Man overwhelmed as he pitches innovation plan to Ruto at Beyond 2030 forum

A moment of immense pressure highlighted the gravity of speaking in front of a Head of State when a man stepped up to the microphone to pitch his blueprint during the Beyond 2030 national conversation at the KICC on Wednesday.

The paralysing tension of explaining a concept directly to a piercingly attentive President William Ruto seemingly overwhelmed him, causing a simple plastic container he was using as a teaching aid to slip from his hand and clatter loudly onto the podium.

Determined to regain his composure amid trembling hands and a faltering voice, he quickly bent to pick up the plastic cup, filling the sudden void where his explanation should have been.

"Somebody said when you are in, when you are ahead of the head, when you are in front of the head of state there's heat. The heat is acting on me. Allow me to regain my composure," he said.

The President connected with the light moment, smiling with a tinge of laughter as the man continued with his presentation.

The man had sparked a conversation about brain drain, a perennial problem that has denied Kenya the services of some of its best minds who venture abroad for greener pastures.

He said the best way to lure them back home was for Kenya to embrace innovation, particularly in technology, where the returning Kenyan diaspora community could best apply their skills.

"That is what Hack 100 is about," he said.

Hack-Kenya@100 is a network of young innovators committed to building opportunities at home instead of chasing them abroad, with a vision of enabling Kenya to solve its problems its own way by the time the country turns 100.

Their tech ventures span agriculture, energy and technology, AI, education, health, mobility, infrastructure, manufacturing, the creative economy and government.

The concept calls on students, farmers, boda boda riders, developers, artists, engineers, TVET innovators and entrepreneurs to bring on board whatever hack (simple solutions that work) can help Kenya solve its problems.

"What is going to happen is that there are communities of Kenyans in the diaspora. How are we connecting with them and solve these problems because in our conversations with Kenyans in the diaspora, they want to come back to Kenya," he said.

It was at this point that his visual aid, the small capped plastic container, came into play.

He explained that the team settled on the transparent plastic container because the ideal teaching aid, a capsule, was too small for a demonstration to the huge audience.

"So this capsule is going to be the conversation builder among young people. Instead of begging the government to do things, what ideas have you put in this capsule?" he asked, hoisting the plastic container high for everyone to see.

He explained that the capsule acts as a reservoir of ideas from Kenyans of all walks of life which, when put together, would improve Kenya's development status currently at 75 per cent as per Hack Kenya@100 estimation.

"When this capsule goes around, we will preserve our memories, we will preserve our aspirations and it is proposed for these ideas to be preserved and hopefully when we celebrate Kenya at 100, it will be opened to see, did we make it, did we not. Was the dream achievable?"