UK-Kenya Trade Mission Aims To Boost Investment Opportunities

By Mwend­wa Mwen­da and Manu Mum­ba

The Unit­ed King­dom (UK), in part­ner­ship with Kenya, is seek­ing to cre­ate a gate­way to African invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties by enhanc­ing trade and eco­nom­ic diplo­ma­cy between the two nations.

State Depart­ment for Invest­ment Pro­mo­tions Prin­ci­pal Sec­re­tary, Abubakar Has­san Abubakar, stat­ed that his depart­ment is work­ing with the British Cham­bers of Com­merce and the UK Embassy to allow the set-up of busi­ness organ­i­sa­tions in both coun­tries.

“Kenya and the UK enjoy a warm rela­tion­ship based on our strate­gic part­ner­ship, and our focus is on eco­nom­ic diplo­ma­cy, where we are strength­en­ing our invest­ment and trade rela­tion­ships,” he said.

Speak­ing in Nairo­bi yes­ter­day dur­ing a UK-Kenya Trade Mis­sion meet­ing, the PS revealed that Kenya not only has a bilat­er­al invest­ment treaty with the UK but also a dou­ble tax­a­tion and trade agree­ment with the coun­try.

“These are three essen­tial instru­ments need­ed to sup­port any invest­ment rela­tion­ships with a for­eign investor,” not­ed Abubakar.

He revealed that with con­tin­ued part­ner­ship with the UK, the coun­try has been able to be one of the largest for­eign investors in Kenya.

“Cur­rent­ly, we have over 150 British enter­pris­es in Kenya in dif­fer­ent sec­tors all over the coun­try, and we are look­ing for more oppor­tu­ni­ties,” Abubakar not­ed.

The PS not­ed that the gov­ern­ment, through the Min­istry, has come up with many reforms in the busi­ness envi­ron­ment through the Finance Bill and the Busi­ness Amend­ment Bill.

“Our invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties rely on our eco­nom­ic mod­el, which is based on our five pil­lars for devel­op­ment, such as uni­ver­sal health­care, afford­able hous­ing, agri­cul­tur­al mod­erni­sa­tion, the green econ­o­my, and Small and Medi­um-Sized Enter­pris­es (SMEs) devel­op­ment,” he added.

Abubakar revealed that Kenya has been rat­ed the 29th fastest-grow­ing econ­o­my in the world, num­ber three in Sub-Saha­ran Africa in terms of ease of doing busi­ness, and num­ber one in Africa when it comes to start­up fund­ing.

“In 2023, we man­aged to secure US$ 300 mil­lion to sup­port star­tups, and we are also num­ber one in Africa in terms of the qual­i­ty of human cap­i­tal,” he added.

The Deputy Head of Mis­sion, Kenya High Com­mis­sion to Lon­don, Dr. Joseph Warui, announced that the Kenyan dias­po­ra is not only a vibrant eco­nom­ic com­mu­ni­ty but also an invalu­able asset that con­tin­ues to con­tribute sig­nif­i­cant­ly to both coun­tries.

“Their total remit­tances to Kenya from the dias­po­ra in 2023 amount­ed to US$ 4.26 bil­lion, and this marked a sig­nif­i­cant increase in remit­tances com­pared to the pre­vi­ous years,” he said.

Warui revealed that the UK is look­ing to invest in Kenya not out of sen­ti­ment but with strate­gic fore­sight to gain a deep under­stand­ing of the local mar­ket.

“By align­ing with dias­po­ra mem­bers, UK investors can tap into vast oppor­tu­ni­ties and lever­age their busi­ness insights and local net­work for mutu­al ben­e­fits,” he not­ed.

The launch of the 2024 UK and Kenya Trade Mis­sion seeks to cre­ate an enabling envi­ron­ment to con­nect, engage, invest, and col­lab­o­rate with var­i­ous busi­ness­es to enhance trade not only between the two nations but also the glob­al com­mu­ni­ty.