Communications Heads to Fast-track KJET’s Public Engagement and Visibility

Communications units from the State Departments for Investment Promotion (SDIP) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SDMSME) and partner state agencies convened on Wednesday July 9, 2025 for the 4^th High-Level Consultative Session to review progress and align strategies for a publicity promotion campaign for the Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation (KJET) project.

The meeting, chaired by KJET Communications Specialist Kibisu Kabatesi, brought together over 20 public communication officers from the two state departments and heads of communications and ICT from the Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA), Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA), Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), Medium and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA) and Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA).

The State Departments and these agencies are implementing the KJET Project; a World Bank supported Government of Kenya investment promotion and jobs creation initiative. KJET aims to address key constraints within government and market systems that hinder the creation of high-quality jobs and the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Overall, KJET will ‘increase private sector investments, access to markets and sustainable finance to create and improve jobs.’

The purpose of the 4^th Session was to assess ongoing activities and plan for communications interventions; streamline stakeholder engagement efforts; and finalize key communications tools and branding assets critical to the roll-out of the KJET initiative. These include; KJET communications work-plans, website, a grievance redress mechanism (GRM) and capacity building for implementation teams.

Principal Secretaries (PSs) Susan Auma Mang’eni (SDMSME) and Abubakar Hassan Abubakar (SDIP), gave keynote addresses emphasizing the strategic role of communications in showcasing the project's value and attracting increased uptake.

PS Mang’eni commended work done so far by the team and urged for the generation of high-impact messages to spur public interest and position KJET as a catalyst for sustainable business growth and job creation for youth.

“When there’s an overflow in demand, the project gains more traction and potential for funding,” she said.

PS Abubakar emphasized the importance of packaging KJET messaging to resonate with the business community and drive investments and therefore job creation:

“Our audience is the entrepreneur, the SME and that investor out there. Make the messages reflect that pull-factor reality in the Kenyan investment environment,” he said.

Kibisu Kabatesi emphasized collaboration by all agencies implementing KJET and commended the unity-of-purpose so far displayed by the communications teams.

“You remain the eyes and ears of the project - the mirror. You have done great! The distance is shorter if you don’t walk alone! Within a month, you have produced credible work-plans, sample KJET Logo designs, a KJET-Media domain and a KJET website is on the way”, said the Communications Specialist.

Guided by the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), KJET targets a comprehensive overhaul of overly complex regulatory frameworks; insufficient promotion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); lack of coordination between buyers and suppliers; information gaps about market capabilities and requirements; and the negative impacts of Climate Change.

KJET also aims to create a ONE START, ONE STOP e-system enabling access to all information on investigating in Kenya. 

The 4^th Session featured interactive presentations, design reviews, technical input from ICT teams; and lively plenary discussions facilitated by KJET Project Coordinator Dr. Tedson Nyongesa, who officially opened the meeting. He praised the inter-generational team composition and encouraged open idea-sharing to enhance communications synergy.

With renewed energy and clear targets, the KJET communications team committed to a renewed shared sense of purpose — to creatively transform KJET from a policy ambition into a household name among investors, entrepreneurs, Kenyan SMEs and youth.

Key resolutions included fast-tracking final communications work-plans submission and integrating content creation across agencies. Capacity building on KJET for the team was endorsed by both PSs, with the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Specialist, Tom Okeyo tasked with incorporating it into the KJET integrated work-plan.