By: John S. Morlu II, CPA
Kenya isn’t just a hotbed of local innovation — it’s a magnet for global companies trying their luck (and budgets) in East Africa’s most dynamic economy.
You name it — tech giants, food chains, retailers, and even oil conglomerates — they’ve all pitched tents in Nairobi hoping to win hearts, wallets, and sometimes visas.
Here are 22 foreign businesses making waves, holding on, or waving goodbye:
1. Safaricom (Vodafone, UK) – It might feel 100% Kenyan, but there’s a British brain behind M-Pesa. The only place where sending grandma 50 bob via phone is both a gift and a revolution.
2. Coca-Cola (USA) – Found in every village kiosk and wedding. Some folks know more Coke jingles than the national anthem.
3. Google (USA) – Offers jobs, maps, answers, and distractions. They say “Google is your friend,” until it autocorrects your name to “Goat.”
4. Microsoft (USA) – Trains young coders while updating Windows at the most inconvenient times.
5. Huawei (China) – If you blink, they’ve already built a mast outside your grandmother’s shamba. Still banned in some places, but not in Kenya.
6. KFC (USA) – Famous for running out of chicken. That one week will forever live in Kenya’s food trauma history.
7. Toyota (Japan) – Kenya’s unofficial national car. Your Uber, your pastor, and your uncle all drive one.
8. Uber (USA) – Offers rides, but the surge prices might require a bank loan during rain.
9. Bolt (Estonia) – Shows up faster than Uber, but you might end up on a motorbike even if you ordered a car.
10. Unilever (UK/Netherlands) – They make everything from soup to shampoo. They’ve probably been in your life since birth.
11. Heineken (Netherlands) – The beer for those who want to look serious while being unserious.
12. Diageo (UK) – Jameson is practically a citizen. It attends parties, weddings, and breakups.
13. Tullow Oil (UK) – Came looking for oil, found drama and headlines.
14. Visa (USA) – Helps you swipe away your regrets. Internationally accepted… locally debated.
15. Mastercard (USA) – Like Visa’s twin sibling, just slightly more mysterious.
16. Samsung (South Korea) – Makes phones that can survive boda rides and Nairobi matatus — until they meet a concrete floor.
17. LG (South Korea) – Competes silently with Samsung like two kids fighting for dad’s approval.
18. Shell (Netherlands) – Every fuel stop comes with a free existential crisis about fuel prices.
19. TotalEnergies (France) – Great fuel. Terrible for your wallet.
20. Carrefour (France) – The supermarket where you go in for bread and leave with a Bluetooth speaker and regrets.
21. Jumia (Germany-backed) – Online shopping champion. Orders might take time, but hey — patience is a virtue.
22. Netflix (USA) – Causing binge-watching epidemics since 2016. Also responsible for many late-night data bundles and unfinished assignments.
🎯 Bonus Entry: TikTok (China) – While not technically headquartered here, it has turned every Kenyan with a phone into a dancer, activist, or chef. Sometimes all at once.
🎤 Fun Fact: In Nairobi, a foreign business without mobile money is like a nyama choma joint without meat — technically open, but you won’t survive long.
📈 Weird But True: Some companies came to “test the market,” only to get absorbed into it. Nairobi doesn’t test — it devours.
Final Word
Foreign companies in Kenya learn fast: this is not a test market — it’s a pressure cooker. You either adapt to the pace, vibe, and mobile money culture, or you pack up with a polite press release.
Some thrive, others survive, and a few vanish in the night like that shop that sold electric scooters.
Next up in Chapter Twenty-Three:
“Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu – Kenya’s Urban Powerhouses.”
About the Author
John is an entrepreneur, strategist, and founder of JS Morlu, LLC, a Virginia based CPA firm with multiple software ventures including www.FinovatePro.com, www.Recksoft.com and www.Fixaars.com . With operations spanning multiple countries, John is on a mission to build global infrastructure that empowers small businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. He believes in hard truths, smart execution, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. When he’s not writing or building, he’s challenging someone to a productivity contest—or inventing software that automates it.