The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is planning an initial €200 million (approximately Ksh 30.1 billion) deployment into Kenya, marking one of the bank’s earliest investment commitments in Sub-Saharan Africa. EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso announced the planned investment during an interview with Royal Media Services on the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, held on May 11–12, 2026. The funds will be directed primarily toward the private sector, with a focus on manufacturing, agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises, and infrastructure development. The announcement comes less than a year after Kenya formally became the EBRD’s 77th shareholder in July 2025 and as the bank establishes its first African headquarters in Nairobi. Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi separately held bilateral talks with Renaud-Basso at the summit, discussing cooperation in industrial growth, infrastructure, and sustainable financing.
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Key Overview
- Planned investment: €200 million (approximately Ksh 30.1 billion) initial deployment in Kenya
- Announced by: EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso at the Africa Forward Summit, Nairobi
- Priority sectors: Manufacturing, agriculture, SMEs, and infrastructure
- Key programmes: Dedicated SME credit lines, advisory services, capacity-building, and women’s economic empowerment
- Kenya’s EBRD status: Became the bank’s 77th shareholder in July 2025; African headquarters being established in Nairobi
- EBRD’s Sub-Saharan expansion: Six countries targeted — Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal
- EBRD’s 2025 record: €16.8 billion invested globally, including first-ever sub-Saharan project in Benin
- GDP forecast for Kenya: 4.9 percent growth projected for 2026 by the EBRD
A Historic First for Kenya
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is preparing to make its first significant financial commitment in Kenya with a planned initial deployment of €200 million, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso revealed during an interview at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi. The investment represents a milestone moment for both Kenya and the EBRD, which has traditionally focused its operations on Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and North Africa since its founding in 1991.
“We are going to start with 200 million euros in the beginning,” Renaud-Basso said, outlining the bank’s plans for an economy it sees as a strategic gateway to East Africa’s wider commercial landscape.
The announcement builds on a rapid sequence of institutional developments over the past two years. Kenya submitted its request to become an EBRD shareholder in July 2023, and the Board of Governors approved its membership in May 2024. The country formally became the EBRD’s 77th shareholder in July 2025, alongside Senegal, following the entry into force of a critical amendment to the bank’s founding treaty that enabled operations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Renaud-Basso described the moment as pivotal, saying at the time of Kenya’s accession: “This is a pivotal step towards beginning our investments in sub-Saharan Africa and we are committed to starting work in the region this year.”
Kenya’s significance to the EBRD’s expansion plans was further underscored when President William Ruto announced in mid-2025 that the bank would establish its first African headquarters in Nairobi, following talks with Renaud-Basso on the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain. Ruto welcomed the decision, saying it would enhance support for micro, small, and medium enterprises and promote public-private partnerships as key drivers of economic growth.
Where the Money Will Go
Renaud-Basso outlined a clear investment strategy for Kenya that reflects the EBRD’s private-sector-first approach. The bank will focus mainly on the private sector, targeting investments in manufacturing, agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises, and infrastructure.
SMEs are expected to be among the biggest beneficiaries of the planned deployment. The EBRD president said the bank would roll out dedicated credit lines for small businesses alongside advisory services and capacity-building programmes designed to help firms improve their export capabilities and overall management. “We are going to have credit lines for SMEs… we are going to provide advisories and capacity building on how to manage and improve exports and manage their businesses,” she said.
This approach aligns with the bank’s established model elsewhere. The EBRD directly and indirectly finances €1.24 billion to more than 200,000 SMEs globally each year and advises over 2,400 small businesses annually, helping them become more bankable and scale their operations. For Kenya, where SMEs account for a substantial share of employment and GDP but face persistent credit access barriers, the EBRD’s combination of financing and technical support could fill a significant gap.
Renaud-Basso also emphasised that the bank plans to fund local businesses directly and build long-term partnerships. “We are looking forward to having and creating partnerships that last,” she said.
Women’s economic empowerment was highlighted as another priority. Renaud-Basso said the bank would work to improve women’s access to jobs, economic activities, and financing, and to support women-owned businesses — a commitment consistent with the EBRD’s broader strategic emphasis on gender inclusion across its operations.
The Africa Forward Summit: A Platform for New Commitments
The EBRD’s Kenya announcement came against the backdrop of the Africa Forward Summit 2026, a high-level two-day gathering co-hosted by Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron on May 11–12 at the University of Nairobi and the Kenyatta International Convention Centre. The event marked a historic first as the inaugural Africa-France summit held in a non-Francophone African country, reflecting Kenya’s growing continental leadership and deepening partnerships with European institutions.
The summit brought together heads of state and government, international financial institutions, business leaders, investors, and civil society representatives from more than 30 nations. Participants included UN Secretary-General António Guterres, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, African Development Bank President Sidi Ould Tah, and EBRD President Renaud-Basso among other high-profile figures.
At the summit, the EBRD also signed onto the Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative, a framework championed by President Ruto that aims to accelerate Africa’s transition toward competitive and sustainable green industrial development through coordinated investment and policy alignment. Renaud-Basso signed the framework in the presence of heads of state and government, signalling the EBRD’s readiness to support implementation through blended finance, technical assistance, and sustained policy engagement.
