A céilí band performed in a bar decorated with balloons in green, white and orange and draped Irish and Kenyan flags as hundreds of people gathered in central Nairobi to celebrate St. Patrick’s day on Thursday evening.
The event - one of several connected to the occasion taking place in the East African capital this week - was organised by Business Ireland Kenya and the Kenya Irish Society, which was founded nearly a century ago.
It runs events throughout the year, including an upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Ball and the Tara Trophy golf tournament, which has been taking place annually since the 1930s.
Kerryman Jack O’Regan, a former chair of the society, has lived in Kenya since 2011. He said that long history “gives you an idea of the long and storied input of Irish people into Kenyan society.”
He said the society “creates a brother and sisterhood amongst Irish people in Kenya, promotes Irish culture and supports those in need.” Each year, they raise around €9,000 to give out through small grants to charities: usually those with an Irish focus.
O’Regan, an associate director at the Turner & Townsend consultancy, is married to a Kenyan woman and has two children here. “It’s a wonderful place,” he said about Kenya. “You have that fantastic entrepreneurial spirit. Wonderful, wonderful people. It’s [also] a tourist destination [with] amazing places to go and see.”
Jo Ryan, the chair of Business Ireland Kenya (BIK), said days like this are a chance to cement the links between Kenya and Ireland in a relaxed and social way.
BIK was formed in 2013, during a visit to Kenya by former Minister of State for Trade and Development Joe Costello. Alongside St. Patrick’s Day, BIK holds events focused on different types of trade and business. Over the last two years, these were largely online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but they are now face-to-face again, Ryan said, which is better when it comes to networking.
Private sector companies pay to be part of the BIK network, which has roughly 100 members, most of them in Kenya. They also work with Enterprise Ireland.
“Our job is to promote trade and investment between Ireland and Kenya and we do that in collaboration with the Irish embassy,” she said. “We do have a very positive legacy here. We’ve done the aid work, and we’ll continue to do aid, but we’re now trying to position ourselves as business partners too… and it’s a partnership.
“We position Kenya - which has a population of 50 million people - [as] the gateway to East Africa… Most of the big international companies have their base in Kenya, then reach into Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi,” Ryan said.
And “Ireland is now really the gateway into the EU because we’re the only English speaking country in the EU. … The Irish market is relatively small but obviously it gives you access to a much larger market.”
Ryan, who comes from Tipperary, has lived in Kenya since 2012 and has a Kenyan partner. She is also the CEO of a social enterprise called TruTrade Africa, which has links to the organisation Self Help Africa.
“From a business perspective I’d say to Irish people come and do business here… Doing business in Kenya is easier than you think it is,” she said.
Brian Harding, a United Nations climate change advisor from Dublin who has lived in Kenya on and off since 2007, said links between Ireland and Kenya were strengthened by the reestablishment of the Irish embassy in Nairobi in 2015 following an absence of 26 years.
“Obviously we have a strong missionary connection between the two countries but more recently the business connections have been excellent, especially between in the agricultural sector. Irish experts have been giving technical advice to Kenyan farmers and to the government.
But there’s still lots more to do. And it should be a two-way street a little bit more, we should have more openness for Kenyans to come to Ireland and pass on their knowledge,” Harding said.
The Irish embassy also held two events this week for the Irish community, as well as businesspeople, other diplomats and Kenyan politicians.
