KENYA-UK TRADE AND INVESTMENT FORUM HAS UPBEAT MOOD
often force freighters to go elsewhere.
However, Ms Mohamed adds that Kenya’ s“ ongoing infrastructural improvements”, such as the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport corridor, which is bankrolled by Chinese investors and is expected to improve east African and pan-African connectivity through a series of new railways, highways and ports.
Separately, the current construction of a standard gauge railway, to replace the existing network in Kenya, which dates back to the colonial era, will reduce travel times from Mombasa to Nairobi by one-third. In 2015, EY ranked Kenya’ s infrastructure as‘ moderate’ and the World Economic Forum gave it a score of 4.16 out of seven.
Another area that gives Ms Mohamed hope for the future is Kenya ' s workforce, which is, she says, young, well-educated, ambitious, fluent in English and tech-savvy – as shown by Kenya’ s burgeoning ICT sector. She says numerous foreign companies, impressed by local talent, have abandoned plans to bring to the country a 50 % more expensive foreign workforce. The United Nations Development Programme ranks Kenya’ s education levels among the top 10 in Africa.
Security and corruption
Reassuring those concerned about security issues is a key challenge in for Kenya. Ms Mohamed says that large-scale terrorist attacks carried out in the country are“ isolated incidents”, with the last one being in May 2015, while adding that terrorism is an“ international problem … no one is safe”.
She says Kenya has acquired the“ latest equipment and technology” when it comes to countering terrorism and that it is leading east African efforts on this score, referring to the country ' s co-operation with the African Union Mission in Somalia and the UK.
In light of the security forces’ much-criticised response times to the terrorist attacks on the Westgate Mall in 2013 and Garissa University in 2015, Ms Mohamed stresses that Kenya has improved inter-agency coordination and acquired 3000 new security vehicles to improve mobility, mainly to rural areas.“ We’ ve done everything we can,” she says.
However, technical improvements aside, Kenya’ s forceful counter-terrorism strategy has drawn criticism from within the country and outside.
When it comes to corruption, Ms Mohamed says that“ stamping it out” is a top priority, with both the World Bank’ s and World Justice Project’ s corruption indices ranking Kenya among the bottom third countries in African countries when it comes to dealing with the matter. However, Ms Mohamed is keen to stress that“ there are no serious challenges to inward FDI. Everything is in place – Kenya’ s open for business.”
Private sector perspectives
Most private sector investors at the Kenya-UK Trade and Investment Forum were non-Kenyans with ongoing operations in Kenya or Africa who were generally keen to sing Kenya’ s praises.
Listed among the 100 most powerful telecoms giants by Global Telecoms Business, Nic Rudnik, the billionaire CEO of Liquid Telecoms and a specialist when it comes to operating in Africa, says:“ Kenya is one of the most open economies on the continent. It’ s already easy to invest there. Traffic’ s the biggest impediment but [ it is ] investing in infrastructure.
“ The legal system is good. You have got an independent judiciary, and there is lots of trust and respect for the system, from lawyers and businessmen to ordinary people.”
Peter Zwager, CEO of Oserian, one of Kenya’ s largest flower exporters, adds
KENYA IS ONE OF THE MOST OPEN ECONOMIES ON THE CONTINENT. IT’ S ALREADY EASY TO INVEST THERE. TRAFFIC’ S THE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT BUT [ IT IS ] INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE that kenya is“ great for business and free trade”. However, he and Edwin White, chairman of Nairobi-based Daima Energy, add that government agencies and bureaucracy in the country are too slow, and claim that the legal system is inefficient, not least due to Kenya’ s devolution of power in 2010. They also voice concerns about its infrastructure. All three businessmen agree that terrorism is an issue for prospective investors, but mainly because of distorted perceptions or fear of Kenya’ s inability to competently respond to threats. Mr Rudnik says:“ Security is a global issue but it remains the biggest concern [ in Kenya ].” However, Mr Zwager believes security is only an issue for people living near the Kenya-Somali border. Indeed, all three investors reflect upon what EY calls " the wide perception gap” between settled investors and prospective investors that are unfamiliar with Africa.
56 Business Times Africa | 2016