U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter visits Tatu City in Kenya

On a visit to Tatu City, U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter highlighted how diverse U.S. investments in Kenya are creating jobs, education, innovation and homes for Kenyans.

Tatu City’s shareholders are from the United States, New Zealand, Norway and Britain. They have invested more than $150 million in the infrastructure and operations of the 5,000-acre development. This investment has, in turn, catalyzed more than $1.1 billion in additional investment in the Kenyan economy.

“The United States is going to prove it will be the best friend Kenya could ever have, by being generous with investment and by working side-by-side,” McCarter said during his visit. “The prosperity we can create here, mostly through the private sector, as we see right here at Tatu City, can be to the benefit of all East Africa. Because as Kenya goes, so goes East Africa.”

Ambassador McCarter’s visit included:

A review of Tatu City’s infrastructure, which includes 20km of internal roads and future-proofed water, power and sewerage in the only operational Special Economic Zone in the country, creating a stable and predictable environment for Kenyan and international businesses.

2,000 permanent jobs have been created at Tatu City in last three years by companies such as Cooper K-Brands, Dormans, Africa Logistics Properties, Copia, Nova Pioneer, Crawford International, Hunker Energy, Lifestyle Properties, Unity Homes and Freight Forwarders Kenya. An additional 4,000 temporary jobs were created during construction to date.

More than 50 businesses are operational or developing at Tatu City. The Kenyan and international companies in Tatu Industrial Park represent more than $700 million of investment and the creation of more than 10,000 jobs.

Tatu City Training Academy has provided skills training to more than 400 members of the surrounding community. Today, more than 700 local community jobs are a direct result of economic activity at Tatu City.

 

A visit to Copia Global, where co-founder Crispin Murira gave Ambassador McCarter a tour of the 450-employee operation, which ships thousands of orders a day from Tatu City to more than 5,000 Agents in Kenya. These Agents are small shopkeepers who serve as ordering and delivery points, across parts of Kenya. This allows customers to choose how they interact with Copia – online or offline.

Meaning “abundance” in Latin, Copia Global was founded in 2013 by Silicon Valley veterans Tracey Turner and Jonathan Lewis, with support from MasterCard Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Today, LGT Lightstone, Goodwell Investments, Perivoli Innovations, Endeavor Catalyst and ELEA are among Copia’s investors. Copia Global is the first and only mobile commerce platform built to serve middle to low-income African consumers, regardless of their income level, access to smart technology or location. By harnessing mobile technologies, a network of local Agents and proprietary logistics technology, Copia serves a high growth market that formal retail and e-commerce cannot reach.

Operating their own technology-enabled logistics service, the company has overcome challenges such as poor road infrastructure and lack of addresses to fulfil more than 3 million orders, the vast majority within two days. Urban and diaspora-based consumers can also take advantage of Copia’s delivery network by shopping on www.copia.co.ke.

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A visit to Nova Pioneer’s flagship campus at Tatu City, which is educating innovators and leaders who will shape the future. The highly regarded Kenyan curriculum school was co-founded by Kenyan education pioneer Chris Khaemba and three American partners. Nova Pioneer’s Pan-African primary and secondary schools at Tatu City have grown to more than 1,500 students in less than three years. With three campuses in Tatu City, one in Athi River and an upcoming campus in Eldoret, Nova Pioneer is one of the most successful new school networks in Africa providing a progressive approach to how students learn.

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