How do we move Kenyan enterprises from effort-driven hustle to structured participation in real markets?

If you are an entrepreneur, policymaker, financier, buyer, or development partner asking:

  • What must I fix in my business to qualify for real markets and serious capital?
  • What is preventing my business from scaling—and what must I fix first?
  • How can capital translate into growth?
  • How can local suppliers meet demand consistently?

SalesFest Africa 2026 gives you answers — and a clear path forward.

 

THE REAL PROBLEM

After analysing data from the Fursa Index across multiple counties, we reached an uncomfortable conclusion:

Most Kenyan businesses are not failing because of mindset, effort, or ambition.
They are failing because they are not structured for real markets.

SalesFest Africa exists for people who are tired of guessing — and want clarity.

 

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU

If You Are an MSME or Entrepreneur

You will leave with:

  • clarity on what real buyers actually require
  • understanding of why quality, quantity & consistency matter more than hustle
  • insight into how to prepare for structured financing
  • a realistic roadmap for moving from informal effort to formal supply

This is not about motivation.
It’s about becoming bankable, supply-ready, and predictable.

If You Are a Buyer, Developer, or Corporate

You will gain:

  • a chance to shape a more reliable local supplier ecosystem
  • direct visibility into serious local suppliers
  • a platform to articulate your standards and expectations
  • insight into why supply failures happen — and how to fix them

This is about reducing sourcing risk, not charity.

If You Are a Banker or Financier

You will get:

  • a clearer picture of why MSMEs are hard to finance
  • insight into how market readiness reduces credit risk
  • exposure to enterprises aligning with real demand corridors
  • a pipeline that makes sense beyond collateral

This is about financing systems — not firefighting loans.

If You Are in Government or Policy

You will see:

  • where MSMEs struggle to plug into existing demand
  • how policy, standards, and finance disconnect on the ground
  • what coordination actually looks like in practice
  • how to move from intention to implementation

This is about making policy work — not adding new ones.

If You Are a Development Partner

You will understand:

  • where interventions fail and why
  • how behaviour, systems, and markets interact
  • where to focus for long-term economic impact
  • how to support scalable, repeatable outcomes

This is about systems change, not projects.

 

WHAT MAKES THIS EVENT WORTH YOUR TIME

SalesFest Africa 2026 is designed for people who value:

  • honest conversations
  • practical clarity
  • credible voices
  • real-world experience
  • disciplined thinking

You won’t be sold dreams.
You will be shown how economies actually work.

 

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Opening Keynote

From Hustle to Structured Markets

Why effort alone will never build a first-world economy

— Eunice Maina-Mburu

Sets the frame so you stop blaming yourself — and start fixing systems.

Government Panel

Government as Market Architect

Where demand already exists and how you plug in

Helps you see where opportunity is real — and where it is not.

Behavioural Science Keynote

Energy Management & Economic Productivity

— Irene Njoroge

Explains why consistency fails — even among talented people — and how to fix it.

Market Reality Panel

Quality, Quantity & Consistency

— Ken Njoroge • Leonard Mcharo • Angela Mutethya

Shows you what markets never compromise on.

Agriculture & Livestock Keynote

From Farm to Market

— David Maina

Explains why production systems matter more than funding.

Market Readiness Clinics

Housing • Agriculture • Manufacturing

Gives you clarity on next steps — not contracts, but direction.

 

PROGRAM TIMELINE

08:00 – 09:00 | Arrival, Registration & Market Walk

  • Sponsor booths open
  • Exhibitions framed as “market infrastructure partners”

 

09:00 – 09:25 | OPENING KEYNOTE

From Hustle to Structured Markets: What the Fursa Index Is Telling Us

Speaker: Eunice Maina-Mburu

Purpose

  • Set the intellectual frame
  • Introduce the data-backed shift:
    the problem is not mindset or capital — it is structure
  • Explain why this conference is different

09:25 – 10:25 | POLICY AS MARKET ARCHITECT

Where Demand Already Exists

Format: Keynote + Moderated Panel
Moderator: Leonard Mudachi

Speakers

  • PS Housing & Urban Development (Keynote – 10 mins)
  • PS MSMEs Development
  • Director/CEO, Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat.
  • MD- Gimco Limited

10:25 – 10:40 | SPECIAL ADDRESS

Stability, Order & Predictability as Economic Infrastructure

Speaker: PS Interior

Short, authoritative, reframes security as economic enabler.

