Pressy Akinyi has joined Apple as Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for East Africa. She will work between Nairobi and Dubai.
Akinyi announced the appointment on LinkedIn.
“I’m excited to announce my new role as Head of Government Affairs & Public Policy, East Africa at Apple,” she wrote. She added: “I’ll be in between Nairobi and Dubai, feel free to connect.”
She was previously Policy Lead at the American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya (AmCham Kenya).
Akinyi ran policy advocacy at AmCham Kenya for two years
Akinyi joined AmCham Kenya in September 2024 as Policy and Legal Specialist and became Policy Lead in January 2025, according to her profile. Her tenure totals two years and two months.
As Policy Lead she ran the chamber’s advocacy on trade, investment and regulatory reform between the United States and Kenya. Her profile says she advised US multinationals in the digital economy, health, energy, agriculture and manufacturing. She led sector taskforces and technical working groups, drafted position papers, legislative submissions and regulatory responses, and dealt with the US Embassy, Kenyan ministries, regulators and Parliament. Her work covered consultations on cloud infrastructure and data centre licensing, and talks on AI governance, digital investment and cross border data flows.
Akinyi lists four policy results from 2025
Her profile lists these results:
- Tax. In the Finance Act 2025, she says she secured removal of a proposed withholding tax on software payments, backed Advance Pricing Agreements, helped keep enhanced investment allowances and won capital allowance treatment for spectrum fees. The President signed the Act on June 27, 2025, and the Advance Pricing Agreement provisions take effect on January 1, 2026.
- Energy. She says her work on power sector reform contributed to lifting the moratorium on power purchase agreements and reopening more than 1,100 megawatts for negotiation. The National Assembly lifted the seven year freeze in 2025.
- Digital economy, AI and cybersecurity. She says she shaped Kenya’s National AI Strategy 2025 to 2030 and an AI Code of Practice, and pushed for due process safeguards in cybercrime legislation. Kenya launched the strategy on March 27, 2025.
- Health. She led advocacy on the Health Products and Technologies Bill on regulatory clarity, supply chain integrity and investor confidence.
Akinyi trained as a lawyer before moving into policy
Akinyi studied for a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Nairobi from September 2018 to May 2022. Her profile says she was best student in International Economic Law and Regional Integration Law. She chaired SOLAD, sat on the University of Nairobi Law Journal board and took part in moot court. She interned at MinterEllison from February to April 2022. She served on the Youth Advisory Board of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat from April 2022 to June 2023, and as Regional Representative for East Africa at Afronomicslaw from June 2022 to January 2024.
At TripleOKLaw LLP she worked on commercial law, dispute resolution and international arbitration, as a lawyer from September 2022 and as a Trainee Advocate from January to August 2024. She won Trainee of the Quarter. In November 2022 she was an International Trade Law Researcher at UNCITRAL on a one month contract. She attended the Kenya School of Law from January to November 2023 and was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. In 2023 she also completed an International Economic Law course at the Global Trade Academy of Georgetown University.
She served on the Development Committee of Africa in the Moot from June 2024 to June 2025. In 2025 she completed Generative AI: Governance, Policy and Emerging Regulation at the University of Michigan. Merve Hickok led the course, which covered frameworks, governance models and regulatory approaches for generative AI.
Kenya is drafting AI, cloud and data rules
The topics in her AmCham work are open policy files in Kenya.
The ICT ministry opened a draft national AI policy for public comment, which closed on August 4, 2026. The draft covers foreign companies whose AI systems are used in Kenya, and cloud providers, model developers and data annotation firms that serve the market.
Principal Secretary John Tanui said, “The question is not whether Kenya should embrace AI.” He said the task is to govern it responsibly. Kenya also published an Artificial Intelligence Bill in June 2026, which proposes a risk based framework and an AI Commissioner.
The ICT ministry issued the Kenya Cloud Policy on December 11, 2024, which encourages data residency, sovereignty and localisation. The Communications Authority has proposed a data centre licence category of its own.
Apple announced in April 2026 that John Ternus would become CEO on September 1, 2026, and that Tim Cook, as executive chairman, would assist with certain matters, including engaging with policymakers around the world.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Pressy Akinyi? She is a lawyer admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, with experience in trade, regulatory and technology policy. She was Policy Lead at AmCham Kenya before joining Apple.
What is her role at Apple? She is Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for East Africa.
Where will she be based? She said she will work between Nairobi and Dubai.
Where did she work before Apple? She was Policy Lead at AmCham Kenya from January 2025 and Policy and Legal Specialist there from September 2024. Before that she worked at TripleOKLaw LLP.
What are her qualifications? She holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi, trained at the Kenya School of Law, and completed courses at Georgetown University and the University of Michigan.
