Safaricom’s fourth annual engineering summit, Decode – De{c0}de 4.0 – opened its doors at the Sarit Expo Centre on Tuesday, drawing developers, engineers, startups, and global technology partners for what the company is billing as its most ambitious gathering since the summit launched in 2022.
Held under the theme Made of Kenya, the three-day event, running through Thursday, 2 April, arrives as Safaricom marks 25 years of operations in Kenya. That milestone is doing real work in shaping the summit’s identity. Rather than a generic technology showcase, Decode 4.0 is positioned as a deliberate stocktake of what Kenya has built, and a blueprint for where the country goes next.
2026 Is the “Year of AI”
Safaricom Group Chief Technology Officer James Maitai set the tone early, declaring 2026 the company’s “Year of AI” in his opening remarks. Maitai outlined a broader ambition: transitioning Safaricom from a traditional telecommunications provider into what it describes as a purpose-driven technology company by 2030. That is not just rhetoric; the summit’s agenda is structured around four thematic pillars: Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, Gaming and Creative Tech, and Ecosystem Building. Each reflects a tangible area where Safaricom is placing commercial and strategic bets.
The AI track, dubbed The Intelligent Core, centres on agentic AI, domain-specific models, and how distributed intelligence shapes application development for the Kenyan and broader African context. A session titled AI as the Great Equaliser surfaced a persistent tension in the local ecosystem: the gap between consuming foreign platforms and building indigenous solutions. Panellists from Microsoft and Strathmore University flagged that universities are beginning to restructure curricula to integrate industry use cases as early as the third year of study, a structural shift worth watching.
M-Pesa Gets a Significant Overhaul
One of the more consequential announcements from day one involves M-Pesa itself. Safaricom introduced what it is calling Fintech 2.0; described as the most significant update to the M-Pesa platform in a decade. The upgrade introduces autonomous self-healing capabilities and advanced fraud detection, moving the platform beyond simple transaction processing towards an intelligent financial layer capable of autonomous alerts, customer segmentation, and data-driven credit scoring. For Kenya’s 37.9 million M-Pesa users and the developers building on top of the platform, this represents a material change in what the infrastructure can support.
A Summit Structured Like Nairobi
In a notable design choice, Decode 4.0’s breakout rooms are named after Nairobi landmarks: Odeon, Railways, and Kencom. Each carrying its own programming identity. The Railways room hosts keynote-style sessions focused on big ideas and forward-looking insights. The Kencom room is home to Chalk Talks and deep dives into system architecture, patterns, and frameworks. The Odeon room is where Builder Labs run, offering hands-on, step-by-step sessions where participants build, test, and experiment under expert guidance. The naming is more than aesthetic; it grounds a globally relevant summit in specifically Kenyan geography.
Scale and Access
The summit has drawn partners including Microsoft, Google, Dell Technologies, Huawei, and Mitsumi Distribution. More than 100,000 participants are expected to engage across physical and virtual channels. For context, Decode 3.0 drew over 9,600 physical attendees, the physical slots for this year’s edition were highly competitive, with daily registration opening at 11:00 AM until capacity was filled. Those unable to attend in person can follow via live stream on Safaricom PLC’s YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook channels.
Beyond the Three Days
Safaricom is extending the summit’s reach through year-round initiatives. Regional Decode Cafés — bi-monthly tech mixers targeting five regions across Kenya, are designed to move the conversation beyond Nairobi. Code labs and mentorship programmes targeting both developers and educators will run throughout the year, with participants earning certificates and digital badges.
The summit also sits at an intersection that matters: Kenya’s financial inclusion rate has climbed from 26.7% in 2006 to 84.8% in 2024, a trajectory built substantially on the back of M-Pesa and the developer ecosystem around it. What gets built in the next three days, and the conversations that follow, will have a meaningful bearing on what comes next.
For tickets and schedule information, visit decode.safaricom.co.ke
