This archive report was first published on 17 December 2019.
Laikipia County: A New Frontier for Investment ¶
Laikipia County in Kenya is experiencing a surge in investment, driven by the completion of a transformative transport infrastructure project.
The newly-tarmacked Rumuruti-Sipili-Kinamba road in the west has attracted new businesses, including horticultural investors who are capitalizing on the ease of movement to access virgin land.
Expansive greenhouses have mushroomed in the area, with investors using underground water to irrigate their crops.
Laikipia County Water Executive Mr Njenga Kahiro notes that the county is focusing on harnessing water to bring in even small-scale farmers on board to increase the acreage under irrigation.
According to the county's 2019 statistical abstract, the land under irrigation has increased 15 times in a span of two years, from 258 hectares in 2016 to 3,758 hectares in 2018.
Dozens of shopping centers are springing up along the highway, meeting the housing demand for the growing number of laborers working in the horticultural farms.
Thanks to the robust road network, horticultural firms are now able to source laborers from far-flung areas with ease, to the convenience of the workers who are picked up and dropped by buses just a walking distance from home.
Laikipia County has been ranked among the top five counties in terms of business environment for MSEs, according to the Kenya Institute for Public Policy and Research Analysis (Kippra).
Luoniek shopping center on the extreme north-western edge of the county has seen the number of licensed retail businesses grow from 50 to 120 in less than three years.
A local airline, Let's Fly Aviation, has started four flights daily between Nairobi's Wilson Airport and the Nyahururu-Nanyuki route, meeting the rising demand for air travel for business people, professionals, and tourists.
Other key investments in the Laikipia tourism landscape include a Sh1 billion hotel coming up on a 200-acre piece of land at the Ilng'wesi Group Ranch in Laikipia North and a new 48-room hotel coming up in Nyahururu town.
