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The main objective of the unit is to provide proactive, fact based and results focused policy advocacy for members.

The Policy, Research and advocacy unit is the cornerstone of KAM’s work. The unit is in charge of furthering fact based advocacy or members to relevant stakeholders in order to promote global competitiveness of Kenyan products.

KAM has established the following four working committees that facilitate members’ engagement with the government and provide oversight on KAM advocacy agenda

These committees are allowed four Statutory Meetings per year held on a quarterly basis but may have bi-lateral dialogue meetings with relevant government agencies from time to time.

The ever rising costs of energy pose an increasing challenge to enterprises as they endeavor to become more competitive in a liberalized and globalize environment. Kenya has experienced a high economic growth in the last couple of years which has resulted in increased demand for electricity.

This increase is anticipated to continue growing at an annual rate of approximately 8%.

However, nationally, energy continues to be inefficiently utilized particularly within industry. Wastage of energy ranges between 10% and 30% of primary energy input. This is mainly attributed to lack of information, motivation, know-how, financial restrictions as well as market imperfections. It is estimated that the average energy saving potential in Kenyan industry is over Ksh. 2 billion per annum.

The Award

The Energy Management Award (EMA) is an award for all energy consumers geared at encouraging a culture of energy efficiency and conservation. EMA recognizes enterprises that have made major and sustainable gains in energy efficiency through the application of modern energy management principles and practices, and in the process made significant energy and cost reductions. Such enterprises will have:

• A well developed, documented , communicated and updated energy policy
• A plan of action for implementing the policy
• A systematic way of conducting regular energy audits to identify areas of waste and opportunities for improvement
• Requisite resources and structures for implementing energy efficiency measures
• Evident gains in energy efficiency over a period of time
• An innovative approach to solving problems

EMA is managed by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers through the Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation (CEEC) and is aimed at:

• Recognizing best practice in energy efficiency
• Creating awareness about the benefits of energy efficiency
• Reducing the cost of doing business in Kenya
• Increasing competitiveness in Kenyan enterprises
• Contributing to the country’s economic development
• Contributing to reduction of harmful emissions to the environment that arise out of generation and use of energy
• Publicizing the winners and sponsors in line with their marketing and social responsibility strategies

The Award categories:

1.      The Overall Energy Management Award:

     This will be awarded to the organization that has the most outstanding energy management Initiatives for efficient Energy Use. This will take into account the awareness, training and effectiveness of the energy team and impact on energy savings, cost savings and sustainability.

2.      Best Energy Management Team:

    This award will recognize the most outstanding energy management team that has excelled in training, organization and implementing energy management initiatives leading to remarkable energy savings.

3.      Fuel Saving Award:

     This award will honor the organization that has the most significant reduction in its fuel consumption through the implementation of energy management initiatives.

4.      Electricity Saving Award:

     This award will honor the organization that has the most significant reduction in its electrical energy consumption through the implementation of energy management initiatives.

5.      Service sector Award:

     The Award will recognize the organization that has the best energy management initiatives with outstanding results.

6.      Energy Innovation Award:

     This award will go to the individual or organization that has demonstrated innovative ideas in energy management.

7.      Sustained High Performance Award:

     This award will recognize the organization that has shown consistency in participating and also energy saving and has sustainable energy management initiatives.

8.      Best New Entrant Award:

     This Award will recognize the new entrant with outstanding energy management initiatives leading to remarkable savings.

New Categories:

Green Building Award: This award will recognize the building that has embraced green energy the most.

Students Category:  This award will go to the student or the learning institution that has demonstrated innovative ideas in energy management.

How to Participate:

1.      Fill out an application form. Application forms can be downloaded from the webpage.

2.      An assessment tool will then be sent to you to complete and return to the secretariat.

3.      The technical team will verify the information on the assessment tool by visiting your organization.

4.      Thereafter, an assessment of returns will be done by the technical team and a report will be developed for the panel of judges.

5.      The panel of judges will then adjudicate to select the winners and the runners-up and develop a report for the Advisory Council.

6.      The Advisory will verify and ratify the judges’ report.

7.      The climax is the gala night where the winners will be announced.

Sponsorship

EMA offers sponsorship opportunities which provide a platform for sponsors to be recognized and applauded for playing a key role in promoting Energy Efficiency in the country.

