Local firms pocket Sh8.2b in funding from US investors
By Seth Onyango, November 5, 2019
Twenty-one local companies are set to get a boost from American private equity firms which have lined up a $80 million (Sh8.2 billion) investment package for absorption.
Bracafric, Azuri Health and Wonder Agriculture are among the firms that will benefit from the funds as Kenya and the US move to shore up volume of trade and investment between the two nations.
It comes as Kenya Investment Mechanism (KIM), a five-year USAid funded project (2018 to 2023) said it pumped Sh2 billion into the agriculture sector in the first year ending September.
KIM will is expected unlock $400 million (Sh40 billion) of investments to key agricultural value chains like horticulture, dairy and livestock as well as to the energy sector.
Establishing partnerships
Speaking on the side lines of the ongoing American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) summit in Nairobi, chief of party Roger Bird was upbeat the local firms will get the desired capital to keep their businesses floating.
“We are helping Kenyan companies get financing, top being the 21 companies. We want to have them network and establish partnerships with their American counterparts,” he said.
More than 200 companies are participating in the AmCham Business Summit 2019 at the UN Complex in Gigiri.
The summit aims to shore up trade and investment between Kenya and the US, with American firms targeting venture capital financing as an entry into the local market.