Midrand, South Africa – President William Ruto has challenged African businesses and entrepreneurs to stop looking abroad for markets and start doing business more aggressively in Africa.
The President said the African market is fast becoming the next largest frontier for trade and investment and innovation in the world.
Addressing a joint Kenya-South Africa Business Forum in Midrand, Johannesburg on Thursday, accompanied by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, President Ruto said that as the “economic anchors” of Eastern and Southern Africa, the two countries should play a leading role in building integrated value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“My hope is that we will leave here not just with good intentions, but with concrete opportunities,” he told government officials and top business leaders from both countries.
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He said: “Change starts here. Together, our two countries command the financial strength, industrial capacity, entrepreneurial talent and innovation ecosystem to power Africa's next chapter.”
Bilateral trade between Kenya and South Africa is set to reach approximately $680 million in 2025, with President Ruto describing the result as “meaningful progress, but also a measure of how much potential remains untapped”.
Kenya exports tea, coffee, horticulture, cut flowers and manufactured goods to South Africa and imports machinery, pharmaceuticals, vehicles, steel and industrial inputs.
More than 60 South African companies operate in Kenya across various sectors including banking, insurance, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, infrastructure and real estate.
South Africa remains one of Kenya's major sources of foreign direct investment, even as Kenyan companies expand southward.
President Ruto said the complementarity between the two countries and businesses should be translated into deeper industrial cooperation.
“Let us boldly cooperate in automotive assembly, mineral beneficiation, agro-processing and green manufacturing,” he said.
The President described the AfCFTA as “one of the greatest economic opportunities of our generation”, but added that intra-African trade still lags far behind the global average.
He lauded the progress towards convergence of COMESA, Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC) under the Tripartite Free Trade Area, and introduced Kenya as the host for this free trade area ecosystem to unlock the 800 million people market, which feeds into the AfCFTA.
He also emphasized investment in agro-processing and logistics to cut Africa's food import bill.
President Ruto said, “Africa cannot spend billions of dollars on food imports while our own farmers and agricultural industries are ready to feed the continent.”
He positioned Kenya as a hub for global business services, citing a young, English-speaking workforce, digital infrastructure and a time zone connecting Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
He invited South African and multinational companies to use Kenya as a regional base for business processing outsourcing and technology services.
On infrastructure, President Ruto highlighted the Mombasa Port and Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor and the ports of Durban, Cape Town, Richards Bay and Ngukura as important transport and logistics corridors in East Africa.
Furthermore, he welcomed the partnership talks between Kenya Airways and South African Airways to promote trade, tourism and regional integration.
President Ruto urged African financial institutions, pension funds and private equity to mobilize long-term capital for development on the continent, noting that Kenya's new National Infrastructure Fund and Sovereign Wealth Fund were vehicles for patient investment in energy, housing, logistics and industry.
“Governments can create the enabling environment, but it is the private sector that drives change,” he said. “I therefore urge business leaders to convert the opportunities of this forum into concrete investments, joint ventures and lasting commercial partnerships.”
He noted that Kenya is making reforms to ease doing business, strengthen investor protection and deepen regional integration through its Investment One-Stop Centre.
For his part, President Ramaphosa expressed South Africa's commitment to reducing import duties on Kenyan agricultural products, joking that “we need to bring in more Kenyan tea and more South Africans will drink more Kenyan tea”.
He called for future deals struck at business forums to be evaluated “in terms of rand and shilling”.
The forum was co-hosted by the two Presidents on the second and final day of President Ruto's state visit to South Africa, with the aim of elevating Kenya-South Africa relations to a strategic partnership.