The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the UK government’s MOBILIST programme have announced a new partnership at a launch event in Nairobi. The launch was attended by Her Majesty’s Business Director for Africa, John Humphrey, who is on a three-day visit to Kenya.
The partnership aims to bring new products to the Kenyan market, increase the private capital available for development and climate planning in Kenya and stimulate growth.
MOBILIST is a new part of the UK Government’s Business Partnership Programme. It provides investment and support to help businesses address product listing challenges as they contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The programme has similar partnerships with several emerging markets, including the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), and will consider applications from eligible Kenyan companies.
Trade Minister Humphrey’s visit to Kenya, which follows recent visits to Egypt and Ethiopia, will focus on providing long-term investment opportunities that support the UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership, a five-year agreement to open up relationships with each other.
Ross Ferguson, director of the MOBILIST programme at the UK Foreign and Development Office (FCDO), said the public sector in Kenya and other African economies has huge potential to encourage the private capital needed to meet growth targets and advance sustainable development goals.
The partnership will provide revenue streams and economic support following the trade agreement signed between Kenya and the UK in 2020.
In Nairobi,Kenya, he will meet with Minister of Trade, Industry and Commerce Salim Mvurya to build on the success of the UK-Kenya air service in support of President Ruto’s Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative (AGII). He will also establish a Business Intelligence Unit in the UK to hear about the challenges faced by Kenyan businesses in the UK.
Mr Humphrey will also visit Naivasha to meet with Flamingo Flowers, a UK business that is one of Kenya’s largest exporters of cut flowers and employs 11,000 people in Kenya.
The public sector in Kenya and other African economies cannot support the private capital needed on the mainland to achieve sustainable development goals and counter the major impacts of climate change. MOBILIST is proud to partner with NSE to create a local capital market that provides African companies with the capital they need to grow to meet these challenges.
