At a Glance
- Kenya to leverage AfCFTA to boost exports, industrialization, and continental market access.
- IATF2025 is projected to unlock $44 billion in trade and investment opportunities across Africa.
- The Nairobi roadshow highlights fintech, manufacturing, and creative sectors as engines for intra-African trade.
Kenya is accelerating its integration into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in a strategic move aimed at unlocking billions in intra-African trade and positioning Nairobi as a pan-African hub for commerce, innovation, and industrialization.
Speaking at the Kenya IATF2025 Business Roadshow in Nairobi, Trade and Investments Cabinet Secretary Hon. Lee Kinyanjui reaffirmed the government’s commitment to leveraging AfCFTA to drive economic expansion and regional competitiveness.
“Kenya is consolidating its place as a trade, industrial, and innovation powerhouse.
AfCFTA presents unprecedented opportunities that we must seize to deepen market access and scale up exports across the continent,” Kinyanjui said.
Unlocking Africa’s industrial power
Under the theme Harnessing Regional and Continental Value Chains: Accelerating Africa’s Industrialisation and Global Competitiveness, discussions focused on eliminating trade barriers, strengthening regional value chains, and unlocking cross-border investment.
The IATF2025 Business Roadshow brought together over 200 stakeholders from Kenya’s private and public sectors, including fintech founders, automotive players, creative industry leaders, and institutional investors.
Top executives from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and African Union Commission (AUC) also attended, reflecting growing momentum behind Africa’s largest trade integration effort.
From trade deficits to digital dominance
Afreximbank Executive Vice President Haytham Elmaayergi emphasized that the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) is critical to narrowing Africa’s trade data gap.
“Africa imports over $400 million worth of leather into Tunisia, Morocco, and South Africa—yet Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan have a surplus. IATF2025 is where we match that data with demand,” Elmaayergi said.
He also spotlighted Kenya’s fast-growing digital economy, citing fintech and digital startups as prime candidates for regional expansion.
IATF2025, scheduled for September 4–10, 2025, in Algiers, Algeria, is expected to attract more than 2,000 African and global exhibitors and over 35,000 buyers from over 140 countries.
The $44 billion trade and investment opportunity, according to Afreximbank, could redefine Kenya’s trade trajectory.
IATF has emerged as Africa’s flagship trade and investment platform, empowering businesses to scale, form strategic partnerships, and unlock new supply chain linkages across the continent.
The Nairobi roadshow is part of a continent-wide series also taking place in Accra, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Algiers in the lead-up to the fourth edition of the biennial fair.
