29 August 2016 | Supporting Manufacturing in Kenya

Roundtable: 29 August 2016, 10:00-13:00, Sarova Panafric Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

DOWNLOAD EVENT REPORT

Manufacturing in Kenya – Anzetse Were

The Role of Finance in Kenyan Manufacturing – Phyllis Papadavid

Transforming Kenyan Industry – John Page
Kenya aims to develop manufacturing through the Kenya Industrial Transformation Programme and the 2030 Manufacturing Agenda. However, so far, productivity growth in Kenya has been slow in a comparative context, the share of manufacturing in GDP in Kenya remains low and there are concerns about the low level of formal manufacturing jobs created.

The key questions explored at this roundtable were around Kenyan manufacturing: Why is productivity low in manufacturing? Why is informality not decreasing with economic growth? Why is there a lack of linkages between services on the one hand, and manufacturing and agriculture on the other hand? And what can be done about these challenges? The SET team is currently scoping out support for Kenya’s transformation with analytical and other inputs. The roundtable aimed to discuss and develop this collaboratively. Three scoping inputs were prepared by Anzetse Were, John Page and Dirk Willem te Velde, available for download below.

Chair

Dirk Willem te Velde – Senior Research Fellow, ODI and Director, SET

Presenters

John Page – Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Anzetse Were – Economist and independent consultant

Views were also expressed by Government of Kenya representatives, Kenyan Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and DFID Kenya.

Presentations

Dirk Willem te Velde slides

John Page slides