Green Tech Diplomacy featuring Belgium's Ambassador to Kenya
Tech Talk AfricaPlay episode
Show notes
What are your thoughts?Kenya’s tech story is bigger than startups and bigger than mobile money. When digital infrastructure grows, energy demand grows with it and that forces a hard question: can the digital economy scale without going green first?
We talk with Belgian Ambassador Peter Maddens about why his team links “digital and green,” and what that looks like on the ground in Nairobi, including a retrofitted net zero embassy with solar power, water recycling, on-site cooking gas, and hydroponic farming. From there, we zoom out to the Kenya Belgium relationship inside the broader European Union ecosystem and what each side genuinely needs from the other: trust, capability, and practical collaboration.
A big thread is digital policy and governance. We dig into GDPR, privacy, and what an EU adequacy decision for Kenya could mean for cross-border data flows, SaaS growth, fintech partnerships, and investment confidence. We also unpack the less glamorous but crucial plumbing of deal-making, including double taxation agreements and how markets assign “risk” when deciding where capital should land. The conversation gets candid about old attitudes, shared responsibility, and why adding value locally matters as much as writing new policies.
We close with AI governance, “green AI,” the role of public private partnerships, and why education is still the foundation underneath every serious development goal. If you enjoy smart, honest conversations about technology, climate tech, regulation, and investment in Africa, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review with your biggest takeaway.Credits
Host: Stella GichuhiProducer: James NjorogeExecutive Producers:Harry HareAgutu Dan
