Event report
French Week Day 2: Building Sustainable Infrastructure and Essential Services
Day 2 of the French Week Nairobi 2025 spotlighted sustainability, infrastructure, and the systems shaping East Africaâs future.
Thibault FLICHY, President of the French Chamber of Commerce Kenya, called for deeper FranceâKenya collaboration; he emphasized regional integration, water, and blue and agro value chains.
Our chief guest, Eng. Isaac Kiva , PE, FIEK, reaffirmed Kenyaâs commitment to scaling renewable energy, green ammonia, and climate-aligned agribusiness.
Roundtable 1 â Sustainable Infrastructure & Essential Services
Moderated by Edwin Baru, the session explored clean cooking expansion and solarization (Olivier Gatera (RUBiS Energy Kenya), LPG innovation and pay-as-you-cook models Christabelle Ochiel (TotalEnergies), and electric mobility scaling within Kenyaâs renewable-energy grid (Jit Bhattacharya (BasiGo).
Fireside Chat â Logistics powering East Africa
Moderated by Amyn Mussa, Partner ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna
Martin Mwangi (Africa Global Logistics) underscored regulatory friction, tariff barriers, and high logistics costs while highlighting digitization, AI, SEZs, and PPPs as the levers for seamless continental trade.
Roundtable 3 â The Power of Wholesale Markets
Insights from Laure Paugam on integrated logistics ecosystems; Martin Parent on efficient wholesale market models; Victor Onzere (Ngong Veg Ltd) on reducing post-harvest losses; and Charles Ballard (Twiga Foods) on ecosystem opportunities for growers and exporters.
Panel 4 â Water & Sanitation Systems
Julius K. Korir, Principal Secretary, State Department for Water & Sanitation, ; CHRISTOPHE LACARIN (Seureca), Sammy Ndungu (bioMĂ©rieux), Dominic Revell de Waal (The World Bank), and CĂ©line Krommydas (Saint-Gobain PAM) called for resilient water infrastructure, strong quality systems, and sustainable financing.
A decisive day of solutions and partnerships that move East Africa closer to a sustainable, resilient future.
