Draft factory policy open for comments until 23 October

The Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry has published Draft One of the National Industrialisation Policy, 2026, the plan meant to guide how the government supports manufacturing. Public forums were held in groups of counties from 12 October, ending with Nairobi, Kajiado and Kiambu at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development on 20 October.

Written comments can still be sent until Friday 23 October, using the memorandum template on the Ministry's downloads page, by email to [email protected] or by post to P.O. Box 30418-00100, Nairobi.

What the draft says

The draft says manufacturing made up 7.1% of the economy in 2025, well below the 20% target set in Vision 2030 and below the 10% it stood at in 2012. It says the sector's growth has stayed at about 2% to 3% a year, against a target of 15%.

Its goal is to raise manufacturing's yearly growth to 15%. Its first objective is for manufacturing to reach 24% of the economy by 2063.

Among its other objectives:

• attracting local, diaspora and foreign investment into manufacturing;
• reliable infrastructure and rules that are the same across government;
• new ways of financing industry;
• deterring counterfeit and substandard goods;
• more renewable energy, cleaner production and recycling;
• more local sourcing, and a bigger part for small manufacturers in supply chains.

It also proposes building on County Aggregation and Industrial Parks, where produce from a county is collected and processed close to where it is grown.