'Trade In': Kenya's EPZ Ambitions

In a bid to boost foreign investment and meet targets to increase employment, lower the cost of living, secure livelihoods and bolster foreign exchange earnings, the Kenyan government has introduced several new zones for investors to make in Kenya, and sell elsewhere. FORBES AFRICA reports.

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In 2022, Kenya exported a total of $7.4 billion, globally. Approximately, $767 million of this revenue came directly from the country’s 89 Export Processing Zones (EPZs). The country’s major exports include edible oils, apparel, food processing, pharmaceuticals, and agroprocessing, among others. A long-standing policy mandate, Kenya started the EPZ program in 1990. This year, President William Ruto announced new plans to expand this number with an additional five new zones to complement this growth and encourage more foreign investment in the country.

Industrialization is a key lever in the current government’s economic policy and the EPZs, set to be launched in Busia, Uasin Gishu, Kirinyaga, Kwale and Kilifi counties, are expected to boost not only the domestic economy but national development as well. These new export zones will be located in areas previously untouched by production, manufacturing and export-oriented activity and are intended to improve livelihoods for rural populations who previously had limited access to economic opportunities outside of subsistence agriculture.

Speaking to Kenya’s paper of record, The Daily Nation, earlier this year, Ag. CEO of the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA), Hussain Adan Mohamed noted: “EPZs [in Kenya] have been instrumental in attracting foreign direct investment into the country, which has in turn led to the creation of new industries, new jobs and the transfer of technology.”