You can make profits by building profitable businesses in Kenya in many sectors basing on the amount of capital you have. Kenya’s economy is expanding exponentially over the past few years.
Now, is the right time for you to seize immense investment opportunities available in the country. The following are key investment opportunities currently available in Kenya for both local and foreign investors:
Technology
Kenya has fully embraced the opportunities afforded by technology. The bubbly start-up scene is something to be admired. This has been buoyed by favorable government policies, with the size of the local ICT market now is estimated at around $500 million.
The National ICT Master-plan aims to enhance Kenya’s competitiveness through utilization of its resources in Business Process Outsourcing and strengthening its capacities to meet future technological challenges. The 2030 vision for BPO(Business Process Outsourcing) is for the country to become the top BPO destination in Africa.
Kenya currently boasts the highest share of population with access to financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa (more than 70 percent). This is largely thanks to the popular mobile money transfer service M-Pesa. Konza City, a modern technopolis is a project by the Kenyan government which promises to drive even more growth in the ICT sector.
Agriculture
Kenya’s GDP is still highly dependent on agriculture, with the sector making up a significant 26 percent of the country’s GDP annually, and another 25 percent indirectly. The agricultural sector accounts for 65 per-cent of Kenya’s total exports, and provides more than 70 per-cent of informal employment in rural areas. Available opportunities in the sector include food processing, irrigation, technological infrastructure and transport.
Infrastructure
Kenya is currently undertaking massive infrastructural projects and the government has identified the areas where investment is needed. The major ones are:
Redevelopment of the Northern Corridor
Development of a commuter railways system around Nairobi
Building of a standard gauge line to replace the current Kenya-Uganda railway
Design and Construction of a new terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
Development of a new corridor from Lamu to South Sudan and Ethiopia (LAPSET)
Tourism
Kenya prides itself as a major safari destination. Tourism is a key foreign exchange earner, and third largest contributor to the GDP after agriculture and manufacturing. Apart from the popular national parks and the coastal sandy beaches, the Kenyan government has earmarked several new areas where investment might come in handy. These include resort cities, branding of premium parks, development of high value niche products, and new high-end international hotels amongst others.
Unit Trusts
A unit trust is an investment that enables you to pool your money along with other investors who have similar investment objectives.
Experienced investment managers then invest the money in a wide range of profitable areas. These assets include equities, bonds and cash issued in both local and international markets. The total value of the pool of invested money is split into equal portions called units.
Manufacturing
This is a sector which plays an important role in the growth of Kenya’s GDP, though it is mainly agro -based. However, there is a shift to export oriented manufacturing as the main thrust of Kenya’s industrial policy since the country aims to raise the share of products in the regional market from 7 percent to 15 percent. The country is promoting development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Industrial Parks, Industrial Clusters, promotion of small and medium scale manufacturing firms, development of niche products, and commercialization of research and development results. Investment opportunities include manufacturing of fertilizer, agro-processing, machine tools and machinery, garments, and engineering products for both domestic and export markets.
Stock Market
A share or stock is a financial instrument where one acquires ownership of a portion of a public limited company and owning one of these shares will give you some rights as a shareholder such as dividends.
In Kenya, individuals have to invest in shares of companies listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) through licensed stockbrokers and investment banks. To buy shares, just open an account with a stock broker of your choice and instruct them to buy shares for you. Minimum number of shares you can buy is 100.
Saccos
Saving in a Savings and Credit Co-operative Society (Sacco) involves depositing money and getting returns in form of dividends. Your money deposited in the sacco is given out as loans to other members.
This earns returns in form of interest charged on the loans. At the end of the year, members are paid a portion of the profits as dividends. As a member, all you will need to do is contribute an amount every month and wait for dividends at the end of the year.
Real Estate
You rarely go wrong with property. Land is a scarce resource. With increasing human population, land available for agriculture or homes is shrinking. As an investment option in Kenya, real estate is a very profitable option.
Buy large chunks and divide into smaller portions and sell after a year or less. Returns can be as high as 100 per cent or much higher within a few years. You can opt to sell as undeveloped or choose to develop the land in whatever way depending on your target market.