comprehensive national stakeholder consultations
were undertaken in preparing and finalizing the
Blueprint. The team conveys its gratitude to our
colleagues from the Ministry of ICT; The Ministry
of Trade, the Ministry of Education, The Nation-
al Treasury, Communication Authority of Kenya
(CA), Konza Technopolis Development Authority
(KoTDA), Postal Corporation of Kenya, The Cen-
tral Bank of Kenya and The Kenya Revenue Au-
thority.
The Blueprint has also benefited immensely from
inputs provided by the following organisations:
Dell, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, Huawei, Safaricom, Tel-
kom Kenya, Techminds, Nailab, Financial Sector
Deepening, Kenya Association of Manufacturers,
Technology Service Providers of Kenya (TESPOK)
and Kenya Education Network (KENET).
8
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
In this growing digital world of ours, we face a future of immense possibilities. With every passing year,
new technologies and services are emerging over the horizon. As digital technologies become the cor-
nerstone of our daily activities, Governments, businesses and individuals must adapt to this new reality.
Kenya has embarked on its digital transformation journey, to ensure that the digital economy benefits
become our reality and it is our hope that all of Africa will walk this journey too.
Kenya is one of the world leaders in driving financial
inclusion through the use of digital finance solutions
such as M-PESA, Mula, PesaLink and Pesapal. The
adoption of such innovations is facilitating transac-
tions and spurring trade for corporations, small and
medium enterprises (SME’s) and individuals. This
in turn translates to improved and efficient business
environments, increased accessibility, connectedness
and better standards of living. In the same token my
Government has adopted technology that is leading to
faster and efficient services to the people.
Kenya however, has much more to offer and gain
from the digital economy. To harness these benefits,
we have to build ecosystems that facilitate digital
transactions nationally, regionally and globally. To-
wards this end, Kenya has developed this document
as a proposed framework for developing digital econ-
omies.
The Digital Economy Blueprint, presents a frame-
work to improve Kenya’s and Africa’s ability to leap-
frog economic growth. We propose five pillars as
foundations for the growth of a digital economy. The
pillars are: Digital Government; Digital Business;
Infrastructure; Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship
and Digital Skills and Values. The Blueprint also
highlights the cross cutting issues that need to be con-
sidered for the success of a digital economy.
This Digital Economy Blueprint serves as one of
Kenya’s contributions in championing the growth of
an african-wide digital economy for all of Smart Afri-
ca Alliance members. It is our hope and wish that all
the member states shall peruse this Blueprint and find
value in adapting it within their own ecosystems to
realize the potential of digital transformation that will
leapfrog our economies to prosperous heights.