Economy

American investors express unshaken faith in Kenya

godec

Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua (right) speaks to American Ambassador Robert Godec during the groundbreaking ceremony for a chewing gum factory in Athi River. PHOTO | COURTESY

US investors remain confident in Kenya’s future despite the recent terrorist onslaught, the head of the US-Africa business association declared on Friday.

“The Garissa atrocity doesn’t fundamentally change investors’ views on Kenya,” said Stephen Hayes, president and chief executive of the Washington-based Corporate Council on Africa.

He said that investment “is in a way a calculated gamble that the future will be good”.

“Most investments don’t have immediate returns. Profits come in the long term. Therefore, the question is whether Kenya is a good long-term investment. I think the answer is yes,” Mr Hayes said. 

Offering a perspective more optimistic than that of some US analysts, the corporate council’s leader insisted that Kenya should still be seen as a land of opportunity.

“The reality is that Kenya has the best investment climate in East Africa and one of the best in Africa,” Mr Hayes added. “We believe that Kenya is and should be an investment destination for business.”

Faith in the country’s future is based in part, he suggested, on improvements in the education system.

Mr Hayes also pointed to “a healthy business environment, a progressive private sector and a maturing public sector that is being ‘forced’, in a way, to become more transparent in its dealings through its Constitution and decentralised system of government”.

READ: US investors eye Kenya as investment destination

Improvements must be made in the country’s security apparatus, he acknowledged, but added that the key factor in defeating terrorists is continued investment in the country.

“Building security is far more than simply protecting buildings and individuals,” Mr Hayes said. “It is about improving people’s opportunities and giving them hope. Therefore, to me, the more investment in Kenya, the more secure the people become.”

As the head of an association representing 160 US companies operating in Africa, Mr Hayes holds influence not only among businesses with an existing stake in Kenya but also among those that might invest in the country.

The corporate council also confers regularly with US Government officials.

The council leads trade missions aimed at encouraging US companies to launch ventures in the continent. One such mission is scheduled for Kenya next November.

Mr Hayes says he urges potential investors to put terror attacks in perspective.

“The reality of today’s world is that very few places on the globe are totally invulnerable to the madness shown by those responsible for the Garissa attacks,” he wrote in an e-mail message to the Sunday Nation.

“Anyone looking for a perfect haven probably shouldn’t be in business. A perfectly safe haven doesn’t exist.”

Tens of thousands of Americans die from gun violence every year, he noted.