Glovo's first Kenya Future of Commerce Summit at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Upper Hill, Nairobi, on 23 October 2026.
Glovo held its first Kenya Future of Commerce Summit at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Upper Hill, Nairobi, on 23 October 2026. The company used the event to present an in-app AI assistant, to restate a plan to invest a further KSh 10 billion in Kenya by 2030, and to tell retail partners that shopper expectations are changing.
Key points
Glovo held its first Kenya Future of Commerce Summit in Nairobi on 23 October 2026.
The company said it plans to invest a further KSh 10 billion in Kenya by 2030.
Glovo presented an in-app assistant that works with language models including ChatGPT and Claude.
Kenya managing director Caroline Mutuku said shopper expectations are forcing retailers to change how they sell.
Glovo says it works with more than 6,000 businesses in Kenya, about 80% of them small and medium-sized enterprises.
The way Kenyans shop is changing, and businesses must adapt to these new consumer expectations. Today, a customer wants convenience, choice, and the ability to access everyday products seamlessly without necessarily visiting a physical store.
Caroline Mutuku, Kenya managing director, Glovo
What is the Future of Commerce Summit?
It is Glovo's industry event for the businesses that sell through its app. The format began in Lagos in 2025, returned there in April 2026, and came to Nairobi for the first time on 23 October 2026.
The programme was billed as a mix of product demonstrations, panels of partners and brands, a discussion of retail media, and awards for partners that had performed best over the previous twelve months.
What did Glovo say it will invest in Kenya?
Glovo said it plans to invest a further KSh 10 billion in Kenya by 2030. The company links the money to expanding beyond Nairobi and Mombasa and deepening its work with local businesses.
What does Glovo's AI assistant do?
The assistant is live in the app and works with language models including ChatGPT and Claude. A customer can describe what they need in plain language instead of browsing categories, and the assistant returns options, sometimes splitting a basket across two stores to find a cheaper total.
That sits against Glovo's advertising business, where brands pay for visibility at the point of purchase. Mutuku described the logic directly: open Glovo today and you will most likely see Coke, because Coke wants to be associated with food at the point of intent.
How big is Glovo in Kenya now?
Glovo reports more than 6,000 merchants on the platform, about 2,200 active riders a day, operations in 12 towns and cities, and growth of around 40% year on year. Caroline Mutuku, who has run the Kenyan business since November 2022, puts the expansion under her tenure at four times the size she inherited.
The company opened a new Nairobi headquarters in May 2026 and tied it to the KSh 10 billion commitment for 2030. In July 2026, Uber agreed to acquire Delivery Hero, the German group that owns 94% of Glovo, in a deal reported at about 13 billion euros, placing the Kenyan business inside Uber’s portfolio.
Growth changes the relationship with partners, Mutuku said before the summit: the quality of insight a platform has to bring rises with its share of a partner’s business.
If you say you’ve grown 4x, the quality of insights that you have to bring to them changes significantly, because you go from accounting for a very small part of their business to becoming a significant part of their business. You have to become a real partner, a trusted partner.
Caroline Mutuku, Kenya managing director, Glovo
Why is quick commerce bigger in Kenya?
Glovo’s co-founder Sacha Michaud said in May 2026 that quick commerce, meaning groceries, pharmacy, electronics and everyday items, was about 40% of the Kenyan business against roughly 10% in other markets.
Mutuku’s explanation rests on trust built by mobile money, a young population, and the friction of Kenyan retail: most grocery stores sit inside malls, so an order replaces a drive, a parking search and a trolley run.
Supply: nearly every major retailer sells through the app, so one basket can mix several stores.
Habit: Kenyans spend more time on social platforms than almost any other market, which makes app-first shopping familiar.
Trust: mobile money normalised paying through a phone two decades ago, so paying a delivery app was a short step.
Age: a median age near 19 means most shoppers have never known a pre-digital retail market.
Mutuku puts those four together as the reason Kenya’s quick-commerce share runs well above other Glovo markets, and why grocery, pharmacy and electronics are growing faster here than food alone.
The biggest competition to food is the fridge.
Caroline Mutuku, Kenya managing director, Glovo
Which partners were in the room?
The summit was built around Glovo's merchant base. The company says it works with more than 6,000 businesses across Kenya, 80% of them small and medium-sized enterprises, and it spent 2026 running a Partner Academy in Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru on catalogue management, order fulfilment and digital marketing.
As customers increasingly prioritize speed and convenience, being available on a platform that uses intuitive technology ensures our smart accessories are always within reach.
Saixu Fan, regional manager, oraimo
Glovo has also been cultivating the brands that advertise on the app. Kenyan partners including Diageo, PepsiCo, Visa, Colgate-Palmolive and Heineken attended a Glovo Retail Media Day in Barcelona in May 2026, according to posts by the company's brand advertising manager.
Why does retail media matter to Glovo?
Retail media is advertising sold inside the shopping environment, and Glovo sells it in two forms. Partner Ads are aimed at merchants on the platform; Brand Ads are aimed at consumer goods and electronics companies that want visibility at the moment of purchase.
Where was the summit held?
Glovo booked the Radisson Blu Hotel in Upper Hill, on Elgon Road, in Nairobi's central business district. The hotel has 14 meeting rooms and a ballroom that takes up to 600 guests, a room built for summits rather than concerts.
What happens next?
Glovo says the investment is meant to take it into more towns and cities beyond Nairobi and Mombasa, and to deepen ties with the businesses already on the platform.
For partners, the measure will be whether the AI assistant and the advertising products convert into sales they can see in their own numbers.
Frequently asked questions
When and where was Glovo's Future of Commerce Summit in Kenya?
On Friday 23 October 2026 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Upper Hill, Nairobi. It was the first Kenyan edition of an event Glovo began in Lagos in 2025.
How much is Glovo investing in Kenya?
Glovo said it plans to invest a further KSh 10 billion in Kenya by 2030.
How many businesses work with Glovo in Kenya?
Glovo says it works with more than 6,000 businesses in Kenya, about 80% of them small and medium-sized enterprises. The figure is the company's own.
