New Security Foundation Chairman Dr Harold Elletson invoked the spirit of the founder of modern Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, when he described the aim of the Africa Forum on Business and Security.  Kenya’s founding father had “harambee” (togetherness) as is watchword and Dr Elletson told participants in the Africa Forum that the concept was as relevant today in facing the security challenges that confront modern Africa as it had ever been.

“The purpose of this forum is to create a platform for dialogue about these new challenges and an opportunity for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience” he said.  The participants would take the seriousness of his words to such an extent.  The underlying theme of the presentations during the first day of the conference was “togetherness”, creating an understanding that the challenges we face are the same and that working together is the only way to overcome them.

During the Forum’s opening session, the European Union’s Ambassador to the African Union, Gary Quince, demonstrated the heavy impact conflict and insecurity are having on the development of African countries, whilst speakers in a session on Africa’s private security sector  stressed the need for regulation and oversight of the private security sector, whether as international standards (Daniel Shepherd) or local regulations (Stephen Kirimi and Njeri Kururu).The morning  sessions concluded with a special session on Kenya’s devolution process,  which were presented by the Chairman of Kenya’s Transition Authority, Kinuthia Wamwangi,

In other sessions, key topics including the role of information and communication security,  trade, transport, and maritime security and resource security were discussed.  The Forum’s Panels featured insightful contributions from Édouard Dahome of Électricité de France (EDF); Paul Owino of Microsoft; Issouf Diallo, Permanent Secretary of the ICT MInistry of Burkina Faso; and Cpt Twalib Khamis, General Manager of Operations with the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). The presentations for those sessions are accessible here.

The first day of the Africa Forum on Business and Security concluded its proceedings with a session entitled Security, Investment, and Finance: Making Africa Safe for Business, that featured speakers including Sir Paul Judge,  President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing; Richard Kiplagat, Director Growth & Opportunity at Africa Practice East Africa Ltd; M’Hamed Cherif, Director, Business Climate (Bizclim) of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP); and Mercy Achola, Chief Operations Officer of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. All of them unequivocally stated not only that commerce cannot succeed in a climate of insecurity, but that the new shape of modern threats imposed a need for collaboration between sectors and industries, in order to maximise the protection of investments and assets.