For three days, Nairobi became the centre of Africa’s AI sales pitch as AI Everything Kenya x GITEX Kenya convened startup founders, government officials, cybersecurity firms, cloud companies, and investors at the Sarit Expo Centre (Day 1) and the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (Days 2 and 3).
The event, GITEX’s first East African edition, was meant to signal that Nairobi is no longer just a startup city but a serious entry point into the continent’s AI and digital infrastructure market.
Exhibition halls were packed with AI demos, cybersecurity products, enterprise software pitches, and startup booths trying to pull attention away from bigger global vendors.Â
ASUS and Lenovo, for instance, pushed their gaming and enterprise laptops. Kaspersky and Fortinet leaned heavily into cybersecurity. Business executives from multiple industries circled enterprise AI and cloud conversations, while policymakers discussed regulation, data infrastructure, and digital sovereignty.
What stood out was how quickly the conversation moved beyond chatbots and flashy demos. Most panels kept circling back to infrastructure, who owns Africa’s data, where AI systems will run, and whether local startups can compete in a market increasingly dominated by global cloud firms and enterprise vendors.Â
Cybersecurity became one of the loudest themes at the event as companies warned banks, governments and businesses about AI-powered attacks and rising digital risks
I spoke with over 20 attendees who described the event as the closest Nairobi has come to hosting a Dubai-style tech conference, praising the networking opportunities and international presence.Â
Others complained about overcrowded sessions, expensive passes, and panels that felt polished but thin on substance. One criticism kept coming up repeatedly: African startups were visible, but the biggest stages often belonged to large foreign vendors selling AI infrastructure into the continent.
Still, GITEX’s arrival matters because it reflects how global tech firms increasingly see Nairobi not just as a startup ecosystem, but as a commercial and geopolitical gateway into Africa’s next phase of digital growth.