NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – After serving two terms as Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya ICT Board, Paul Kukubo will be leaving his post come July 2013,marking the end of his second three-year contract.
Since taking office in August 2007 as founding CEO, Kukubo has effectively managed the board’s functions by promoting and facilitating the development of information and communication technology products and services as well as extending counsel to the government on matters pertaining to the development, coordination and promotion of information and communications technology industries in the country.
In the six years, Kukubo’s efforts to grow the local ICT market as well as promote Kenya as an ICT investment destination saw Kenya successfully promoted both locally and internationally as an ideal ICT investment destination and he continues to be a great asset to the board and the country.
Kukubo is expected to assume office in July as the Chief Executive Officer of the East Africa Exchange (EAX) in Rwanda.
EAX Rwanda is the first part of a regional exchange intended to increase transparency in the region’s commodity markets.
Through private-sector-led investment and under the terms of an agreement signed with the Government of Rwanda, the East Africa Exchange aims to increase regional market efficiency and liquidity as well as giving the region’s population of 130 million, especially smallholder farmers, better access to markets.
Powered by NASDAQ OMX, the exchange will initially focus on establishing an auction facility and spot trading for agriculture and non-agriculture commodities, but will also develop futures trading across East Africa.
Its investors are Berggruen Holdings (a part of the Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust and advised by the Berggruen Institute on Governance), Heirs Holdings, 50 Ventures and Rwandan led Ngali Holdings.
Kukubo was chosen for his transformative leadership of the information technology space in Kenya and strong entrepreneurial experience in start-ups and he joins an experienced team of Africa advisors that include Roderick Gravelet-Blondin, former Managing Director for the South African Futures Exchange and Stella Kilonzo, former Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Authority in Kenya.
EAX will complement the East Africa Community’s (EAC) goal of regional economic integration as set out by the Common Market Protocol, increasing liquidity, sustainability of regional financial and commodity markets and supporting the EAC’s competitiveness globally.
EAX will also uplift national and regional economies by reducing market barriers to trading, providing a transparent regional economy through a secure mechanism that facilitates financing to farmers and traders.
Berggruen Holdings, Heirs Holdings and 50 Ventures have also partnered to form Africa Exchange Holdings, Ltd (AFEX), which seeks to develop a network of commodity exchanges in Africa to transform trade dynamics and ensure higher incomes for the rural poor.
Kukubo was also a principal founder of 3Mice Interactive Media Ltd, and co-founder of Init Communications Ltd.
He holds a Global Executive MBA, a joint program between Columbia University and United States International University-Africa, and a Bachelors of Art in Economics and Sociology.