The prime platinum sponsor for EMA 2015 was Kenya Power

The Global Compact Kenya Network (GCNK) Secretariat at KAM was established in 2009 with the support of Danida and the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI). The office supports companies to advance their corporate sustainability agenda through the UN Global Compact 10 Principles.
With the objective of promoting ethical conduct of business, GCNK supports companies with the following with CSR Services:

• Identify sustainability risks / impacts
• Advise on CSR programs design and approach
• Training on Business Ethics & Integrity
• Learning & Outreach Forums
• Firm-level capacity building & training
• Support with COP Compilation

 Global Compact Network Kenya Bronchure

TRAINING & CONSULTANCY SERVICES: TO IMPROVE ORGANISATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS

Building from our success in mitigating for energy efficiency and conservation we ( KAM ) have moved a step ahead to ensure the Enterprises in  Kenya are more competitive in the COMESA region and internationally through well researched and industry customized TRANING & CONSULTANCY SERVICES.  These programs are by KAM Consulting our outfit with sole responsibility of making you and your organization competitive.

We have put together a team of highly experiences Training & Consultancy Associates to deliver the programs  which are enhanced with case studies drawn from various enterprises. The training and consultancy services are in the areas below, click on this link to download details.

 Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Financing (SUNREF)

East Africa Green Lending Programme is supported by European Union Infrastructure trust fund for Africa (EUITF) and the French Development Agency (AFD)

1.INTRODUCTION AND CURRENT STATUS OF THE PROGRAMME

1.1BACKGROUND AND OVERALL OBJECTIVES

The East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania face a growing energy demand characterized by an intensive use of biomass fuel (wood, charcoal) for domestic use, especially in rural communities and the urban poor. In Kenya, biomass fuel represents 68 % of the total primary energy requirements, equivalent to 12 million tons of oil (TOE) per year. In Uganda and in Tanzania, this figure reaches as much as 94 % and 90 % respectively bearing heavily on the countries’ depleting natural resources. In addition, while the electricity consumption is significantly growing every year, these countries struggle to secure an adequate production capacity and are exposed to regular power shortages. Because these countries significantly rely on hydropower, the situation has worsened in the last years due to severe droughts. It has resulted in the development of additional capacities in the form of emergency oil-fuelled power plants, thus increasing the countries’ dependency on fossil fuels. Because of the current international oil price and the fact that all three countries depend on oil importations, this alternative is very costly and ultimately passed on to the end-user. These factors combined with other trends such as deforestation, lead to inefficient allocation of resources and greenhouse gas emissions are in turn bound to rise sharply. Therefore, the region’s transition process towards renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements is essential.

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda benefit from a large untapped potential in terms of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EE/RE), small scale hydropower, biomass/cogeneration and solar represent substantial resources. In the agro-industry sector – one of the main economic sectors in these countries – numerous energy efficiency measures can be implemented. Measures to promote EE/RE can also be attractive for SMEs, such as biogas units for farmers. Although the EE/RE sector is still in its infancy in the region, it has earned an increased interest from governments, donors, project developers as well as financiers. Governments have provided policy guidelines and adapted the institutional and regulatory framework to attract private investors. Commercial banks in the region see the EE/RE sector as a promising sector to develop their portfolio. Some of them have already financed different EE/RE projects or expressed an interest to do so. However banks, having a limited track record in EE/RE financing, are frequently confronted with immature projects, where the perceived financial risks are often not mitigated by project developers. Thus, commercial banks are still reluctant to be the first mover in this uncertain market and to deal with new clients asking for significant investments as it is often the case in RE generation projects.

In order to support the Governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda implementing their policies in the energy sector with the objectives to increase the share of renewable energy resources and to promote at large scale the energy efficiency to facilitate their energy transition, The “Agence Française de Développement” (AFD) launched a regional Programme in August 2011 (The initial program, called Regional Technical Assistance Program (RTAP), ran from Aug 2011 to May 2014. The second phase of this program, renamed and branded as SUNREF – Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Financing – began in May 2014 and will continue for 2 years) with two main components:

