EPZA Business In Kenya

Location

Kenya is located on the eastern part of the African Continent bordering Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania. The country’s port of Mombasa which located by the Indian Ocean serves most of the Eastern and Central African landlocked countries including Burundi, Ethiopia, Parts of Northern Tanzania, Rwanda, Sudan, Southern Sudan and Uganda and a gateway to Europe, the Middle East and South Asia.

Political System

Kenya is a multi-party democratic state with general elections held every 5 years. The constitution of Kenya provides structure for a Government based on the essential values of human rights, equality, freedom, democracy, social justice and the rule of the law. The government has a strong focus on ease of doing business to support investors by investing in regulatory reforms, improved infrastructure and business support services.

Business Infrastructure

The Government has been successful in courting external investment for infrastructure development. The following are some of the major leaps that have been made;

Power and Energy

Kenya’s electricity supply comes from five hydroelectric power generating stations at dams constructed along the upper Tana River. The Government has set up the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) to undertake integrated development of geothermal power, currently Geothermal resources in Kenya are located within the Rift Valley with an estimated potential of between 7,000 MW to 10,000 MW spread over 14 prospective sites.

Telecommunication

The ICT sector in Kenya has influenced global trends by pioneering products like mobile banking and mobile money transfer. The Government of Kenya is currently developing Konza City, an ICT and a financial services centre envisioned to be the most successful in Africa.

Road Transport

Kenya roads sector has undergone many changes over the past ﬁve decades and has reached arguably its most illustrious period yet. Kenya has a road network of about 177,800 km. Under the LAPSSET Corridor program, Inter-regional Highways from Lamu to Isiolo, Isiolo to Juba (South Sudan), Isiolo to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and Lamu to Garsen (Kenya) is being constructed.

Railways Transport

Chinese were contracted to construct a new Standard Gauge Railway connecting Mombasa and Nairobi, which was completed in June 2017. Construction are underway to continue the rail from Nairobi to Malaba, the internation.

Air Transport

Kenya has three international airports namely Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, Moi International Airport in Mombasa and Eldoret International Airport in Eldoret. Nairobi is a popular East and Central Africa air traffic hub as it directly connects most major cities in this part of Africa with cities in Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East and various Indian Ocean Islands. Under the LAPSSET Corridor Program, an additional 3 International Airports in Lamu, Isiolo, and Lake Turkana are set to be constructed.

Population

Kenya occupies an area of 582,646 square kilometers and has a population of 47.62 million with almost three-quarters of the population under the age of 35. The population consists of more than 40 different ethnic groups with different languages and cultures. The country boasts a multinational population of Africans, Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Americans among others. The official languages are English and Kiswahili. The labour force is available at all levels of expertise.

Economy

According to Economic Survey 2018, Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 5% in 2017 – US $ 78.29 Billion with a forecasted 6% growth rate annually. Agriculture remains the backbone of the Kenyan economy, contributing one-third of GDP, followed closely by the Manufacturing sector then the Service sector. Key macroeconomic indicators in 2018 are largely favourable; Inflation averages 4.49 per cent, NSE 20 Share Index averaging at 3,780 points, and the value of total exports rose to Ksh. 161.7 billion. Macroeconomic stability continues, with most fundamentals projected to remain healthy. The business-enabling environment has improved as well; Kenya moved up 12 places to a ranking of 80 in the World Bank’s 2018 Doing Business report.

Business in Kenya