technology, e - commerce, entertainment and other services have increased their reach and influence during the pandemic. globally, microsoft, google, meta ( formely facebook ), amazon and apple are the face of bigtechs. but beyond the united states, alibaba and tencent in china, mercado libre ( online market ) in latin america, ride - hailing services grub and gojek in south east asia, and mobile phone financial services firms in africa are increasingly exhibiting the characteristics of bigtechs though on a more regional scale. the global bigtechs are now estimated at 20 percent of the market capitalization on the new york stock exchange. to paint the picture more vividly, apple took 42 years to reach a market capitalization of us $ 1 trillion and 2 years to hit us $ 2 trillion. shockingly, all of the second trillion in valuation came in just 21 weeks to august 2020! the bigtechs have far and away displaced the traditional bluechips companies in manufacturing and aviation such as general electric and boeing in their dominance. second, is the proliferation of technology and innovations. from mobile banking to cloud computing, artificial intelligence to blockchain technology, internet of things, and robotics. all these developments herald significant opportunities to re - engineer the operations of governments and business and transform lives and livelihoods. indeed, we are at the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution, whose transformative powers are already evident in the financial sector, and will transform the way we live, work, and relate to one another. in the words of professor klaus schwab, who popularized this label : “ it is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. ” some of these technologies, such as artificial intelligence ( ai ) present significant opportunities to address some of our most pressing problems on the continent. for instance, despite micro, small and medium enterprises ( msmes ) being the engines of our economies, access to credit remains a key challenge. this in part arises from lack of traditional collateral such as title deeds used by financial institutions to secure credit facilities. with the proliferation of digital footprints, ai can be used to generate credit histories of msmes. these credit histories can then be used to appraise and appropriately price credit for msmes that would otherwise be excluded from accessing credit. the potential of ai extends to other critical areas including retail, advertising, manufacturing and health. but these

regional integration and capacity development – as you are aware, the common market for eastern and southern africa ( comesa ) regional integration process is progressing well. milestones achieved so far include the establishment of the comesa monetary institute, currently hosted here at the kenya school of monetary studies in recognition of capacity building as one of the key pillars necessary for achieving successful integration. partner central banks have identified the need to revise the frameworks governing hr policies and strategies in line with international best practice. the call for the establishment of an integrated framework for a holistic approach to capacity building among central banks in comesa is therefore a pertinent one. implementation of such an approach will enable regional banks to realize greater economies of scale by taking advantage of regional institutional and human resources. capacity building must, therefore, take a unified approach, with regional central banks coming together to pool resources and take advantage of regional diversity to achieve greater efficiency in organizational performance. 2. performance management and talent development – traditionally, central banks have had a multi - generational workforce with the older segment forming the majority of the workforce. hr managers are therefore faced with the challenge of balancing the demands of the older workforce with that of the younger workforce using recognized management principles. the younger workforce comes ready to take up responsibilities at a lesser age and experience, but with high bargaining power due to their knowledge and skills at hand and techno - savvyness. a clear shift is thus bis central bankers ’ speeches seen in terms of organizational career commitment to individualized career management. managing this set of people is essential for the growth of any industry but especially for central banks where the composition of the workforce is rapidly changing. the challenge therefore is on the need to develop individuals who have performance potential on the basis of past record and knowledge - based expertise while at the same time tapping into the expertise of the younger generation without compromising staff morale. furthermore, the hired for life mentality of the past is fast becoming obsolete as workers increasingly change employers. hr must therefore place emphasis on proper work - life balance, while at the same time motivating staff through continuous learning opportunities and positive feedback. 3. managing change – organizations are getting more and more technologically oriented. the banking sector particularly, has undergone revolutionary changes enabled by technology. in the central bank of kenya, for example, a number of technological innovations have been implemented. the success of these interventions is no doubt heavily dependent on managing the people issues surrounding the process. in order to realize acceptance at all