GE committed to developing sustainable solutions in Africa

I was recently invited to address the Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) in Nairobi a few weeks ago.

The key message I delivered to the distinguished delegates was that GE is committed to Africa and to working with governments to develop sustainable solutions that cut across the healthcare, transportation, aviation, oil and gas and energy sectors.

While we have been in Africa for close to 100 years we have significantly expanded over the last decade.

Not surprisingly, growth has been driven by our activities in oil and gas services, power generation, and transportation, with a large presence in Angola, Nigeria and South Africa.

In 2011, we decided to significantly increase and expand our presence in the region because of the significant market opportunity and the view that any company that wants to be in Africa for the long term needed to be on the ground now—this is not a time to wait.

We wanted to be part of Africa’s growth story by supporting infrastructure growth, expanding local capacity and deepening our local presence.

We chose Nairobi to become the headquarters for GE Africa in October 2011. Since then, GE Africa has grown to become a Sh317 billion ($3.5 billion) order business employing over 2,200 employees in 25 countries.

We have set up new offices in Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Cote D’Ivoire. This in addition to new facility projects in Kenya, Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Ghana. We are also helping build entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Angola and South Africa.

Nairobi has become home for my family, for GE Africa and in fact our CE and chairman, Jeff Immelt, is a frequent visitor to Kenya.

Kenya was a natural choice for us because we needed to create a bigger presence in East Africa since we already had well-established operations in other parts of Africa.

As an American multinational, we felt we needed to establish our credibility in supporting the region alongside other American companies such as IBM, Coca-Cola and Microsoft.

Kenya is also home to some of Africa’s best talent. We were impressed by the level of talent that we found here in Kenya-their education status, their global exposure and their work ethic.

We have employed over 120 employees in the last three years, most of them with regional responsibilities and we are looking to grow this number further in the coming years.

We are doing our bit to support talent development through partnerships with institutions including Strathmore University, Jomo Kenyatta University and Nairobi University. We are working with Kenyatta University to develop a training centre to provide technical and clinical applications for healthcare.

We also chose Kenya because of the convenient travel connectivity to many parts of the Africa and the world which are critical considerations for a multinational like GE with operations in over 125 countries across the world.

Kenya Airways, the national carrier has one of the most robust networks in the continent allowing us to connect quite easily with many cities in Africa and Europe.

Kenya Airways is one of our strongest business partners with 90 of their aircraft engines being powered by advanced GE/CFM engines and GE capital being a lead leasing partner for the airline.

We are very supportive of the government’s agenda to widen access to affordable healthcare for all Kenyans and welcome the opportunity to deploy our experience as a global technology and innovation leader in this space to help Kenya achieve its agenda.

We have partnered with USAid and Kenya Commercial Bank, in a $10 million healthcare financing programme that will give SME medical institutions more access to cutting edge equipment.

In 2012, GE Healthcare launched the Care Station 30 anaesthesia machine which is a more technologically advanced version of the currently used 9100c anaesthesia machine.

Kijabe Hospital pioneered the successful administration of general anaesthesia using the 9100c for the first time during an emergency C-section in Kenya.

Also in the maternal healthcare space, we are working with Kijabe Hospital on a nurse anaesthetist training programme to help address the shortage of anaesthesia health workers to assist during delivery.

We recently had the pleasure of meeting First Lady Margaret Kenyatta to discuss partnership avenues for the Beyond Zero campaign since we too share in her vision to beat maternal and infant mortality.

We also launched the Hewa Tele Oxygen Plant in which we will increase access to oxygen to help provide better medical care to women and children in Siaya and neighbouring countries.

We are excited by our partnership with the Ministry of Health LOT 7 (radiology) programme for supply, installation, service and service and training covering the modernisation of 98 hospitals across all 47 counties in Kenya.

We recognise that energy is a key driver for economic development and are looking for avenues to collaborate with the government to support the long-term addition of power to meet development targets.

We have been working with the Ministry of Energy in a number of projects that use renewable energy solutions such as the Kinangop Wind Farm and the Kipeto Wind Farm.

We are providing the technology for the 220 KV Nairobi Ring Project that will create more resilience for the power grid in Nairobi especially during blackouts.

We have also increased our local presence by partnering with local companies such as Safaricom to supply Durathon batteries to power network during outages.

GE believes that a peaceful and stable environment brings out the best in a country’s businesses and citizens.

With operations in over 125 countries, we know and understand that today’s world is fraught with risks, uncertainty and challenges.

As a company that believes in Kenya’s future, we hope the government will take effective measures to restore security and peace, which underpins its growth strategy.

But, when people ask us why we operate in difficult environments, we have a clear answer: we follow our customers and focus on the opportunities for growth.

The technology, service, and business practices that we bring will help sustain and increase access to energy, build competitive logistics infrastructure, and provide better, more affordable healthcare to people.

These assets in turn build employment, skills and managerial capacity, and sustain economic growth. And so far, for GE, that has been the right course in Kenya and in Africa.

Mr Ireland is the chief executive, General Electric East Africa.