By Peter Ochieng
Kisumu has been ranked among the top 1,000 cities that have impressive innovation business startup environments in the world, in a new report by Startup Blink, a global economy research platform.
According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report 2024 by Startup Blink, Kisumu joins the global family of top cities with best innovation and start-up ecosystems.
The Lakeside City is ranked number 985 with a score of 0.12 just below Nairobi, which is number 120 with a score of 6.64 while Mombasa had a score of 0.08.
“We provide two sets of rankings. The first is for entire Countries and the second is for individual city ecosystems within those countries. Our Index report caps the number of Countries at 100 and the number of cities at 1,000 although more locations appear on the Startup Blink,” says the report.
The report gives detailed analysis on the updates of startups in each of the participating Countries, including Kenya. It says the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Israel are the big three in Startups in the world. Canada and Singapore are ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
On Cities, San Francisco, New York and London grab the top three positions. Los Angeles, Boston, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangalore, Tel Aviv and Paris, make up the top ten.
Continentally, the report says Kenya has emerged as a leading tech hub on the continent, particularly in the realm of mobile payment solutions.
The report explains that with a mature economy and a burgeoning culture of entrepreneurship, Kenya serves as a prime English-speaking gateway to the African market.
“In terms of attracting funding for startups, Kenya has historically been a top choice for investors in Africa, alongside countries like Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa.”
The rankings focused on the following areas; environmental sustainability, inclusive economic growth, diversified emerging technologies and innovation and cross border collaboration.
Reacting to the rankings, Kisumu County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Trade, Tourism and Marketing Farida Salim said: “We are proud of our Country. The rankings are signs of better things to come. The future is bright.”
She said Kisumu governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s adminstration contiues to put in place various measures to uplift not only bigger businesses, but to alo attract small scale startups. The measures, she said include trader having to pay for licences on a yearly basis, but not based on financial years, as it currently stands.
Kisumu joins the global top 1000 cities as a new entrant, in the process helping Kenya to maintain its place as one of the top performers. Last month, Kisumu County launched the Zone 01 Kisumu, a program that offers tuition free training and employment opportunities for the tech savvy youth.
Kisumu is also the cleanest City in Kenya, number two in East Africa (after Kigali, Rwanda) and number 6 in Africa.