Jurisdiction & corridor analysis

Offshore investment routes into Africa.

Choose an African market to compare the inward direct investment reported by the receiving country with the positions reported by offshore jurisdictions.

Country summary: Kenya

Kenya is one of Africa’s more diversified investment destinations, with investable opportunities across financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, consumer markets, agribusiness, energy and logistics. Its attraction comes from the depth of the domestic market, a skilled professional workforce and a relatively developed financial and digital economy. Investors are therefore putting capital into Kenyan businesses and infrastructure to participate directly in the country’s growth, rather than merely using Kenya as an administrative base.

Kenya’s inward FDI stock increased by 8.5% to KSh 1.46 trillion at the end of 2023. Finance and insurance represented 28.1% of that stock, followed by manufacturing at 14.8%, information and communication at 12.8%, and wholesale and retail trade at 11.7%. The distribution shows that foreign capital is supporting both established sectors and newer areas such as digital infrastructure and renewable energy. The United Kingdom was the largest immediate source of FDI stock, followed by South Africa and Mauritius. The Netherlands, United States, France and Switzerland were also material sources. These figures come from the latest detailed KNBS, CBK and KenInvest Foreign Investment Survey.

The opportunity is accompanied by identifiable investment risks. Investors continue to highlight electricity costs, tax administration, corruption and political conditions as areas requiring improvement. Currency movements can also affect the dollar value of investments and the cost of servicing foreign currency shareholder loans. Kenya nevertheless continues to attract capital because the underlying demand for financial services, food production, telecommunications, power and consumer goods remains substantial.

Offshore-jurisdiction records (USD million)

What the offshore jurisdictions report

2022-2024
Ranked OFC202220232024
1MauritiusMUS · immediate counterpart
2United KingdomGBR · immediate counterpart
3SwitzerlandCHE · immediate counterpart
03.9k03.9k03.9k

Source: IMF, Direct Investment Positions by Counterpart Economy (formerly CDIS). Data view: Derived using counterparty information — offshore jurisdictions. Dataset 12.0.1; observation period 2022-2024; retrieved 21 July 2026.

Method and comparability notes

Why the charts may differ: Countries can report the same investment differently because of timing, valuation methods, reporting thresholds, confidentiality and missing submissions. Neither chart identifies the ultimate investor.

Method: Corpfin total IDI equals the IMF net equity position plus IMF gross debt liabilities. The receiving country figures and the figures derived from reports by the selected offshore jurisdictions are ranked separately and are never merged. Blank annual value cells in returned IMF series are treated as zero; absent series and explicit IMF missing or suppressed markers remain unavailable. Differences between the two views can result from reporting asymmetry, and neither view identifies the ultimate investor or establishes that a structure is tax-driven.

Professional assessment

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IDI corridor interpretation

IDI to Kenya from OFCs

Interpretation based on the offshore-jurisdiction records.

OFC1

Mauritius

2024 position · USD 3,886.63 million

Mauritius is clearly the dominant corridor within the displayed offshore data. Its position was USD 2.97 billion in 2022, USD 2.93 billion in 2023 and USD 3.89 billion in 2024. The 2024 increase of approximately 33% restored the corridor well above its 2022 level. Mauritius represented about 79% of the combined 2024 value of the three corridors shown.

This position reflects more than one type of relationship. Mauritius has an established regulated fund, corporate administration and global business sector that is widely used for African investments. This makes it practical for private equity funds, family investment groups and multinational businesses to hold African subsidiaries through Mauritian entities. However, the Kenya corridor also contains real Mauritian businesses investing their own capital. It should therefore not be described as nothing more than offshore routing.

Eclosia is an important example. Its financial statements identify Avipro East Africa Limited as a 100% indirectly owned Kenyan subsidiary. Avipro operates from Nakuru and, by 2024, had five facilities producing approximately 400,000 parent stock chicks annually. The company also announced plans to double production capacity. This is a substantive investment in Kenyan poultry production, employment, agricultural knowledge and physical operating capacity. It demonstrates that part of the Mauritius position represents genuine Mauritian corporate expansion into Kenya. Neither Eclosia nor Avipro publicly discloses the original capital expenditure, so the investment should not be assigned an unsupported monetary value.

It would also be incorrect to explain the Mauritius position solely through a Kenya and Mauritius tax treaty. Kenya’s National Treasury currently lists that agreement as signed but not in force. The corridor is better explained by a combination of actual Mauritian corporate investment, Africa focused investment funds, established professional services and the use of Mauritius as an immediate holding jurisdiction.

OFC2

United Kingdom

2024 position · USD 574.58 million

The United Kingdom position increased from USD 789.25 million in 2022 to USD 1.04 billion in 2023, before falling to USD 574.58 million in 2024. The reduction means that the outstanding UK reported position contracted materially during 2024. The chart cannot determine whether this resulted from loan repayments, distributions, a disposal, ownership restructuring, valuation movements or changes in reporting.

Unlike a corridor that is mainly associated with investment vehicles, the UK relationship is strongly supported by longstanding British ownership and operating investment in Kenya. British capital is present across banking, consumer products, agriculture, manufacturing and development finance. The relationship is also supported by an in force double taxation agreement and the UK and Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement. These arrangements, together with access to London’s banking and investment markets, make UK entities natural shareholders and financing counterparties for Kenyan companies.

OFC3

Switzerland

2024 position · USD 456.19 million

The Swiss position declined from USD 573.81 million in 2022 to USD 466.73 million in 2023 and USD 456.19 million in 2024. This indicates a gradual contraction rather than an abrupt exit. As with the UK movement, the chart does not identify whether the change came from repayments, earnings distributions, restructuring or valuation effects.

Switzerland’s presence is supported by actual Swiss multinational operations rather than only financial intermediation. Switzerland’s government reports that approximately 50 Swiss companies operate in Kenya, particularly in sectors connected with pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food products, inspection services and other specialised activities. A bilateral investment protection agreement also provides a legal framework for qualifying investments. The corridor is therefore best understood as a smaller but established corporate investment relationship.