Outlook for the investments in Kenya

Fred Murimi, Director of Centum Capital talks about the effects of elections on the investments in Kenya

Next year’s elections might cause some tension in the market. What is your view on that?

Elections always bring uncertainty with them, which is expected. In business, elections are just one of the uncertainties that we have to face. We will look at all the uncertainties we face and then take a position and align accordingly. Particularly in Kenya, we have demonstrated that we are able to go through elections mostly peacefully. We have had incidents such as the one in 2007 but I think we have largely overcome them. Our last elections in 2013 were contested but we followed a very judicial process to determine the outcome and it went peacefully.

For the most part, I believe business has continued to do well in spite of the elections. Uncertainty does bring risks but it also brings opportunities. As markets lower because of uncertainties, there are opportunities to invest that will become more valuable post-election. There will always be pains in democracy and that will come and go, but for businesses, especially in Kenya, we are here for the long run. We don’t make 3 year decisions. We make decisions based on a 10 or 20 year outlook.