Engagements in Mombasa bring Kenyan and South African innovation communities together ahead of SWEAT Africa 2027.

SWEAT Africa is strengthening its continental network of entrepreneurs, investors, and innovation partners at the seventh edition of Pwani Innovation Week, currently underway in Mombasa, Kenya. The six-day event, which began on 26 October and concludes on Saturday, 31 October, provides a platform for building connections across East Africa ahead of SWEAT Africa 2027.

Hosted by Swahilipot Hub Foundation, the annual gathering brings together young innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and ecosystem builders to explore opportunities for collaboration and investment across East Africa. This year’s event marks Swahilipot’s tenth anniversary under the theme A Decade and Beyond: Youth, Innovation & Coastal Futures.

Representing SWEAT Africa as a partner, Bushra Razack sees Mombasa as an important starting point for building stronger connections with East Africa’s innovation communities.

“East Africa is one of the most dynamic innovation regions on the continent, and SWEAT Africa can’t truly be African without it,” she says. “Spending this week at Pwani Innovation Week has shown me that the energy isn’t only in the capital cities.”

The Kenyan coast is home to entrepreneurs and innovators working across the blue economy, tourism, agritech, and community enterprise. For SWEAT Africa, engaging with these emerging businesses is an opportunity to broaden its network and support connections beyond established innovation centres.

“Making Mombasa SWEAT Africa’s first stop in Kenya was a deliberate choice: we want the next great African companies to come from everywhere,” Razack explains.

The Pwani Innovation Week programme includes the Deals Den investment pitch competition, three innovation hackathons focusing on the circular economy, artificial intelligence, and creative industries, and the launch of the Pwani Innovation Agenda 2026–2036, a ten-year roadmap for coastal innovation and economic development.

For Razack, collaboration between Kenya and South Africa offers opportunities to combine complementary strengths.

“Kenya has shown the world how to build at speed and at scale, and South Africa brings deep research, strong universities and growing investor networks,” she says.

She points to Swahilipot Hub, where technology, arts, and heritage come together beside Mombasa’s historic Fort Jesus, as an example of the community-driven innovation ecosystems SWEAT Africa hopes to learn from and partner with.

“Imagine a Mombasa founder pitching to investors in the Cape Winelands, or a South African startup finding its first East African market through a connection made here this week. That’s the collaboration we’re building.”

A central part of SWEAT Africa’s participation is The Ecosystem Table, a networking dinner on Thursday, 29 October, hosted in partnership with Close The Gap. The gathering brings together founders, funders, creatives, and ecosystem builders from Kenya and South Africa to explore shared opportunities and establish relationships that can lead to future collaborations.

“No institution, however well resourced, builds an ecosystem alone,” says Razack. “The Ecosystem Table is about sitting together around one table, founders, funders, creatives and partners, and asking one question: what could we build together that none of us could build alone?”

Razack expressed particular appreciation to Close The Gap for its generosity in hosting the gathering, describing the partnership as an example of the collaborative spirit SWEAT Africa hopes to strengthen across the continent.

“My hope is that the relationships started over dinner on Thursday don’t end there, but carry through to SWEAT Africa 2027 in March and well beyond. We also look forward to welcoming Close The Gap to our SWEAT Africa event next year.”

The Mombasa engagement coincides with another African science initiative taking place further south along the continent’s eastern coast, where CERI and its partners are participating in WEMA, a Wellcome-supported programme focused on climate change and mental health, in Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique. Together, these activities reflect the growing connections between African scientific, entrepreneurial, and innovation communities.

With SWEAT Africa 2027 taking place on 16 and 17 March, the relationships established during Pwani Innovation Week offer a foundation for further engagement between East and Southern Africa.

“Pwani Innovation Week has shown that the Kenyan coast is serious about innovation. SWEAT Africa is proud to be part of it, and we hope to see many Kenyan founders with us in March,” concludes Razack.