4 minute read
CEO's Statement
Dr. Wilfred Marube - Chief Executive Officer Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency
Kenya is looking to attract new investors and expand its export market during the World Expo Dubai 2020 that will run for six months from October 2021 to April 2022.
It has been another challenging year for exporters to navigate through the pandemic and hit global markets with our products. I congratulate the entire KEPROBA team for offering support to exporters. Thanks to your efforts, exports have grown. In 2020, total exports grew by 7.8% to Kshs. 642 billion compared to Kshs. 595 billion in 2019.
In the same year, Kenya’s exports grew in South Sudan, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Uganda, and Germany. Efforts have also been made to further increase access to markets by hosting high-level business forums with Estonia, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, and Burundi. Africa and the European Union have been the leading trading blocs and bedrock markets and are likely to continue as the lead markets for Kenya’s exports.
Kenya is looking to attract new investors and expand its export market during the World Expo Dubai 2020 that will run for six months from October 2021 to April 2022. As the Responsible National Authority, we have ensured that the best of Kenya’s trade, tourism and investment opportunities will be displayed during the expo, which is expected to attract 24 million visitors.
We continue to direct our efforts towards increasing the quality of locally produced goods to match international standards. This is through our Made in Kenya Initiative as well as the Agency’s Product Development and Branding Programme, which is an integrated programme aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of export products through quality product development and value addition to help enlarge Kenya’s supply base of exportable products.
Selected enterprises and groups are facilitated to improve the quality of their products, packaging, expandtheir product range as well as meet regional and international market standards.
We recognize that we must integrate our corporate values and services to improve Kenya’s image andmeet the expectations of stakeholders. Through our stakeholder engagement activities, we have been ableto identify areas of collaboration that give back to society. This past year, we partnered with Kenya ForestService to plant two thousand trees to protect the ecosystem that enables our key export products to thrive.
We are operating in a challenging environment that can be attributed to the disruptions caused by theCovid-19 pandemic. Global supply chains have been disrupted, thus affecting the flow of our exports.However, this new operating environment has presented us with an opportunity to utilize digital platforms.We have successfully participated in virtual fairs and exhibitions such as the Macfrut Digital Fair and ExpoCentral China 2021. We have also promoted locally- produced goods on digital platforms such as Alibaba,TradeIn.com, Dubuy, among others, all aimed at ensuring that our products reach wider markets globally.
As an Agency, we continue to invest in technology to effectively deliver on our mandate. For instance, theAgency’s e-portal platform is under development. The platform will enable buyers and sellers to interactand transact online.
The health and well-being of staff is a top priority for the organization. To counter the threat posed byCovid-19, we partnered with our healthcare provider to vaccinate all staff. In addition, we have successfullyimplemented remote working to safeguard the health of our staff and still offer quality services to ourstakeholders.
Looking ahead, we shall intensify our efforts to diversify export markets and seek out new investment andexport opportunities for the benefit of the country. We shall continually innovate our operations to adaptto the dynamic operating environment. This shall be achieved by remaining customer-centric, collaborativeand passionately Kenyan.
