Chamber President Dr Erick Rutto earlier today, Wednesday 18th June 2025, hosted H.E Demeke Atnafu Ambulo Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Nairobi to explore ways investors from Kenya can benefit from the Kenya-Ethiopia special status agreement signed in 2012.

In the discussions the Ambassador highlighted that Ethiopia has opened up major sectors that Kenyan businesses can take advantage of including: banking, telecommunications, forex, trading services and mining. He also pointed out that efforts are ongoing to ensure that Kenya and Ethiopia have a one stop border stop to facilitate trade.

In particular the Ambassador said Ethiopia is looking for investments in its priority sector including:

  • Manufacturing: Textile & apparel, leather & leather products, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, chemical products, metal & engineering industry, electronics & electrical products, paper & paper products, and construction materials.
  • Agriculture: Horticulture (flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs), plantation of cotton, palm tree, rubber tree, coffee, tea, sugarcane, oilseeds, livestock, apiculture, and high-value crops such as barley for malting.
  • Mining: gold, potash, platinum, opal, iron, tantalum, marble, granite, limestone etc
  • Tourism: grade one tour operation, star designated hotels, lodges & restaurants, grade one construction, information & communications technology (ICT) and general & specialized hospitals
  • ICT: 200-hectare ICT dedicated Industry Park in Addis Ababa, Opened Telecom sector, business in software development, setting up data centers, business process outsourcing
  • Banking and Forex Bureaus: 31 banks present, 9 companies and the existing banks licensed to buy and sell foreign currencies

Other opportunities include the establishment of investments in the health sector to handle chronic diseases, trading services with the government having allowed foreigners to participate in the imports and export business and logistics. The Ethiopian government has also set up industrial parks and special economic zones for investors to establish their companies in.

The chamber has pledged to organize an educational opportunity for its members at the Embassy so that Kenyan companies can better be informed of investment opportunities within the next month. Later the chamber will organize a trade mission to Ethiopia for its members in the priority sectors including a business matchmaking session with Ethiopian companies.

Ethiopia at a glance

  • Population: 2nd most populous country in Africa with a population size of over 120 million
  • Economy: 3rd largest economy in sub-saran Africa with GDP of USD 205 billion
  • Exports: Leading exports: coffee, oilseeds, gold, pulses, horticulture, live animals, growing manufacturing export (textile and apparel, leather and leather products etc)