A powerful truth is revealed when a young global internet personality like IShowSpeed moves through African cities and villages, armed with nothing more than a cell phone tapped to his wrist, commanding the attention of millions of Gen Alphas, Zoomers, and Millennials worldwide. From this little act, we learn that influence in the digital age no longer flows primarily through chancelleries, formal diplomatic communiqués, or conference halls.
It moves through platforms, personalities, social media algorithms, and real-time cultural connection. Why we cannot sit back and ignore this wave is because global trade now also follows the same pattern.
Granted, Kenya knows something about digital transformation. Over the past two decades, the country has built some of the strongest digital foundations on the continent… from world-leading mobile money adoption to digital public services such as eCitizen and the Huduma Centres. These achievements have earned Kenya a deserved reputation as an African technology pioneer. Yet digital success at home does not automatically translate into influence abroad. As global attention, power, and competition migrate online, a critical dimension of statecraft remains underdeveloped – how Kenya projects, protects, and advances its interests in the digital world.
Most times when we go online, we are quick to ‘sell Kenya’ as if it is some piece of real estate up for sale. The only thing missing is how much we are putting it up for sale per acre. In our best efforts yet, we sell the rich Kenyan experiences, which scores very well for tourism but not as much for trade and industry.
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Today, digital diplomacy is the bridge between domestic digital progress and global influence. It is the deliberate use of diplomatic tools to shape international digital norms, attract strategic technology partnerships, safeguard cyberspace, and project national values and innovation as soft power. In an era where power increasingly flows online… through data, platforms, and apps, digital transformation can no longer be treated as a purely domestic project, it must have the global market as an end.
Kenya’s digital future will therefore be determined not only by fibre cables, innovation hubs, and startups in counties, constituencies, and wards, but also by diplomatic choices made in Brussels, Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, Abuja, Cape Town, Nigeria, Addis Ababa, and Geneva.
The challenge however is that global digital governance is being written now and mostly by those who show up early, coordinated, and prepared. Digital infrastructure depends on international data regimes. Cybersecurity for one, depends on shared norms and cooperation. Digital trade rules are negotiated in bilateral and multilateral arenas. In this environment, there is nothing like non-alignment or neutrality, doing so is simply surrendering.
Other countries have understood this quite well. Estonia, with a population smaller than Nairobi, has transformed digital governance into foreign policy. Its e-government systems are promoted globally through embassies, and its e-residency programme functions as both an economic instrument and a diplomatic calling card. Digital credibility has become diplomatic influence.
Have you noticed that when you search for anything online, the first prompts you get are always about India? A few years back it used to be the USA. What changed? India is today building a robust digital public infrastructure such as Aadhaar which is close to our Huduma numbers and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), then exporting these models as digital public goods to the Global South. India is no longer just a market or a manufacturer, but a norm-setter on matters of digital diplomacy.
The United Arab Emirates, a much younger country than Kenya, has gone further still, appointing ministers for artificial intelligence and the digital economy, embedding technology experts in diplomatic missions, and making digital ambition central to national branding. They have at least five ministers all whose mandate can be merged into the Foreign Affairs docket, but each serve a distinct role globally. For the UAE, digital diplomacy is not an add-on, it is a core part of modern statecraft.
Kenya has innovation credibility and needs to continue building a diplomatic architecture to consistently convert that credibility into sustained global influence. Digital diplomacy must be treated as a cross-cutting national priority, aligning ICT, foreign affairs, trade, defence, agriculture, tourism, education, and the Treasury around shared international digital objectives. As we make strategic moves to first world status, digital issues can no longer be siloed as technical or domestic concerns but recognised as strategic foreign policy assets.
Can we reimagine Kenyan diplomatic missions and fashion them as touch-points for technology diplomacy. Look at it this way, selected embassies, particularly in major technology and policy hubs, could host digital attachés focused on innovation partnerships, digital trade, cyber cooperation, and startup internationalisation.
It is time to reimagine the face of the Kenyan diplomat, one equipped with digital fluency and not just the politics. Negotiating cybersecurity norms, AI governance, platform regulation, or cross-border data rules requires more than traditional diplomatic training. Digital policy literacy is now a core competency of effective diplomacy and would push our global trade even further.
The time for boots on the ground and weaponised warfare is soon ending, and countries will only use soft power to increase their global influence. This power is found in digital assets.
IShowSpeed’s Africa tour may seem an unlikely lens for foreign policy, but it captures the moment perfectly. Attention, influence, and legitimacy are increasingly earned online, in real time, at community and cultural scale. The question is no longer whether Kenya should pursue digital diplomacy. The question is, in a rapidly reordering global system, can we afford not to?
