Why Kenya is region’s leading investment hub

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the telecommunications regulatory body is responsible for facilitating the development of the information and communications sectors (including broadcasting, multimedia, telecommunications and postal services) and electronic commerce. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • As a regional hub and a financial capital of the East and Central Africa region, Kenya’s competitive advantage as an ICT investment destination is supported by investor-friendly competitiveness factors.
  • ICT is the future and the trend world over is that the private sector is encouraged to develop the infrastructure because government does not have adequate resources.

Kenya provides investment opportunities in the ICT sector targeting both local and export markets.

As a regional hub and a financial capital of the East and Central Africa region, Kenya’s competitive advantage as an ICT investment destination is supported by investor-friendly competitiveness factors. These include:

Regulatory framework

Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the telecommunications regulatory body is responsible for facilitating the development of the information and communications sectors (including broadcasting, multimedia, telecommunications and postal services) and electronic commerce.


This responsibility entails licensing all systems and services in the communications industry.


CCK also manages the country’s frequency spectrum and numbering resources and facilitating the development of e-commerce.

The regulatory body also approves all communications equipment meant for use in the country, and protects consumer rights within the communications environment by regulating retail and wholesale tariffs for communications services.


The regulator too manages competition in the sector to ensure a level playing ground for all players and the Universal Access Fund. CCK also monitors the activities of licensees to enforce compliance with the licence terms and conditions as well as the law.

Internet and mobile penetration

According to CCK’s latest Kenya internet and mobile phone usage report, internet penetration currently stands at 25.9 per cent.

That is to say, in numbers, there are about 10.2 million internet users in Kenya.


And the number is growing daily. Therefore, Kenyan businesses should take note of the obvious online marketing opportunities this presents.

Well-trained labour force

Kenya has a well-educated English speaking labour force trained in ICT and related fields.

There are nearly 250 institutions of higher education, 56 of which are universities graduating over 60,000 students with various degrees every year.


Kenyans are involved in diverse areas of ICT and the extensiveness of the industry players demonstrates this.

Strategic location

With the port of Mombasa, Kenya is strategically located for investors wanting to access the East and Central African market.


It is a member of regional trading bodies such as COMESA, East African Community (EAC) and IGAD that provide investors with a large potential market.

Investor friendly arrangements

The Kenyan government can guarantee investor friendly arrangements including the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) programme which offers attractive incentives to export -oriented investors, the Investment Promotion Centre (IPC) to promote all other investment in Kenya and the Tax Remission for Export Office (TREO), a programme for intermittent imports for export production.


These conditions have revamped Kenya’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector.


This has changed the nature of doing business in many sectors including finance, tourism, farming and health. However, much of Kenya’s ICT potential has not been leveraged to its maximum to drive economic development.


As such, there is need to market Kenya as a leading ICT Hub in the East and Central African region.

This will lure more investors who are keen on the regional trade into Kenya.


In addition, for Kenya to fully leverage on ICT and for the ICT pillar to be fully functional to Kenyans by 2030, it is necessary for county governments to give tax rebates and other incentives to support ICT development as a driver of growth.

This will make it possible for the private sector to invest in establishing requisite infrastructure at the grassroots.

Levying exorbitant way leave fees for the fibre-optic cables by some counties will only discourage potential investors.


ICT is the future and the trend world over is that the private sector is encouraged to develop the infrastructure because government does not have adequate resources.

So far, 35,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable has been laid in the country facilitating access to broadband to millions of Kenyans.


Using this broadband, counties can establish their own digital centres where citizens can access the services; while promoting accountability and transparency within county governments.