Nairobi Konza, Kenya — Kenya’s flagship smart city project, Konza Technopolis, posted a sharp rise in revenue last year, fueled almost entirely by soaring demand for cloud services.
Official figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) show the city earned Ksh 252.4 million in 2024 a 32 percent jump from the previous year’s Ksh 191.3 million. More than half of that came from Konza Cloud, whose earnings shot up by over 300 percent to reach Ksh 151.6 million.
“The surge underscores the growing appetite for cloud infrastructure and services in Kenya’s innovation space,” KNBS said in its 2025 Economic Survey released on Monday.
Once branded “Silicon Savannah,” Konza Technopolis has faced both high expectations and slow starts since its launch more than a decade ago. But the latest numbers point to a shift in momentum at least in digital infrastructure.
At the heart of this change is a ramp-up in cloud resource use. KNBS noted that cloud storage usage rose to 25 percent in 2024, up from 22 percent a year earlier. This growth was supported by the addition of new data storage capacity.
While the cloud sector soared, other parts of the Technopolis told a different story. Revenue from land leases once a mainstay dipped by 17 percent to Ksh 76.1 million. Other income sources dropped even more sharply, falling 61 percent to just Ksh 24.7 million.
Still, the site continued to draw new investors. The number of active investors rose from 56 to 70, while leased land parcels more than tripled from 9 in 2023 to 33 in 2024. The number of parcels surveyed also surged, from 187 to 515.
That rising interest is starting to put pressure on available space. By the end of 2024, only 68 land parcels remained unleased a 5.6 percent drop. Parcels under active development ticked up modestly from eight to nine.
John Okwiri, CEO of the Kenya Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), believes the project is finally finding its footing.
“Konza is well positioned to support national goals through smart cities, research, startups and digital infrastructure like the national data centre,” he said. He also pointed to the planned rollout of artificial intelligence labs as a key focus going forward.
Cumulative investment in Konza Technopolis has now reached Ksh 83.5 billion, with Ksh 13.6 billion pumped in during 2024 alone a 27 percent rise compared to the year before.
Despite the encouraging numbers, challenges remain. Sluggish progress in physical development and a drop in traditional income streams highlight the delicate balancing act ahead: pushing innovation while maintaining investor confidence in brick-and-mortar projects.
But for now, the city’s cloud ambitions seem to be paying off quite literally.
