• FirstRand is the fourth bank to open offices in Nairobi in the past four years, along with companies like Samsung and Nestle
• The World Bank points to Kenya’s expanding working-age population, access to the sea, developing education system, and improving macroeconomic policies as qualities that make it perfectly situated for companies bent on regional expansion.
• The financial sector grew 8.8 percent in 2011

“We believe there’s a gateway, a pipeline of business that exists between India and Africa coming through Kenya,” – Jabu Khethe, head of Africa at FirstRand

Sources:  Financial Times

• The Doing Business in EAC (East Africa Community) Report compiled by World Bank and the International Finance Corporation cites the “case track” system introduced by the Judiciary in 2011 as one of the outstanding improvements in the region.
• The “case track” system categorizes cases into three groups depending on their complexity, allowing for the strategic allocation of resources to avoid delays in commercial disputes.
• In a bid to reduce congestion in courts and ensure speedy trials, the Chief Justice increased the limit of jurisdiction in certain courts to $6,000, to reduce the pressure on courts and reduce litigation and transportation costs. The inspection of serving judges and magistrates and the recruitment of new ones has also been put in place, to improve the legitimacy of the verdicts.

Source: Business Daily

• A recent African Development Bank report found that “Strong economic growth in the past two decades has helped reduce poverty significantly and lift previously poor households into the middle class,” in Kenya and in other African nations.
• With East African economies among the fastest growing in the world, and Kenya’s own GDP growing at a 5% clip, the Kenyan middle class is expected to continue rising, bringing Kenya ever closer to its goal of becoming a middle-income nation by 2030.
• A burgeoning middle class has boosted Kenyans’ purchasing power, giving rise to a thriving mall culture and booming housing market, and a double-digit boost in domestic tourism.

Source: AFP
Source: CIA World Factbook
Source: IMF

• Kenyan animators are now able to collaborate with production companies and other artists from around the world thanks to the arrival of fiber-optic cable in East Africa along with other technological advances.
• Nairobi-based “Homeboyz Animation” offers the most recent success story. The company worked with a U.K. production company and the BBC to produce the popular children’s cartoon “Tinga Tinga Tales” (pictured above).
• The future for Kenyan animators is bright. New opportunities for international collaboration, as well as rising demand for content from Kenya’s own broadcasters, means that entrepreneurs like Pete Mute, who launched  the animation company “African Sci-Fi Factory,” will be able to share their work with larger and larger audiences.

Source: Variety

• Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) will work with an international consortium to build a 280 megawatt geothermal plant named Olkaria IV, which is expected to be operational in 2014.
• The project, which enjoys international investment from the likes of The World Bank, Germany’s Development Bank KfW and the European Investment Bank, will help diversify Kenya’s energy base and reduce the country’s reliance on hydroelectric dams, whose output can drop during droughts.
• Already the first African country to drill for geothermal power, Kenya has set a goal of producing at least 5,000 megawatts of geothermal power by 2030.

Source: Reuters

• YouTube announced the launch of YouTube Kenya (http://www.youtube.co.ke) in October 2011.
• The designated domain will  make it easier for Kenyan users to find and view the most informative and entertaining video content from around the world through a local interface that promotes the content most relevant to Kenyans.
• Speaking at the Nairobi launch event, Permanent Secretary of  Information and Communications Dr. Bitange Ndemo said, “Accessing relevant information and sharing helpful stories on the Internet is enabling people to learn, train and partner with each other to help better their lives.”

Source: IT News Africa

• Simba Technologies has created an app called MedKenya, which delivers heath information to Kenyans via mobile phone. The company plans to launch an expanded version, called MedAfrica, to bring similar content to other countries on the continent.
• Since 2007, Kenyans have used the mobile banking platform M-Pesa to transfer funds via text messaging. (“M” stands for mobile and “pesa” is Swahili for money).
• In partnership with the World Bank and Nokia, Kenya recently created an “m-lab” to incubate more mobile application startups. According to Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the country’s permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications, thousands of young Kenyans are involved in app development.

Source: Mercury News

• The Getting Kenyan Businesses Online (GKBO) project provides information and an online template for small and medium scale enterprise businesses (SMEs) to create their own websites for free.
• With 10.2 million Internet users in Kenya, Google Kenya Country Manager Olga Arara-Kimani said the initiative will transform the online SME business landscape and make a positive impact on the economy.
• The GKBO website is mobile and desktop compatible, allowing SMEs to personally manage their sites and update business information in real time.

Source: IT News Africa

Kenyan women are some of Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs.

• Forbes named Kenyan Njeri Rionge one of Africa’s “most successful and revered serial entrepreneurs.” Over the past 20 years, she has co-founded five multi-million dollar companies, including Wananchi Online, a leading Internet service provider that has become East Africa’s leading cable, broadband and Internet-based phone company.
• Rionge also founded Ignite Consulting, a thriving business consultancy; Business Lounge, Kenya’s leading startup incubator; Ignite Lifestyle, a health care consultancy; and Insite, one of Kenya’s most successful digital marketing outfits.
• Kenyan women are also committed to helping other African women succeed in business. The Kenya Women Holding offers business mentorship, leadership training and formal banking services to women to assist them in forming their own small businesses.

