Dr. Kevit Desai

Dr. Kevit Desai is the Principal Secretary in the State Department of Vocational and Technical Education (TVET) in the Ministry of Education. He is also the Chairman of the Permanent Working Group on TVET in Kenya (PWG). He is championing private sector, TVET, government and development partner linkages, towards transformation of Kenya’s technical and vocational training platform. The PWG initiative is promoting continuous communication, common agenda and cross sector coordination throughout different stakeholder networks.

He is the founder of Centurion Systems Limited and former Managing Director, he holds a PhD in Robotics Systems Engineering. CSL is a technology transfer firm, which Specializes in providing productivity, innovation and efficiency solutions to industry. CSL provides four services: repair and maintenance of systems, professional training and systems integration. CSL is closely linked to other technology transfer organizations, e.g. FESTO, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Danfoss and Rockwell automation.

Kevit also served as an Industrial Automation Development Engineer at Nippon ABS Ltd. in Tochigi Japan. He is also a master trainer in Automation and drives technologies.

In addition to being the founder of Centurion Systems Limited, he is also the founding chairman of Linking Industry with Academia (LIWA). Kevit was the Chairman of Council, Technical University of Mombasa and Chairman of The Board of Governors – Karen Technical Training Institute for the Deaf. He is Chairman of the Board of Young Scientists Kenya. He also serves as the Chairman of Board of Trustees at the United States International University Africa (USIU).

Dr. Desai stepped down from Centurion Systems, LIWA, TUM and KTTID after his appointment to the Ministry of Education in February 2018.

He is a member of the Steering Committee in JICA master’s degree and internship program of the Africa Business Education (ABE) initiative for the youths. The program has given students scholarships to study in Japan for their master’s degree as well as work in Japanese companies for industrial exposure.

He served as a Governor, Director and C.E.O of Kenya Private Sector Alliance and a former Commissioner of the Commission of Higher Education. As a Task Force Member of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Desai was responsible for the development of the University Act; Science, Technology and Innovation Act; and Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Act of Parliament. This was a culmination of 15 years of his involvement in all the sessional papers, policy documents and strategies for skills, education and research.