April 25th, 2021

The “Green City in the Sun”: Doing Business in Nairobi, Kenya

By : AfriChat

Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, is one of Africa’s top business locations with massive opportunities, especially in technology and innovation. The city is bursting with prominent international and multinational business organizations as a result of its provision of a work and investment-friendly environment.

Nairobi, which is fast transforming into the best city of interest in the continent for multinational companies desiring to expand their presence on the continent, also has a thriving job market. The city is one of the few in the continent with a number of flourishing commercial centres thriving in both domestic and international business sectors.

Despite becoming a city in 1954, its rapid transformation has been excellent. It has remained a booming metropolis rapidly growing in a country that covers 582,650 square kilometres. “Nairobi is always on the move, always changing”, a CNN report noted. Peace and some level of political stability that prevailed at the end of a civil war make the region a safe bet to invest in. The benefit of peace in the area has seen home-grown African multinationals building a regional hub that helps boost the country’s economy. Little wonder, international firms are also working to make Nairobi the pivot of their operations in their quest to be part of Africa’s success narrative.

“While its name comes from a Maasai phrase meaning “the place of cool waters,” Nairobi is more commonly referred to as the “Green City in the Sun.” Positioned between Somalia and Tanzania in Eastern Africa, it’s a place where residents and wild beasts live in close proximity and, might be the only city with a safari park on its doorstep”.

Nairobi is the leading industrial centre of Kenya, with the railways as the largest single industrial employer, while light-manufacturing industries produce beverages, processed food and many other items. The city is also endowed with a bustling tourism sector. To its advantage, it is located near eastern Africa’s agricultural heartland, and a number of its primary products are exported through Mombasa. Consequently, it plays an essential role in the community of Eastern African states; being the headquarters of critical regional railways, waterways, harbours, and air transport.

On its own, Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest and most populous city after Nairobi, also complements the importance of Nairobi to Kenya. As a broad-based tourist hub, Mombasa, the city of aquatic splendour, is a beautiful tropical island connected by bridges to the Kenyan coast. It has its legacy as the largest port in East Africa, as well as a cultural melting pot. The city of Mombasa offers travellers an exotic taste of the African tropics immersed in centuries of maritime history.

According to the Shop Africa 2016 report, an inaugural review of Sub-Saharan Africa’s retail markets by Knight Frank indicates that “Nairobi is the largest mall development hotspot in Sub-saharan Africa. With around 470,000 square metres of shopping centre space in the pipeline”, Nairobi ranks tops in terms of regional shopping mall development hotspots.

Nairobi, the report notes, is one of the top five cities- large and fast-growing cities in economies that have witnessed rapid expansion, thus, fitting the profile currently targeted by investors in Africa.
Earlier, the Kenyan retail market was dominated by local operators, but that has changed with some international brands storming the city. And so, with more opportunities available in other parts of the country, developers and investors are welcome to explore this beautiful and investment-friendly Green city in the sun.