•Credit facilities to provide banks with the necessary long term financing deemed to overcome the financial barriers met by projects sponsors. Initially, two banks in Kenya and one in Tanzania signed up for the credit facility with AFD with an initial credit limit of about USD 80 million. By the end of RTAP Phase 1, one bank in Kenya (Cooperative Bank) and one bank in Tanzania (Bank of Africa) remained as active participating partner banks, with COOP Bank having dispersed financing for _8 projects for a total of USD 37 million debt by March 2014 (BoAT did not finance any projects under RTAP Phase 1)

•A Regional Technical Assistance Programme, whose role is to facilitate the origination of viable and bankable projects, provide technical and financial support at critical stages of project development and increase the knowledge and the expertise of the main stakeholders (sponsors, banks, consultants, equipment providers). The RTAP (Phase 1) had a budget of EUR 2,6 million - 2 million were provided by the EU Infrastructure Fund for Africa (ITF) and EUR 600 000 by AFD. An additional EUR 2 million was approved by the ITF in June 2013 for this second phase of RTAP - SUNREF.

The overall goal of the project is to contribute to reduce the CO2 emissions from energy consumption and production, whilst the prime objective is to help building a sustainable market for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

The purpose of this operation is to implement the Credit Lines promoted by AFD to final beneficiaries (mainly SMEs and some larger companies) through finance institutions for the purpose of financing energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Since the objective is to transform and sustain a nascent market, it is necessary to implement an approach which simultaneously provides pull and push effects. Consequently, participating banks and project developers are supported by a Technical Assistance whose role is to provide this twin and complementary effects through the achievement of the following operational objectives:

•Ensuring that there is a pipeline of investment projects that meet AFD technical eligibility criteria,

•Ensuring that the widest range of stakeholders is informed about the Credit Facilities and more generally with respect to raising awareness of implementation of sustainable energy investments in order to ensure a prompt uptake of the financing and the related benefits,

•Administrating the whole process (by the FS-Burgeap Consultant Consortium that has been recruited) to ensure a good coordination among various stakeholders, smooth delivery of the Consultant’ services, to provide timely adequate and sufficient information to interested parties and contribute to the improvement of the knowledge by capitalizing the experience gained,

•Ensuring the Monitoring and Evaluation of the program results (by an Independent Verification Consultant appointed to this specific task)

The institutional structure of the SUNREF Programme includes the following stakeholders and functions:

• Kenya Associations of Manufacturers (KAM) ensures a role of administration of the SUNREF East Africa Programme as per a contractual agreement between KAM and AFD;

• The Regional Technical Assistance Team (RTA Team) is set-up to operate the SUNREF Programme and to provide services to project sponsors and partner banks. The RTA team is led by the consortium of Burgeap and Frankfurt School - UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance, and strengthens the regional technical assistance team originally set-up by KAM.

• KAM counterparts in Tanzania and Uganda ensure the role of contact point for the RTAP in their respective countries as per the focal point agreement signed with KAM. The focal point in Tanzania is the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) while that of Uganda is foreseen to be the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PFSU). For this, 2 focal points partnership agreement with KAM should be renewed (CTI) or established (PFSU) and non-objected by AFD.

Partner Banks ensure a role of financing projects and of building-up and managing a portfolio of RE & EE projects as per the financing agreement between each partner bank and AFD. As of today, there are  two partner banks in Kenya (Cooperative Bank) and (Chase bank) and one in Tanzania (Bank of Africa).

CEEC offers subsidized energy auditing services with the support from the government of Kenya (Ministry of Energy) and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the Centre runs an energy audit programme which is open to all companies doing business in Kenya and are interested in reducing their energy consumption and increasing profits.

CEEC will audit your facility and give recommendations that can save your enterprise between 15% and 30% of your energy budget.

Energy Management Trainings.

The Centre also offers Energy trainings at subsidized fee. The trainings cover a wide scope of courses with practical approaches to energy management by offering hands-on approaches to assist industries successfully implement energy management programs in the current energy scenario

The energy trainings serve to equip participants with understanding on how to apply energy management principles resulting in reduced energy consumption and significant cost savings.

Energy Management award (EMA).

EMA is an annual award that promotes excellence in energy management & recognizes enterprises that have achieved significant reduction in their energy consumption through implementation of energy efficient measures and technologies.

EMA offers Sponsorship Opportunities which provides a platform for sponsors to be recognized and applauded for playing a key role in promoting energy efficiency.

