CEO Forum Gathers Utility Heads at EAPIC in Nairobi

Nairobi, Kenya, September 05, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Utilities’ challenges of financing power projects - be they generation, transmission or distribution projects, and ways in which this can be mitigated, will be in focus during the CEO Forum at the East African Power Industry Convention (EAPIC) in Nairobi from 10-11 September. The attendance of high-level utility executives from the region, including Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, Sudan and Kenya, has been confirmed already.

Other challenges experienced in the region’s power industry include unstable and unreliable electricity supply which is hindering economic growth, as well as the high demands being put on already aged infrastructure, causing frequent black outs.

Says Claire Volkwyn, organizer of the CEO Forum at EAPIC: “We expect some fairly robust and honest discussion between the participants around some of the challenges currently being experienced.”

She continues: “This forum allows utility CEOs to discuss, in an informal, private but facilitated manner, some of the biggest challenges faced by utilities today. This interaction allows them to work together to devise strategies to address these challenges in a way that is based on best practice, combined experience and in a way that can be applied to other utilities going forward. We believe very much that collaboration is the only way for the utility industry to prosper, and that each utility brings unique experiences and insights to the forum.”

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary in the Energy Ministry, Mr Davis Chirchir, will delivering the keynote address at EAPIC, where he will be joined by Uganda’s minister of Energy, Engineer Irene Muloni, and other regional ministerial dignitaries in a panel discussion during the opening session. EAPIC will be attended by more than 500 power professionals.

More EAPIC programme highlights:
- Bridging the gap between Africa’s power shortages: Power Africa Initiative
Andrew Herscowitz, Coordinator of Power Africa and Trade Africa, USAID Africa, USA

- The impetus for development in East Africa
Mihret Debebe, CEO, EEPCO, Ethiopia

- High-level panellists include:
- Ben Chumo, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Power, Kenya
- Moahammed El Ginaid, Managing Director, Sudan Hydro Power, Sudan
- Ntare Karitanyi, Director General, EWSA, Rwanda
- Joel Kiilu, Managing Director, Ketraco, Kenya
- Mike Mason, Chairman, Tropical Power, Kenya
- Kaburu Mwrichia ,Director General, Energy Regulation Commission (ERC), Kenya
- John Muygenzi, Managing Director, Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd, Uganda
- Simon Ngure, Managing Director, KenGen, Kenya

- Geothermal capacity building: Collaboration between higher learning institutes and the sector
Dr Nicholas Mariita, Lecturer, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Kenya

Event dates and location:
Conference days: 10-11 September 2013
Pre-conference workshop: 9 September 2013
Site visit: 12 September 2013

Location: Safari Park Hotel, Kasarani Off Thika Road, Nairobi, Kenya