Sources: Forbes, All Africa

• In July 2011, Pfizer, the U.S.-based pharmaceutical company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Posterscope, an outdoor advertising firm, all announced plans to establish a regional hub in Kenya’s capital city.
• General Electric, IBM, Google, LG and CocaCola have longstanding corporate bases in Kenya as well.
• Kenya’s vast talent pool, strong Internet connectivity and stable economic environment make the country an attractive destination for investors and have firmly established Nairobi as a center for business in East Africa.

Source: All Africa

• Modeled on the United States’ Silicon Valley, Kenya’s plans to revolutionize the country’s dominance in the global information technology market include the development of a university, science park, offices and housing in the Konza Technology City, a 5,000-acre site.
• The development, to be ready by 2030, aims to have all the ingredients for entrepreneurial success in the same place in order to give local companies the opportunity to do business with multinational companies like General Electric and Microsoft, who have already established East African hubs in Kenya.
• Kenya’s existing IT initiatives have already propelled the country to the forefront of the industry. In Nairobi’s iHub technological center, 3,000 innovators collaborate daily to share their tech knowledge and develop new web applications. Home to four undersea fiber-optic cables, Kenya’s technology sector is growing by 20 percent a year, outstripping all of the nation’s other industries.

Source: The Financial Times

• Tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2011 increased 15 percent compared to the same period last year, with more than 300,000 visitors entering the country between January and March.
• In 2010, Kenya hosted a record 1.1 million visitors and hopes to see two million by 2012, said Tourism Minister Najib Balala.
• To tap into the flourishing market, international hotel companies, including Radisson and Crown Plaza, have invested in the construction of 17 new hotels in the country.

Sources: All Africa, All Africa, Ministry of Tourism

• Kenya recently hosted Connected Kenya, a three-day ICT conference to discuss the newest technology developments in the sector, how to improve connectivity across the country and how the government and private sector can adopt technology to improve services and reduce costs.
• Equity Bank announced at the Connected Kenya summit that it will launch a technology incubation and innovation center in Nairobi. The center will bring academia and technology together in the hopes of cultivating new application developers and helping them commercialize their innovations.
• Kenyan ICT companies and entrepreneurial developers have created a wide range of innovative technologies enabling Kenyans to use their mobile phones to do everything from accessing banking services and receiving medical test results to tracking their vehicles.

Sources: The Standard, IT News Africa, Business Daily Africa

• Shipments climbed 10 percent to 22,000 metric tons in the first two months of 2011, signaling the beginning of a positive trend for the year. Earnings also climbed 10 percent from the same period last year to Sh7.7 billion ($91.6 million).
• Better economic growth projections in Europe, the Kenyan flower industry’s key market, bodes well for continued increased exports. Kenya accounts for 35 percent of all flower sales in Europe.
• The industry is expecting a “very good” performance for the year as a whole, said Kenya Flower Council CEO Jane Ngige. “Most of the sales are secured in the euro, which means that returns have been favorable.”

Sources: Bloomberg, Business Daily Africa

• Rupu launched in December 2010 and offers discounts of 50 to 90 percent at over 150 restaurants in Nairobi, Mombasa, Malindi and Diani. Soon, Rupu will expand to offer discounts at restaurants in Zanzibar.
• Rupu benefits Kenyan consumers and businesses alike. Customers enjoy sharp price discounts while member restaurants benefit from free marketing and publicity, new customers and increased profits. The money from the sale of each deal is split 50-50 between the restaurant and Rupu.
• Transactions can be completed online or by mobile phone through the consumer’s M-Pesa account. Customers will also be able to purchase deals with credit cards later this year.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

• Nairobi’s Kiriri Women’s University of Science and Technology opens doors for women in the traditionally male-dominated fields of math and science.
• The university engages its students in special seminars on women’s ability to excel and manage in the workplace, says Deputy Vice Chancellor Njeri Gikonyo. “When they graduate, they end up being very special and in that way, they make a name for themselves in the market,” she explained.
• Educators say girls’ and women’s access to education is improving in Kenya as the country strives to reach its UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Vision 2030 economic goals. Last year, girls made up 45 percent of Kenya’s secondary school enrollment.

Source: Voice of America

• Kenya plans to build a major financial center in its capital to help establish Nairobi as an international finance hub, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta recently announced. This endeavor will support the economic pillar of Kenya’s Vision 2030 plan to help the country become a middle income economy within the next two decades.
• Financial incentives will encourage investment groups, stock brokerages, pension funds, banks and insurance companies to set up offices at the Nairobi International Financial Center, said Alex Owino, a project manager at the ministry.
• The financial center will help Kenya gain a stronger presence in sub-Saharan Africa’s growing financial services market. The finance industry accounts for 5.4 percent of Kenya’s gross domestic product and has the potential to expand to as much as 15 percent of GDP, Minister Kenyatta said.

