Kenya has been given accolades for embracing technology to enhance and promote sustainable development by the International Telecommunications Union, which awarded President Uhuru Kenyatta the prestigious ICTs in Sustainable Development Award at the UN Headquarters in New York on Saturday.

The ICTs in Sustainable Development Award honours the important contributions made by leaders, on behalf of their countries, towards harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development and also aims to encourage nations to seek technological solutions to meet national and global aspirations for a sustainable and inclusive future.

President Kenyatta said the Government remains committed to mainstreaming innovations and ICT to enable growth and development for the country and the whole region.

“Our National ICT Master Plan and National Broadband Strategy outline our desired path to a knowledge based economy where ICTs underpin service delivery, and provide the bedrock of our activities in critical sectors of the economy, especially agriculture, education and health,” said the President.

The union acknowledged the impressive progress Kenya has made in ICT development and the important role technology is playing in achieving development and service delivery goals.

Uhuru also thanked the International Telecommunications Union Secretary General, Mr Houlin Zhao, for nominating ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to the Broadband Commission.

“I am certain that our country will bring, through him, additional energy and creativity to enhance the very necessary expansion of the broadband footprint across the developing world especially as we move forward to secure sustainability of the developments we have so far achieved,” said Uhuru.

ENTERPRISE FUND

President Uhuru also announced plans to launch an Enterprise fund, (Enterprise Kenya) to encourage and support innovation in the country.

“This fund will be used to aid budding Kenyan innovators and start-ups to enable them get the necessary financial support to move from idea to start-up and from start-up possibly to market in good time,” he said.