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Mudavadi-Renaud-Basso Bilateral Talks
Separately from the summit’s plenary sessions, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi held bilateral talks with Renaud-Basso on the sidelines of the forum. The discussions focused on deepening cooperation in industrial growth, infrastructure development, investment, and sustainable financing.
Mudavadi said the talks explored new areas of collaboration aimed at strengthening economic resilience, creating opportunities for Kenyans, and advancing international partnerships. The engagement reflects a broader pattern of Kenya’s diplomatic outreach under the Ruto administration, which has actively pursued new bilateral and multilateral partnerships to attract investment and strengthen the country’s role as an economic hub in the region.
The bilateral discussion came just days after the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, and ahead of scheduled EBRD annual meetings, underscoring the intensity of Kenya’s engagement with international financial institutions in the current period.
The EBRD’s Sub-Saharan Expansion: A Broader Picture
Kenya’s planned €200 million deployment is one piece of a much larger strategic shift by the EBRD into Sub-Saharan Africa. The bank’s expansion into the region was formally authorised at its 2023 Annual Meeting in Samarkand, when the Board of Governors approved an amendment to the bank’s founding treaty enabling operations south of the Sahara and in Iraq.
The required threshold of shareholder acceptance was reached in April 2025, and the amended charter entered into force in July of that year. Since then, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria have formally become recipient countries, while Kenya and Senegal became shareholders and recipient members in the second half of 2025. Ghana is expected to complete its membership process in 2026.
The bank appointed a dedicated managing director for the Sub-Saharan region in September 2024 and has been opening local offices across all five initial countries of operation. The EU has contributed €15 million in technical assistance funding under its Global Gateway strategy to help the EBRD prepare projects in the region across agribusiness, energy, infrastructure, small business, critical raw materials, and digital technology sectors.
The EBRD’s first-ever investment in Sub-Saharan Africa came in late 2025 with a €30 million sovereign loan to Benin’s national power distribution company, Société Béninoise d’Énergie Électrique, to support rural electrification. That transaction, though modest by the bank’s standards, was symbolically significant as the first project signed under the expanded mandate.
Record Investment Year Fuels African Ambitions
The Sub-Saharan expansion comes at a time of record activity for the EBRD. The bank invested €16.8 billion across its regions in 2025, financing 640 projects, with 75 percent directed to the private sector. This surpassed the previous record of €16.6 billion set in 2024 and was driven in part by continued large-scale support for Ukraine, alongside new investments in emerging markets.
Renaud-Basso described 2025 as “a year of continuing challenges, but also many striking achievements,” highlighting the bank’s first projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq as historic milestones. The EBRD’s shareholders also approved a €4 billion capital increase in December 2023 — the third in the bank’s history — bringing its capital base to €34 billion. The additional resources are intended to support operations across all regions, including the new Sub-Saharan expansion, while maintaining exceptional support for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The bank’s newly approved 2026–2030 Strategic and Capital Framework sets out three core strategic themes for the coming years: green transition, stronger economic governance, and human capital development and equality of opportunity. All three align closely with the investment priorities Renaud-Basso outlined for Kenya.
Kenya’s Economic Outlook
The EBRD’s interest in Kenya is underpinned by a broadly positive economic outlook for the country. The bank’s own Regional Economic Prospects report forecasts Kenya’s GDP growth at 4.9 percent in 2026, up from an estimated 4.7 percent in 2025, supported by growth in services, agricultural exports, and expanding financial inclusion.
Kenya has been highlighted by the EBRD as a success story for electricity access, which has doubled over the past decade, and for financial innovation, with the M-PESA mobile money system cited as an example of the kind of technological leapfrogging the bank hopes to support. The country’s fintech ecosystem, growing manufacturing base, and strategic position as an East African logistics and services hub make it a natural entry point for an institution focused on private sector-led transformation.
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has also been actively engaged with the EBRD since mid-2025. At a strategic partnership breakfast meeting in June 2025, co-hosted by the Kenya Investment Authority and the National Treasury, KEPSA CEO Carole Kariuki articulated the private sector’s priorities, emphasising the need for accessible financing, digital skilling, the circular economy, and support for SMEs, youth, and women.
What Comes Next
While the €200 million initial deployment represents a meaningful start, it is just the opening act in what the EBRD envisions as a long-term relationship with Kenya and the wider Sub-Saharan region. The bank has signalled that investment activities in all six target countries will ramp up progressively under the 2026–2030 framework, with operations expected to grow as local offices become fully established and project pipelines mature.
For Kenya specifically, the combination of EBRD credit lines, advisory services, and direct business funding could offer a distinctive complement to existing development finance from institutions such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the International Finance Corporation. The EBRD’s private-sector focus, its emphasis on policy reform alongside investment, and its track record of SME support in transition economies give it a differentiated value proposition.
Whether the planned €200 million translates into the sustained economic impact Kenya hopes for will depend on the speed of project origination, the regulatory environment, and the strength of public-private partnerships on the ground. But the bank’s presence in Nairobi, its signed commitment to green industrialisation, and its president’s direct engagement with senior Kenyan officials all point to a relationship that is moving well beyond symbolism.
Sources: Citizen Digital / EBRD / International Banker / Ecofin Agency / Capmad / Maudhui House / KEPSA / Tech Review Africa / The Africa Report / Serrari Group / Capital FM Kenya / Africa Forward Summit / Climate Chance / allAfrica
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