Manufacturing sector major employer in the region

Kilifi County has a vibrant manufacturing sector that forms a vital part of its economy.

The Mombasa Cement factory within the Vipingo Sisal Farm in Kilifi has generated many job opportunities for local youths. The product is both utilized locally and exported.

Other remarkable manufacturers are the Mabati Rolling Mills in Mariakani along the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway and Athi River Mining Company near Kaloleni that have been producing high quality products for the local and foreign markets apart from creating employment for local people.

Apart from these ones, there are the salt manufacturing firms situated in Gongoni-Kanagoni area, Magarini.

FINANCE: 

Kilifi County is well served by several banks and financial institutions that meet the demands of their clients in saving and borrowing cash.

Among the banks and financial institutions with branches the County include Kenya Commercial Bank, Standard Chattered, Barclays, Diamond Trust Bank, Cooperative Bank, First Community Bank, Equity, Habib Bank, Imperial Bank, Fidelity,
Gulf Bank, Kilifi Teachers Bank and National Bank of Kenya among others.

The financial institutions include Kenya Women Finance, Kilifi Teachers Sacco and Faulu Kenya among others. Their branches are found in the major towns such as Malindi and Kilifi.

EDUCATION:

Education standards in the County are among the lowest in the country according to the 2011 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results.

The County was among the worst five with the other four also coming from the Coast.

There are only 160 primary schools with an enrolment of 154,484 pupils according to the 2010 Ministry of Education statistics. Teacher to pupil ration is 1:39.

The County has 23 secondary schools with an enrolment of 1,112 students and a 1:30 teacher student’s ratio.

There are 10 youth polytechnques and tertiary colleges. The main educational institutions are Pwani University at Kilifi, Bandari College branch, Kilifi Medical Training College and now Mt. Kenya University College branch in Malindi.

The County experiences high school drop-out rates, early pregnancies and marriages and low transition from primary-secondary-university.

TECHNOLOGY: 

Despite having low education standards, Kilifi County boasts of having some of the best research institutions in the country.

First there are the famous Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) stations at Mtwapa and Msabaha where many agricultural discoveries have been made, and then there is the world standard Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) at Kilifi that is linked to top global scientific research institutions.