Nairobi, Africa’s new HQ for multinational firms

Nairobi is fast becoming the African home of choice for multinational companies, especially those in the services sector, looking to grow their presence on the continent.

Pfizer, the US-based pharmaceutical company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Posterscope, an outdoor advertising firm, have in the past seven days unveiled plans to establish a regional hub, recruit staff and set up shop respectively in Kenya’s capital city last week.

In the past one year, global heavyweights in the service industry such as IBM, Google, PwC, advertising agency WPP, Bharti Airtel, Nokia/Siemens, Huawei, Procter & Gamble, Biersdoff, Barclays and Stanchart have announced plans to either set up regional hubs or transform their local operations to serve sub-Sahara Africa.

Several factors work to the benefit of Kenya and the other East African states too. First, the formation of a Common Market is helping create a strong internal market with a population of 130 million and a middle class estimated at 30 million consumers. With South Sudan, which has a population of 8.4 million, expressing interest in joining the EAC, and Kenya opening up its northern frontier through the Lamu Corridor to serve Ethiopia, which has a population of 84 million, the region now boasts a potentially connected internal market of 240 million people. This is way above the 150 million mark that experts say a country or a bloc needs to be a major world power.

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www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Nairobi Africa new HQ for multinational firms