Energy Efficiency Accord

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) through its Centre of Energy Efficiency and Conservation and with support of GIZ has developed an Energy Efficiency Accord as a way of encouraging large industrial energy to voluntarily commit to reduce energy consumption in their companies.

The Accord is a voluntary agreement between the Company and the Kenya Government where the company commits to saving energy through agreed measures.

Other Activities

The centre other activities include Energy Manager Certification(CEM), Identifying,developingand implementing bankable energy efficiency projects, developing energy usage benchmarks for various sectors of the economy, supporting the government in formulating and implementing policies aimed at encouraging rational use of energy, Building linkages with other stakeholders in the Energy field among other many activities.

KAM in conjunction with the Ministry Of Energy established the Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation (CEEC).The Centre runs energy efficiency and conservation programs designed to help companies identify energy wastage, determine saving potential and give recommendation on measures to be implemented.

The Centre provides professional technical services for developing, designing and implementing energy efficiency projects to suit the needs of commercial, institutional and industrial consumers. The main aim is to reduce cost and enhance competitiveness and profitability while promoting a clean and healthy environment.

Objectives.

The overarching objective of CEEC includes;

• Engage in the development of a national focus on energy efficiency and conservation activities.
• Increase public awareness on Energy Efficiency and conservation and access to information.
• Demonstrate the feasibility of energy conservation measures through the development and implementation of bankable projects.
• Provide valuable expertise for promotion and institutionalization of energy efficiency and conservation.

We are the representative organization for manufacturing value-add industries in Kenya.

Established in 1959 as a private sector body, KAM has evolved into a dynamic, vibrant, credible and respected business association that unites industrialists and offers a common voice for businesses.

KAM provides an essential link for co-operation, dialogue and understanding with the Government by representing the views and concerns of its members to the relevant authorities.

In pursuit of its core mandate of policy advocacy, KAM promotes trade and investment, upholds standards, encourages the formulation, enactment and administration of sound policies that facilitate a competitive business environment and reduce the cost of doing business.

In 2009, KAM unveiled a new corporate image as it observed 50 years since its establishment.

Vision:

To be a World-Class business membership organisation effectively delivering services to its members wherever they operate.

Mission:

To promote competitive local manufacturing in a liberalised market.

Goal:

To transform KAM into a sustainable member-focused association delivering relevant, quality, timely and effective services to its members.

Values:

KAM has four core values which are the key drivers of its corporate culture. These are Innovation, Effectiveness, Responsiveness and Resilience.

PURPOSE

To create wealth at both corporate and individual levels by advocating for a competitive environment for businesses to operate, thereby creating better industries, growing the economy, creating jobs and hence resulting in better standards of living for Kenyans.

Strategic Objectives:

• To provide proactive, evidence based and result focused policy advocacy services for members;
• To provide quality demand driven and profitable services to the business community;
• To ensure that KAM is the most preferred Business Membership Organisation (BMO) for manufacturing value add industries;
• To ensure KAM is financially sustainable and motivates professional and committed staff members and adheres to the highest standards or corporate governance;
• To deliver timely and effective communication to both internal and external stakeholders.

NYANZA/WESTERN CHAPTER

Kisumu County Government presents Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plan

The governor of Kisumu, Mr Jack Ranguma, recently presented the Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plan, funded by the French Agency for Development (AFD) as component of a larger project called "Kisumu Urban Plan" or KUP. In attendance were Mr.Emmanuel  Renault, Charge de Affaires French consulate in Kenya and Mr. Yves Terracol, AFD regional director.

Speaking at the forum Kisumu County Governor H.E Jack Ranguma noted the project should be about a modern city plan that can integrate the cities vision to advance wealth creation. “This is an opportunity for the city residents to ensure their thoughts are incorporated in this document to see that it conforms to their aspirations,” said the Governor. “We are now counting on the County assembly to enact this plan into law to ensure the document is legal and enforceable by law,” added Ranguma.

While addressing participants Mr. Emmanuel Renault noted that the process of planning had come to an end by the realization of the ISUD document. “Development has to be guided by proper planning, thus the importance of this ISUD plan,” he said.  “It is also important for this plan to become a legal document as stipulated in the cities and urban areas act," he added.

Mr. Renault also said that AFD will be supporting the county through the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board to the tune of 39 million Euros to improve the counties water supply and sanitation. “I promise you if this plan is implemented Kisumu City will be a joy to live in,” he said.

