Building Export Champions: Cohort of Kenyan Entrepreneurs Graduate from Intensive Trade Academy
Nairobi, Kenya – A new wave of export-ready businesses is poised to enter international markets following the graduation of the inaugural class from the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA) Export Academy. The ceremony, held in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), celebrated over 50 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) owners who successfully completed a rigorous capacity-building program. The initiative marks a strategic push by the agency to cultivate homegrown export champions who can diversify Kenya’s trade portfolio and strengthen the national brand abroad.
The intensive academy provided participants with hands-on training in critical areas for global market success, including international market research, export procedures and documentation, product standardization, e-commerce strategies, and navigating complex global value chains. Focusing on sectors with high export potential such as processed foods, textiles, handicrafts, and horticulture, the program paired theoretical knowledge with practical mentorship. This wasn’t just about classroom learning, noted one graduate, a processor of nutritional baobab products from Kilifi. We learned how to cost for export, tailor our packaging to European buyers, and use digital tools to find and verify overseas clients.
KEPROBA’s CEO, Dr. Wilfred Marube, commended the graduates, stating, These entrepreneurs are the vanguard of Kenya’s export future. By equipping them with the right skills and knowledge, we are moving beyond merely exporting commodities to exporting unique value and telling the Kenyan story through quality products. The partners emphasized that the academy’s model addresses a key bottleneck for MSMEs: the lack of technical know-how, which often prevents talented producers from scaling beyond local borders.
The future outlook for the graduates involves sustained post-academy support, including facilitated linkages to international buyers through virtual and physical trade fairs, and continued access to expert advice. KEPROBA and its partners have announced plans to scale the program, with a second, larger cohort already in the pipeline. The success of this initiative is seen as a critical step in boosting Kenya’s export-led economic growth, reducing the trade deficit, and creating sustainable jobs by transforming local entrepreneurs into competitive global players.