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Mombasa Apparels opens US$25mn garment factory in Kenya

Under the AGOA, Kenya was the largest exporter, generating revenue of close to US$300mn. (Image source: Damien Halleux Radermecker/Flickr)

Kenyan apparel company Mombasa Apparels has opened a US$25mn garment factory in Mtwapa located in the Kilfi County

According to the company, the newly opened factory is part of the country's move to position itself and East Africa as a key investment hub in sub-Saharan Africa.

Adan Mohamed, industrialisation and enterprise development cabinet secretary of Kenya, said, "From a global perspective, many industrialised nations have had the textile and apparel sectors as their pioneer sectors to achieve industrialization.

Investments in the textiles and apparels sectors are a clear demonstration of the growing investor confidence and these interventions will also ensure that, as a country, we remain competitive and well positioned to grab a share of the global apparel market that stands in excess of US$500bn.”

In addition to attracting investment, the factory will address unemployment in Kenya by generating 3,000 jobs directly and 14,000 jobs by December 2015, added company officials.

According to Mohamed, the Kenyan government is focusing on the labour intensive sectors to create industrialisation and drive the job market. In order to achieve these goals, the government is keen to provide subsidies.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had earlier said that his government would provide initiatives to help Kenya's business sector gain global tractor. Some of these initiatives included a four-year programme to inject over 5000MW of electricity into the national grid, reducing the cost of power by over 40 per cent by end of 2014; speeding up the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project and the 10,000 km road infrastructure through a financing model.

Specifically, for the upliftment of the apparel and manufacturing sector, Kenyatta added that the country must benefit from the global markets through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

“This year, Kenya managed to spring up as the leading and largest exporter under the AGOA programme in sub-Saharan Africa, with exports to the tune of over US$300mn and 10,000 new direct jobs created in the apparel sector,” added Mohamed.

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