The County Executive in charge of Roads and Public works Eng. Tom Kodera pleaded with residents to be patient as planning was critical before any commitment of public funds.”This is not the end of the plan there will be continued dialogue to enrich this document,” said Eng. Kodera.

The Kisumu City Manager Mr. Rossana informed stakeholders the last plan was done in 1952 with an attempt to improve it in 1984 which never materialized. He also noted that the plan has five components with planning being the first one hence a lot of work is still to be done.

CENTRAL KENYA CHAPTER

Kiambu County Finance Act 2013 raises uproar

The recently passed Kiambu County Finance Act has elicited a lot of reactions from residents of Kiambu County. The major controversy revolves around the “cost of dying“ in the county. The county has introduced a new burial tax where adults are charged Ksh. 4500/- and Infants - 2,500/-.

Businesses from different sectors within the county are now feeling the impact of some of the fees and charges that have risen by over 100% as they are required to renew their licenses and permits. Traders held demonstrations to protest the high increases. The most recent and major demonstration lasted a whole day and involved running battles with the police.

Increases in various licenses, single business permit fees, Cess on agricultural products, conservancy fees among others are some of the issues that the business community has been opposed to.

The chapter has had several engagements with the county government the highlight being the 1^st Governor’s roundtable held in September 2013, where the Governor committed to working closely with the business community. The chapter has contacted the Finance & Economic Planning Department for dialogue on the above issues and we are planning a meeting in the next two to three weeks where members’ participation will be called upon.

Members are still welcome to raise any pending issues regarding Act.

The Accelerated Sales Force Training entered its second and final day with a discussion on the role of Sales Managers in an organisation. Prof. Prabha Sinha gave participants a profile of 3 managers ranked on 3 qualities – power, achievement and social affiliation and asked them to choose the one they thought gave the best performance. According to studies done in this area, the best managers ranked highest on power. Those who ranked highest on Achievement also performed well but sometimes demotivated their teams because they took all the credit for the success. Those who ranked high on Social affiliation didn't have the edge to make tough decisions. That said, all sales managers needed a threshold of affiliation to make a good manager. 

Prof. Prabha also insisted on the importance of having excellent sales managers. To the question 'Which would you rather have? An excellent sales manager and average sales people? or An average sales manager and excellent sales people?' he told participants that it was important to have an excellent sales manager as they had an impact on overall sales performance in an organisation. 

Discussions extended to motivation, remuneration and other factors that drive sales up. Over 55 participants drawn from over 30 local organisations attended the 2 day training in Nairobi. Training sessions included Case studies, discussions and sharing experiences. 

For details of courses that will be on offer this year by the Manufacturing Academy see our  our online annual training calendar. 

Business Associations in Homa Bay today (Friday, January 31, 2014) met ahead of the Homa Bay County's Governor's Round-table to be held on 19 February 2014 kicking off this year's engagements with county governments across the country. 

Last year, Over 7 counties held round tables with Business associations and came up with a strategic plan that would guide the counties in decision making. In almost all these counties, BMOs agreed to form an umbrella association  so as to present their issues to the County  Governments in a unified voice. Homa Bay's preparatory session  will help Business Associations in the county prepare a wishlist of Key issues that they would like the County Government to address in order to create an enabling environment for businesses.

For more information on how to participate contact Tobias.alando@kam.co.ke

The Accelerated Sales Force Performance Training Course lead by world renowned Dr. Prabha Kant Sinha today kicked off at the Serena Hotel with over 60 participants drawn from various industries in Kenya.

Dr Prabha Kant Sinha worked as an associate Professor of marketing at the Kellog School of Management and is the author of a number of books on sales performance. He teaches at the Indian School of Business and the Gordon Institute of Business Science. He has assisted over 250 firms in North America, Europe and Asia with issues related to sales force strategy and sales effectiveness. 

The course attracted top level managers from over 30 local companies. 

The Chairman of General Electric (GE) and Mr. Jeff Immelt, has called on Kenya to invest more on Small and medium enterprises and train more skilled labour to achieve a global competitive advantage. “The best countries are graduating a lot of engineers and a lot of workers, so there is a lot of high technique manufacturing,” Mr. Immelt said on Monday during a Manufacturing Sector and industrial Growth cocktail held at the Capital Club in Nairobi and jointly hosted by GE and Kenya Association of Manufacturers.