10:40 – 11:00 | HEALTH BREAK

11:00 – 11:55 | HOW REAL MARKETS ACTUALLY WORK.

Platforms, Capital & Market Discipline

Moderator: Leonard Mudachi

Panelists

  • Ken Njoroge – Digital platforms as market rails
  • Felix Kimanthi – Industrial & investment capital
  • Seth Andiki – Capital deployment & investment readiness

 

11:55 – 12:25 | CHANUKA FIELD EVIDENCE.

What MSMEs Are Actually Experiencing on the Ground

Format: Curated Testimonials

Who speaks

  • 2–3 Chanuka participants (2–3 minutes each)
  • From different counties / sectors

What they speak on

  • Where they thought the problem was
  • What they discovered after training
  • What is still missing (markets, standards, aggregation, buyers)

 

12:25 – 13:25 | LUNCH & SPONSOR ENGAGEMENT

IMPORTANT SHIFT

  • Sponsors are framed as:

“Institutions financing and enabling structured markets”

  • Private roundtables with banks/DFIs for serious MSMEs (optional)

13:25 – 14:15 | QUALITY, QUANTITY & CONSISTENCY PANEL

What Real Markets Never Compromise On

Moderator: Leonard Mudachi

Panelists

  • Angela Mutethya – Manufacturing systems
  • Fanon Mwendwa- Manufacturing Systems.
  • Navalayo Osembo – Global product markets
  • Clement Tulezi – Export standards & floriculture

 

14:15 – 14:45 | AGRICULTURE & LIVESTOCK KEYNOTE

From Pastoralism to Structured Livestock Value Chains

Speaker: David Maina

Placed after quality panel so livestock is framed as a system, not charity.

14:45 – 15:15 | BANKS & SPONSORS SESSION

Financing Structured Markets (Not Hustle)

 Short Panel / Fireside

Speakers.

  • 2–3 banks / DFIs / funds (sponsors only)

What they address

  • What they can finance when structure exists
  • Why they reject most MSMEs
  • What would change their lending behaviour

 

15:15 – 15:25 | TEA BREAK

15:25 – 16:20 | MARKET READINESS CLINICS

Parallel, practical sessions:

  • Livestock & ASAL systems – David Maina
  • Manufacturing & exports – Angela / Clement
  • Housing supply chains – Housing ecosystem rep

16:20 – 16:45 | CLOSING KEYNOTE

From Insight to Action: What Kenya Must Fix Next

Speaker: Eunice Maina-Mburu

Brings it back to:

  • systems
  • coordination
  • First World execution

16:45 – 17:30 | NETWORKING & CLOSE

 

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Every speaker at SalesFest Africa 2026 has built something real.
They are not theorists.
They are not motivational speakers.
They understand:

  • systems
  • standards
  • discipline
  • markets
  • consequences

Meet the Speakers

 

ABOUT CHANUKA JIPANGE

SalesFest Africa is grounded in real work on the ground.
Through Chanuka Jipange na Business Opportunities, we have worked across 47 counties, engaging MSMEs, youth, and institutions to understand:

  • what people say they need
  • what they actually struggle with
  • what the data reveals

This conference is a convergence of lived experience and national policy.

 

FINAL CALL

If you are serious about:

  • competing
  • supplying
  • financing
  • governing
  • building

Then this conversation matters.

Register for Market Readiness
See the Program
Partner with SalesFest Africa