Sources: Bloomberg, Kenya Broadcasting Company

• Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) says the successful referendum in South Sudan will provide an improved investment climate, and that the country’s “political stability and security in the south are likely to attract international investors.”
• KCB is the largest bank in Kenya, ranked by assets, and hopes to serve nearly 100,000 customers across 30 new branches in South Sudan by 2015.
• KCB CEO Martin Oduor-Otieno said South Sudan has “the potential to be the biggest economy in the region in the next 10 to 20 years.”

Source: Reuters Africa

• The Kenya Women Finance Trust Limited (KWFT) was established to help women entrepreneurs develop their business models through microfinancing.
• In 2010 KWFT, planned to increase its clients to 600,000 and disburse Sh20 billion (nearly $250 million USD) countrywide.
• The small to medium size business loans not only spur companies, but also create employment opportunities, especially in rural areas. Other personal loans allow women to access money for their children’s education so they needn’t siphon off money from their businesses to support their families.

Sources: The Standard, KWFT (1), KWFT (2)

• The ground-breaking M-Pesa money transfer service was launched in Kenya by Safaricom in March 2007.
• “M-Pesa is the first product in the world that allows the unbanked, with no banking details, no registration, no bank account, no credit card, to do banking,” said former Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph, last year.
• By giving any M-Pesa customer the ability to start saving with as little as $1 and earn interest on the principal, mobile phone banking services have drawn in the country’s unbanked and enabled users to access and manage their bank accounts, make interbank cash transfers, pay their bills and apply for loans of up to Sh1 million (12, 410 USD).

Sources: Business Daily, Daily Nation

• Kenya has about 270 companies operating in Tanzania and many Kenyan firms have investments in Uganda and Rwanda.
• Kenya’s dedication to investing in the region has boosted tax revenues and created jobs in many neighboring countries.
• Kenyan companies like Kenya Airways have cross-listed their stock shares on the Kampala and Dar es Salaam stock exchanges, and the Kenya Commercial Bank has operations around the region.

Source: Reuters

• The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is the fourth largest exchange in Africa in terms of total daily trades and the fifth largest in terms of nationalGDP. Trading in the NSE is done through the Electronic Trading System, which was commissioned in 2006.
• The 55-member Nairobi All-Share Index (NASI), has risen 43 percent this year, making it Africa’s second best performing market.
• By September 2010, the value of stock traded in Kenya was more than double that for the whole of 2009.

Source: Africa Business Source, Bloomberg Businessweek

• It is estimated that the coffee industry directly or indirectly employs 6 million Kenyans, including 700,000 growers.
• The small-scale farmers are members of cooperative societies which process their own coffee.
• The major coffee growing regions in Kenya are the High Plateaus around Mt. Kenya, the Aberdare Range, Kisii, Nyanza, Bungoma, Nakuru and Kericho.

Source: BBC News, Hollywood Reporter

• In 2008, more than 89,400 American tourists visited the country, experiencing the culture and taking in the natural beauty firsthand.
• More than 9,000 American citizens are currently living in Kenya.
• To cater to the American audience, the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism is developing an Obama Route that will take tourists from Nairobi through the picturesque Rift Valley to Kogelo, the village where President Obama?s father grew up.

Source: U.S. Department of State, GlobalAtlanta.com

• The Kenyan flower sector grows at an average of 20% per year.
• The floriculture industry is estimated to employ over 60,000 Kenyans in rural areas.
• In 2008, Kenya exported 93,000 tons of flowers around the world.
• The main markets for Kenyan flowers are the Netherlands, UK, Germany and France.

Source: Kenya Flower Council

• The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organization of five countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
• The EAC will launch its Common Market on July 1, 2010, allowing the free movement of labor, goods, services and capital between member countries.
• The EAC aims to widen and deepen cooperation between member states by implementing a Monetary Union by 2012, and ultimately creating a Political Federation of East African States.

Source: BBC, East African Community Portal

• Coca Cola, General Electric, and Google are among the many organizations that have their African headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
• These companies have brought in over $200 million in investment.

Source: Kenya Advisor, University of Pennsylvania African Studies Department

• In 2008 alone, 25 international investment projects started in Kenya.
• The highest numbers of investment projects were in the communications sector, which brought in $82.8 million worth of investment in 2008.

Source: FDI Magazine

• The Department of Mines and Geology estimates that the Western Kenya belt that borders Tanzania (dubbed Migori belt) could produce up to 34 tons of gold per year.
• The government is currently working with mining companies to develop a mining strategy.

Source: Business Daily Africa

• The government works with local tribes to develop innovative ways to protect the environment and local culture.
• Kenya has won several eco-lodge awards and is planning to be the first African country to develop and use international criteria to rate eco-lodges and tour operators.

Source: Kenya Tourist Board

• M-PESA customers can deposit and withdraw money from a network of agents that includes airtime resellers and retail outlets acting as banking agents.
• The service enables its users to deposit and withdraw money, transfer money to other users and non-users, pay bills, and purchase cell minutes.

Source: Safaricom, BBC, Guardian