{"id":8325,"date":"2025-09-12T07:03:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=8325"},"modified":"2026-04-19T13:57:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:57:55","slug":"safaricom-conference-drives-effort-to-keep-african-gaming-talent-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/safaricom-conference-drives-effort-to-keep-african-gaming-talent-at-home","title":{"rendered":"Safaricom conference drives effort to keep African gaming talent at home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Conference spotlights policies, investment and opportunities to nurture local gaming talent and grow Africa\u2019s gaming industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Kenya.- Kenya\u2019s largest telecoms company, Safaricom<\/strong>, hosted its first-ever Level Up Gaming Conference, <\/strong>highlighting key challenges and opportunities in Africa\u2019s gaming ecosystem, with a central focus on keeping African gaming talent at home rather than losing it to international markets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event drew gamers, developers, investors<\/strong> and policymakers from across the continent to explore strategies that strengthen local opportunities, foster innovation and build a thriving gaming industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Themed \u201cLevel Up Africa: Unlocking Gaming Potential in Africa\u201d and held in the city of Nairobi, the event spotlighted Safaricom\u2019s mission to keep Africa\u2019s gaming talent within Africa. It recognised gaming as a platform for talent, creativity and opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi<\/strong>, Chief Consumer Business Officer at Safaricom, said: \u201cGaming is more than just play<\/strong>. It is talent, creativity and opportunity. At Safaricom, we believe in powering the youth and building platforms where skills can turn into careers, innovations and thriving communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi champions Africa\u2019s gaming future at the Level Up Africa conference in Kenya.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Panels and discussions emphasised the need for stronger policies and increased investment<\/strong> for developers to ensure Africa\u2019s best gaming minds have the resources and support to succeed locally<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference also celebrated Africa\u2019s pop culture, featuring movies, television shows, music, cosplay, live performances and merchandise exhibitions, blending industry insight with a vibrant showcase of creativity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safaricom has long championed local gaming in Kenya. Last year, the Wai Ndai 90-day challenge awarded KSh500,000 (\u20ac3,400) in daily cash vouchers and three Suzuki Alto vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its 2019 eSports tournament with Pro Series Gaming mentored youth aged 18 to 26 exploring gaming careers<\/strong>. In 2021, the MobiPlay Challenge engaged players in an eight-week online competition with daily, weekly and grand prizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recently, Safaricom powered the 2025 Otamatsuri Gaming Convention<\/strong> with its 5G network, enabling seamless, low-latency gameplay and online interactions<\/strong>. By focusing on talent retention, policy, investment and technology, Safaricom is positioning Africa as a hub of opportunit<\/strong>y and creativity in the global gaming industry.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Rwanda\u2019s MWC conference set to boost Africa\u2019s igaming and digital growth<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conference spotlights policies, investment and opportunities to nurture local gaming talent and grow Africa\u2019s gaming industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2809,"featured_media":8336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Safaricom's inaugural Level Up Gaming Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, underscored critical challenges and opportunities within Africa's nascent gaming ecosystem. The event emphasized the strategic imperative of fostering local talent retention, advocating for robust policy frameworks, and attracting capital investment to cultivate a self-sustaining and innovative African gaming industry. This initiative highlights Safaricom's commitment to leveraging advanced infrastructure, such as 5G, to catalyze regional growth across various gaming verticals.","focusai_entities":"Safaricom, Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi, Pro Series Gaming","focusai_location":"Kenya, Nairobi, Africa","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.75), tech_data (0.85), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Policy & Investment Impact","query":"What specific policy recommendations and capital investment commitments emerged from the Level Up Gaming Conference that are actionable for retaining African gaming development talent and attracting foreign direct investment into the continent's diverse gaming verticals?"},{"label":"Safaricom's B2B Strategy","query":"Beyond consumer-facing initiatives, what concrete B2B strategies and partnerships is Safaricom pursuing to support local game development studios and platform providers, leveraging its 5G network and market position?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60016,60013],"tags":[60041,60515],"class_list":["post-8325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-africa","tag-kenya","tag-safaricom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8325"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8367,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325\/revisions\/8367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}