President Obama Kicks Off 'Personal' Trip to Kenya

President Barack Obama, right, shakes hands with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta before delivering a speech at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at the United Nations Compound, on Saturday, July 25, 2015, in Nairobi. Obama's visit to Kenya is focused on trade and economic issues, as well as security and counterterrorism cooperation.

President Barack Obama delivers a speech at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at the United Nations Compound, Saturday, July 25, 2015, in Nairobi.

President Barack Obama looks at a solar power exhibit during a tour of the Power Africa Innovation Fair, Saturday, July 25, 2015, in Nairobi.

President Barack Obama participates in a wreath laying ceremony, Saturday, July 25, 2015, in Nairobi, at Memorial Park in honor of the victims of the deadly 1998 bombing at the U.S. Embassy.

People try to catch a glimpse of President Barack Obama as he steps off Marine One, Saturday, July 25, 2015, in Nairobi.

President Barack Obama inspects the honor guard after arriving to meet with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, July 25, 2015.

President Barack Obama, right, shakes hands with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta before a bilateral meeting at State House, July 25, 2015, in Nairobi, Kenya.

By Arlette Saenz and Conor Finnegan
Saturday, July 25, 2015

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NAIROBI, Kenya -- President Obama kicked off his historic and “personal” trip to Kenya today as he made his first public event of his four-day visit to Africa, a continent he said was "on the move."

“I'm proud to be the first U.S. president to visit Kenya,” the president said at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. “Obviously, this is personal for me. There’s a reason why my name's Barack Hussein Obama. My father came from these parts.”

Obama attended the summit with 20 members of Congress and 200 American investors to promote U.S.-African trade, technological innovation and his Power Africa initiative, which aims to double access to electricity over five years.

“I wanted to be here because Africa is on the move,” the president said.

The president discussed how quickly people can build start-up companies by comparing it to the speed of sending text messages, though he admitted he is not a fast texter himself.

“You can get a start-up moving, and if it's the right idea, it can travel with the speed of -- you know -- how fast you can text," he said.

"I can't text very fast, but I notice Malia and Sasha, they both,” Obama said as he made a texting gesture with his hands.

After addressing the summit, Obama met with six business owners who work with Power Africa. From solar panels to mobile phone payment systems, they showed him the inventions and businesses they have started to help spread access to electricity across the continent.

“It's really promising,” he said.

The somber ceremony in Memorial Park was attended by a few dozen people, including other survivors and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

Secret Service and Kenyan Security Forces have kept security extremely tight, but where they can, crowds have packed in to try to catch a glimpse of Obama.

When the president arrived Friday evening, he was quickly reunited with his Kenyan relatives. His half-sister Auma Obama, who picked him up on his first visit to Kenya in 1988, greeted him on the airport tarmac.

The two siblings then rode together in the motorcade to have dinner with three dozen of the president’s Kenyan relatives, including his step-grandmother, Sarah Obama.

Ahead on his schedule, the president is set to lay a wreath at a memorial for victims of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi, hold a bilateral meeting and news conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and attend a state dinner. On Sunday, he delivers a speech to the Kenyan people -- the event could draw tens of thousands -- before he spends two days in Ethiopia.

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