Welcome Note
by Export Processing Zones Authority
Distinguished guests, exhibitors, investment partners and buyers; Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) welcomes you to the East Africa Textile and Leather week (EATLW) scheduled for the 28th to 30th June, 2023 at the Sarit Expo Center, Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya is the gateway to Eastern and Central Africa and its strategic location accords it preferential access to regional and international markets. It is also ranked the eighth most attractive financial market in Africa.
The Export Processing Zones (EPZ) program in Kenya established in 1990 is a scheme, managed by the EPZ Authority (EPZA) to promote export oriented industrial investment within designated zones. EPZ investors enjoy attractive fiscal incentives coupled with simplified operating procedures and superior infrastructure, making the EPZ program ideal for investment especially in the textile and garment sector.
The program has experienced incredible growth since its inception and currently hosts 96 private zones, has direct employment of over 82,500 workers and exports cumulating to export of Ksh. 29 billion. Out of these the garment sector employs 80% of the work force in the EPZ program and forms 23% of the companies under the program.
Shifts in the global market has seen many investors in the textile and garment industry turn to Kenya as the preferred export destination, bringing in not just apparel and garment factories but other players in the value chain. These has led to the growth of the garment accessories and packaging firms in the EPZ program.
The Athi River public zone, which is a textile hub, has enjoyed success in regards to generation of employment and attracting new productive investments into the country. In light of this success, the government of Kenya in conjunction with EPZA seeks to gazette other public zones in other counties.
The Authority seeks to promote the program during the event and to connect with interested investors in the garment sector and to sensitive investors and the general public on the benefits of the EPZ program.
Kenya is indeed open for business and the EPZ program is proof that the textile and garment sector is still a sector that is of great interest to foreign and even local investors.
EPZ welcomes you again to this event and looks forward to productive investor engagements in the private sector and in government as well.
Hussein Adan Mohamed
Ag. Chief Executive Officer: Export Processing Zones Authority
