Kifaru Exim Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a designated area in Kenya that offers a business-friendly environment for import and export-oriented industries has been officially launched. The Kifaru warehouses, which provide a maximum of 1,229 square meters leasable space, are located within Tatu City in Kiambu County, and are available for long-term lease at a cost of USD. 4.5 per square meter per month. The total area of the Grade A development is 10,165 square meters.
“Our vision is that Kifaru Exim SEZ will integrate eligible SMEs into the SEZ who can potentially benefit from the fiscal and administrative incentives available to SEZs in Kenya. The overall objective is to promote the local production of goods and services for the domestic and export market. The underlying philosophy is to unlock the manufacturing potential of SMEs in Kenya and to ensure that their products are competitive in terms of price, quality, timely availability and consistency as compared to imports” said Mr. Kalpesh Shah, Director, Kifaru Exim SEZ.
The Principal Secretary, State Department of Investments, Abubakar Hassan Abubakar also noted that “the specific impacts of the project will include wealth creation; reduce imports; increase exports; reduce counterfeits; raised SME revenues and profitability; Job creation; raised government revenues. Compared to similar projects and based on the dollar investment spent we estimate a total of 600 direct jobs and more than 1,800 indirect jobs can be created from this investment at full occupancy.“
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The CEO, Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA), Dr Keneth Chelule represented at the event also, commended the initiative and reiterated SEZA’s role in boosting competitiveness of the manufacturing sector by ensuring regulatory and administrative predictability, quality industrial infrastructure and market access. His remarks were echoed by Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) CEO, Tobias Alando, also present, who reiterated KAM’s role in supporting manufacturers in Kenya to achieve competitiveness through policy advocacy, trade and investments.
The Kifaru directors have also enlisted the services of the SME Support Centre (SSC) a support provider for SMEs in Africa to support them in enlisting, shortlisting and selecting potential SMEs in line with the SEZA requirements in Kenya. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SSC, Ms. Linda Onyango, also present commended the initiative as a great step towards integrating SMEs into SEZs in Kenya.
