NAIROBI, Kenya 4 – Businessman Jimi Wanjigi says that Kenya will attain economic liberation by protecting ring-fencing intellectual wealth by creating a regulatory environment that protects local investors.
Wanjigi told a meeting in Nairobi that Kenya had suffered from an intellectual brain-drain for too long it was time to create an environment that favours equity between those who develop ideas and innovation and those that invest.
“We have some of the brightest, most hard-working people in the world. Maybe we don’t have money, but ideas are money, innovation is money. None of you can even the person who created M-PESA. That was a Kenyan,” said Wanjigi.
“We must start talking about our local people, our local brands and it must not be taken away from us anymore. This is our time. We must stop this drain, and we must stop it now. This is the liberation we seek. In other countries they protect it through law, some up to 51 per cent no matter how much money you are putting on the table,” he said.
Wanjigi was speaking at the launch of Investera Plus Africa at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi. Also present was former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Investera Africa Plus is a market leading research platform showcasing company insights from early- stage start-ups to public listed companies.
The online platform allows users to gain full data coverage on public and private companies with a suite of financial intelligence features including the discovery of start-ups, investors, opportunities, trending events, and much more.
Wanjigi said that pre-independence heroes won political freedom from colonizers while Kenyans won their second liberation from oppressive one-party dictatorship by passing the 2010 Constitution.
“We are at a different phase. This phase is called Economic Liberation. There’s no greater liberation than economic liberation. We had first liberation at independence and a second liberation with the 2010 Constitution. Now is the time for economic revolution,” said Wanjigi.
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