Mombasa Trade and Logistics Hub

The Coastal region, comprising of about 4 million people, faces significant development challenges leading to widespread unemployment and poverty of 38% and 59% respectively. These are the 2nd highest unemployment and poverty rates in the country after North Eastern region which is mostly semi-arid occurs in a region with abundant land and sea resources that have not been fully exploited due to various challenges thereby resulting in tension, unemployment and civil strife due to economic underdevelopment and increasing sense of marginalization. These challenges have been compounded by collapse of key economic drivers like agriculture and fisheries, low factor productivity and overreliance on primary agricultural production for subsistence and domestic markets. The Trade and Logistics Cluster approach seeks to establish a vision for the Coastal region based on higher value productive activities and providing a pathway to help the region achieve the necessary structural transformation from low value subsistence agricultural production to higher productivity through manufacturing for export, value addition activities and development of backward and forward value chains. Initial scoping study done by TMEA using World Bank Geospatial planning model, identified agribusiness, Textiles and apparel, and fisheries as the three key sectors with huge growth potential to generate employment, earn foreign exchange through exports, create high value markets for local farmers and new opportunities for local small and Medium Enterprises.