Bigger India
Why Millennials are Heading for a Wilder Tech City
Within eight years it has transformed in to a cosmopolitan hub drawing young people from across Africa and now India and China. There are skyscrapers and shopping malls; hotels and apartment blocks; cinemas, bars, restaurants and even an ice rink.
In the summer of 2006, Timbo Drayson packed his bags and waved goodbye to Oxford University for a job at Google. He started in London, working on a fast-growing video product that eventually took him to the US. But by 2013 Drayson had quit and flown half way across the globe for Kenya’s capital. What happened?
“During my time at Google, I was working on building our developer ecosystem in the Middle East and Africa,” says Drayson. “I really enjoyed it and so decided to take a sabbatical, travelling around East and West Africa on a tech tour. [Along the way] I got inspired [by the] big problems that needed solving through technology.”
My family think it’s a good thing I’ve come to Kenya to develop my career, the Chinese believe Africa has a bright future. There are very many opportunities for young people and the salaries are higher – Peng
Nairobi has the most developed tech scene in East Africa rivalling hubs like Cape Town, Lagos and Cairo. This made it a smart, strategic choice for an entrepreneur like Drayson. Within a year, the Brit had co-founded OkHi, a company working to provide every person in Kenya with an address.