The Network’s investment in sub-Saharan Africa’s private sector dates as far back as the 1930s and 1940s, when cooperative financial institutions were created. Thereafter, the scope was extended to other areas such as industry and tourism. Today, the project companies of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) are dedicated to promoting private initiative and building economically sound enterprises in Kenya and throughout the developing world. Surpluses generated by the Fund are reinvested in other economic development initiatives under the AKFED umbrella.
Incorporated in 1937, Jubilee Insurance is the oldest composite insurance company in Kenya with 80 years of experience. Established 70 years ago, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has matured into a fully fledged commercial banking group in East Africa with branches in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Tourism Promotion Services (TPS) promotes tourism by building, rehabilitating and managing hotels, resorts and lodges that contribute to economic growth in an environmentally and culturally sensitive manner. These investments are the result of close consultation with governments, with TPS often assisting them in the development of integrated tourism development plans for specific regions.
TPS firmly believes in the development of sustainable tourism and is therefore sensitive and supportive to the natural environment and to the traditions and culture of the local populations with which it interacts. TPS’s reputation for environmental and cultural sensitivity and long-term investment has made it an attractive investor for governments wishing to start tourism activities.
The first hotel ventures in Kenya were launched in the 1970s, when tourism was in a nascent stage. Today, Serena operates nine hotels, resorts, lodges and camps. Operating under the brand name, Serena Hotels, TPS owns and manages the Serena Beach Resort & Spa in Mombasa and the Nairobi Serena Hotel, as well as seven safari lodges and camps throughout Kenya.
TPS Eastern Africa is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) was set up in 1963 to provide venture capital, technical assistance and management support to encourage and expand private enterprise in countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Its core sectors include food and agro-industries, printing and packaging, textiles, pharmaceuticals, leather and infrastructure.
In Kenya, IPS companies comprise of several food and agro-processing industries that produce meat, fruit and vegetable products for local, regional and international markets. These companies include: Farmers Choice Ltd. (FCL), Premier Food Industries Ltd. (PFIL) and Frigoken Ltd. (FKL). Frigoken Ltd., in particular provides agricultural extension services to around 70,000 small scale farmers to produce various agricultural produce including green beans. The beans and other vegetables are processed and exported to European markets. IPS also invested in Allfruit EPZ Ltd. (a subsidiary of PFIL), which processes mango and yellow passion fruit to puree and juice for the domestic and export markets, also to some extent engaging small scale farmers in its value chain.
Other industrial IPS investments include:
- Leather Industries of Kenya - processes raw skins and hides into finished leather. Recently, IPS established African Leather Industries Ltd., a manufacturer of finished leather products for the domestic and international market.
- Alltex EPZ Ltd - manufactures apparels for export.
- Botanical Extracts EPZ - produces a host of crude extracts, refined extracts and phytochemicals from botanical raw materials that are locally available within East Africa.
- Allpack Industries Ltd. – manufactures high quality corrugated carton packaging and polypropylene bags for agricultural and consumer goods.
Since establishment, and in tandem with policies of the respective governments, IPS has diversified into the privately financed infrastructure projects, e.g. thermal and hydropower plants, and telecommunications services.
IPS investments in Kenya include the Kipevu II Power Project. This is a 75MW thermal power plant, located in Mombasa, generates power for sale to the Kenyan grid. It was Kenya’s first privately financed “open-bid” project and the first of its kind to be successfully constructed under an updated and more stringent environmental law.
Similarly, IPS has invested in SEACOM, which launched Africa’s first broadband subsea cable system along the eastern and southern coastlines in 2009, bringing with it a vast supply of high quality and affordable Internet bandwidth. Connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya to the Middle East and Europe, SEACOM’s cable system also connects inland countries such as Uganda & Rwanda.
Since then, SEACOM has moved beyond being a cable operator to become a major pan-African service provider, offering a full suite of resilient and scalable data services that allow Africa’s growing ICT community to develop and evolve.
The SEACOM Business division leverages this infrastructure and last-mile partnerships to provide the African enterprise market with best-in-class connectivity and Cloud services at highly competitive prices. Its offerings include fibre Internet access with options ranging from 25Mbps up to 1Gbps. For more information, visit http://seacom.mu/
The Nation Media Group, founded by the Aga Khan in 1960, is also one of Kenya’s most important companies. It has its origins in Kenya’s Taifa and Nation newspapers, which were set up to provide independent voices during the years just preceding the country’s independence.
