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Mr James Mwangi, Vision 2030 Delivery board chairman. PHOTO | FILE 

By SANDRA CHAO-BLASTO

In Summary

• America’s Corporate Council on Africa President Stephen Hayes said on Monday that Kenya is among the top countries that US investors are eyeing in the next five years.

American companies have revealed plans to step up their investment in the country, in spite of increased cases of insecurity in recent years.

America’s Corporate Council on Africa President Stephen Hayes said on Monday that Kenya is among the top countries that US investors are eyeing in the next five years.

“We would not be here if we did not have confidence, there are a lot of countries that we are not taking trade missions to. We recognise your shortcomings, it was a big outrage 28 people being executed like that (referring to the Mandera attack), but it doesn’t stop our belief and faith in Kenya,” he said.

This is the second time a delegation of American business executive are visiting the country this year. The first delegation that visited earlier in the year had representatives from 15 companies while the second one has 19.

“The investment climate and entrepreneurial culture are conducive and every one of our companies is interested in Kenya.

Most of them have some sort of dialogue going, some farther along than others and we know that when we open the liaison office in February we will see a lot more companies looking to Kenya,” he added.

Mr Hayes said most of the American companies are interested in investing in infrastructure, health, finance, energy, agriculture and security sectors.

“The government needs to fast-track the ease of doing business in the country as well as the Internet connectivity issues. They also need to be transparent not just in matters of corruption but also in terms of communication to investors in terms of what is happening that is likely to affect the business environment,” he said.

READ: America overtakes China in race for Kenyan imports

Vision 2030 Delivery Board Chairman James Mwangi said the fact that 38 global companies were in various stages of setting up regional hubs in Kenya reflected confidence in the country’s economy.

“The investments coming in are creating job opportunities as seen with IBM which has to date created jobs for 1,000 Kenyans since its inception, General Electric has committed to providing 1,000 Megawatts of solar energy by the end of next year,” he said.

He said the requirement of local ownership for foreign investors was not meant to deter investment but rather provide long-term sustainability for companies by involving Kenyans in the wealth creation.

“It does not mean that a few people are being positioned to be partners for those setting up shop, we are saying that we have a very strong capital market and the companies can be listed on the securities exchange through which Kenyans can own 30 per cent of it,” he said.