Mr. Immelt who serves as the chairperson of US president Barack Obama’s council on Jobs and Competitiveness said that worldwide countries had massive unemployment problems and needed SMEs for growth.  “Kenya needs to invest more in its Small Medium Enterprises to be able to develop a multiplier effect,” he said adding that  “Government looks at big business as the standard  but its not just here, i see that in every country I go to, making it so hard for SMES to win.”

Mr. Immelt listed energy and energy costs, access to data and advanced manufacturing as 3 key things that would drive competitiveness in the coming decades and called energy a game changer that could give manufacturers worldwide the competitive edge. “In the US today if you are in the process industry you are going to pay 4 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) for electricity, if you are in Europe and you are in the processing industry you pay 15 cents per Kwh for electricity so the difference energy cost, I think ultimately could create winners and losers around the world because energy is big driver of long term competitiveness,” he said.

He called for the adaptation of new techniques and approaches in order to remain ahead of the pack.  “The first part of my career was from a manufacturers standpoint just a pursuit of cheap labour, now it is all about material science, it is all about localization, speed to market, innovation so the nature of manufacturing has taken 20 to 30 years to change dramatically,“ he added.

Ms. Betty Maina, CEO of Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) launched the Manufacturing Priority Agenda 2014 at the same event. “This document contains some of the issues that manufacturers are discussing with Government in 2014 and that we are looking to partner with Government in delivering.” she said.

Manufacturers have identified the following key issues that will form the manufacturing priority agenda; Ensuring energy security, ensuring order and managing the cost of devolution, provision of adequate security, sustaining existing markets and opening up new markets for Kenyan goods, Ensuring tax legislation and   tax administration promote production, improving trade logistics, provision of the necessary education and training skills, setting aside land for industrial investment, fighting counterfeits and policy stability.

January 16, 2014, Nairobi:  Government officials who attended an annual forum organised by Kenya Association of Manufacturers today to discuss areas of collaboration for the year committedto work closely with the manufacturing sector in order to promote an enabling environment.

Speaking at the forum today, Dr. Fred Matiangi, the Cabinet Secretary of Information Communication Technology  promised to tackle the cost of making calls in the region saying that thegovernment was looking into ways of bringing down the cost of doing business by reducing the cost of telephone calls.  “It does not make sense to spend Ksh. 3 per call to the US and Kshs. 18 to make a call to the Tanzania,” he said.

Kenya generates the most amount of traffic in the region with 500 million minutes of calls in a month. According to the Cabinet Secretary, Uganda and Tanzania adopted a system to monitor and tax international calls resulting is to Kenyans being taxed twice when they make regional costs. They pay taxes in both Kenya and terminating country.

January 16, 2014 NAIROBI: Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has launched a Manufacturing Barometer  that will measure and provide important information on the manufacturing  growth and outlook in Kenya,  Ms Betty Maina, KAM Chief Executive has said.

Speaking at the launch of the Barometer during a breakfast meeting held with Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and Heads of Parastatals in Nairobi today Ms Maina said: “The inaugural edition will be an important baseline to be compared with subsequent data collected in the future.” The information was collected over a two week period  in October 2013 from a survey of 750 KAM members that included industrialists and manufacturers.

According to the barometer, manufacturers indicated their ability to meet the demand for locally manufactured goods but this optimism is tempered as they are not very happy with the general business situation in Kenya as the optimism index in the industry was below normal at 49.5, . The feeling was echoed further by the fact that “54% of our respondents indicated their unwillingness to authorize more capital expenditure,” said Ms Maina.  The manufacturing sectors ability to meet demand stood at a robust 60 pointing to underutilised capacity in the sector.

The new orders index stood at 29.5 and the index measuring trends in the placement of new orders for the last three months stood at 43.5. This marks a reduction in the demand for locally manufactured goods. The average price indices on orders booked and orders purchased were above normal standing at 54 and 66 respectively.

“To buoy the industry there is need to reform the fiscal policy framework especially on business taxes that are unfriendly to the market and by eliminating multiple regulations by counties. There are  overlapping responsibilities and counties are using licenses and charges to raise revenue. Currently the business regulatory framework imposes high transaction costs on local businesses,” Ms Maina added.