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A powerful truth is revealed when a young global internet personality like IShowSpeed moves through African cities and villages, armed with nothing more than a cell phone tapped to his wrist, commanding the attention of millions of Gen Alphas, Zoomers, and Millennials worldwide. From this little act, we learn that influence in the digital age no longer flows primarily through chancelleries, formal diplomatic communiqués, or conference halls.
It moves through platforms, personalities, social media algorithms, and real-time cultural connection. Why we cannot sit back and ignore this wave is because global trade now also follows the same pattern.
Granted, Kenya knows something about digital transformation. Over the past two decades, the country has built some of the strongest digital foundations on the continent… from world-leading mobile money adoption to digital public services such as eCitizen and the Huduma Centres. These achievements have earned Kenya a deserved reputation as an African technology pioneer. Yet digital success at home does not automatically translate into influence abroad. As global attention, power, and competition migrate online, a critical dimension of statecraft remains underdeveloped – how Kenya projects, protects, and advances its interests in the digital world.
Most times when we go online, we are quick to ‘sell Kenya’ as if it is some piece of real estate up for sale. The only thing missing is how much we are putting it up for sale per acre. In our best efforts yet, we sell the rich Kenyan experiences, which scores very well for tourism but not as much for trade and industry.
Follow The Standard
channel
on WhatsApp
Today, digital diplomacy is the bridge between domestic digital progress and global influence. It is the deliberate use of diplomatic tools to shape international digital norms, attract strategic technology partnerships, safeguard cyberspace, and project national values and innovation as soft power. In an era where power increasingly flows online… through data, platforms, and apps, digital transformation can no longer be treated as a purely domestic project, it must have the global market as an end.
Kenya’s digital future will therefore be determined not only by fibre cables, innovation hubs, and startups in counties, constituencies, and wards, but also by diplomatic choices made in Brussels, Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, Abuja, Cape Town, Nigeria, Addis Ababa, and Geneva.
The challenge however is that global digital governance is being written now and mostly by those who show up early, coordinated, and prepared. Digital infrastructure depends on international data regimes. Cybersecurity for one, depends on shared norms and cooperation. Digital trade rules are negotiated in bilateral and multilateral arenas. In this environment, there is nothing like non-alignment or neutrality, doing so is simply surrendering.
Other countries have understood this quite well. Estonia, with a population smaller than Nairobi, has transformed digital governance into foreign policy. Its e-government systems are promoted globally through embassies, and its e-residency programme functions as both an economic instrument and a diplomatic calling card. Digital credibility has become diplomatic influence.
Have you noticed that when you search for anything online, the first prompts you get are always about India? A few years back it used to be the USA. What changed? India is today building a robust digital public infrastructure such as Aadhaar which is close to our Huduma numbers and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), then exporting these models as digital public goods to the Global South. India is no longer just a market or a manufacturer, but a norm-setter on matters of digital diplomacy.
The United Arab Emirates, a much younger country than Kenya, has gone further still, appointing ministers for artificial intelligence and the digital economy, embedding technology experts in diplomatic missions, and making digital ambition central to national branding. They have at least five ministers all whose mandate can be merged into the Foreign Affairs docket, but each serve a distinct role globally. For the UAE, digital diplomacy is not an add-on, it is a core part of modern statecraft.
Kenya has innovation credibility and needs to continue building a diplomatic architecture to consistently convert that credibility into sustained global influence. Digital diplomacy must be treated as a cross-cutting national priority, aligning ICT, foreign affairs, trade, defence, agriculture, tourism, education, and the Treasury around shared international digital objectives. As we make strategic moves to first world status, digital issues can no longer be siloed as technical or domestic concerns but recognised as strategic foreign policy assets.
Can we reimagine Kenyan diplomatic missions and fashion them as touch-points for technology diplomacy. Look at it this way, selected embassies, particularly in major technology and policy hubs, could host digital attachés focused on innovation partnerships, digital trade, cyber cooperation, and startup internationalisation.
It is time to reimagine the face of the Kenyan diplomat, one equipped with digital fluency and not just the politics. Negotiating cybersecurity norms, AI governance, platform regulation, or cross-border data rules requires more than traditional diplomatic training. Digital policy literacy is now a core competency of effective diplomacy and would push our global trade even further.
The time for boots on the ground and weaponised warfare is soon ending, and countries will only use soft power to increase their global influence. This power is found in digital assets.
IShowSpeed’s Africa tour may seem an unlikely lens for foreign policy, but it captures the moment perfectly. Attention, influence, and legitimacy are increasingly earned online, in real time, at community and cultural scale. The question is no longer whether Kenya should pursue digital diplomacy. The question is, in a rapidly reordering global system, can we afford not to?
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By Frank David Ochieng’