Emirati investment in Kenya has moved well beyond real estate and retail, now reaching deep into industrial parks, ports, digital payments, and even the country’s biggest betting platform. The Kenya-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement has accelerated much of this activity.
Some of these deals have made headlines for good reason, including one that just shifted control of Kenya’s largest sports betting brand to an untraceable UAE firm. Here is a full breakdown of the major players and what they are actually doing in Kenya.
Arise IIP: Industrial Parks Across Four Sites
Company profile: Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms, headquartered at the Dubai International Financial Centre, was founded in 2010 as a pan-African developer of integrated industrial zones. The company is backed by institutional investors including the Fund for Export Development in Africa, the Africa Finance Corporation, and Vision Invest, and has raised over $1 billion in total funding.
What it does in Kenya: Arise IIP is investing $3 billion over five years to build Special Economic Zones and industrial parks across four Kenyan locations: Kilifi, Mombasa, Naivasha, and Eldoret. The company will fund 30 to 40 percent of the total investment through equity, with the remainder coming through debt financing from development finance institutions.
Major projects: Key developments include the Coast Integrated Industrial Park within the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone near Mombasa, the Great Rift Industrial Park within the Naivasha SEZ, and a 21-year lease of Rivatex East Africa, Kenya’s most prominent textile producer, aimed at rebuilding the country’s cotton, textile, and apparel value chain. The projects are developed in partnership with the Government of Kenya and Afreximbank.
Financing and support: Arise IIP has set up an $800 million joint financing facility with KCB Bank Kenya and Afreximbank to support investors setting up operations within these zones once operational.
Techglow Ltd and the SportPesa Ownership Shift
Company profile: Techglow Ltd is registered in Ras Al Khaimah, an emirate roughly 100 kilometers north of Dubai. The company currently has no public website or social media presence, making it a fairly opaque entity even by holding company standards.
What it does in Kenya: Techglow now owns 54 percent of Milestone Games Ltd, the licensed operator of SportPesa, one of Africa’s largest sports betting platforms, according to filings with Kenya’s Business Registration Service. This shareholding shift, reported in late July 2026, left Kenyan founders Ronald Karauri and Robert Macharia, who once controlled about 84 percent of Milestone between them, holding under 4 percent combined.
Related entity: Commtech Consortium Ltd, another UAE-registered entity, holds a 25 percent stake in Milestone Games, alongside previous involvement in major Kenyan digital health procurement contracts.
Network International: Digital Payments Expansion
Company profile: Network International is a UAE-headquartered digital commerce and payments provider, among the region’s larger fintech infrastructure companies.
What it does in Kenya: The company is actively expanding its local team in Nairobi, building out payment processing and digital commerce infrastructure to serve Kenyan merchants and financial institutions.
Gulftainer: Pursuing Port of Mombasa Operations
Company profile: Gulftainer is a leading global port management and logistics company with operations across multiple continents.
What it does in Kenya: Gulftainer is aggressively pursuing a 25-year public-private partnership to modernize and operate the older berths at the Port of Mombasa, a deal that would give the company a long-term role in one of East Africa’s busiest maritime gateways.
Trade and Facilitation Organizations
The Dubai Chamber of Commerce maintains a permanent international representational office in Nairobi, supporting Emirati businesses looking to enter the Kenyan market. In July 2026, the Chamber launched the Kenya Business Council specifically to link Emirati investors directly with local Kenyan firms.
On the Kenyan side, the KNCCI Dubai Office, opened by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, works to safeguard fresh produce exports and mediate trading risks for Kenyan businesses operating in the UAE market.
Why the Techglow Deal Raised Questions
The shift in SportPesa’s ownership structure has drawn attention precisely because of how little is publicly known about Techglow itself. A company with no website or social media presence acquiring majority control of one of Africa’s largest betting platforms represents a notable case of foreign capital entering Kenya’s gaming sector with minimal public transparency.
This stands in contrast to Arise IIP’s much more visible, government-partnered industrial investment, illustrating just how differently UAE capital can flow into Kenya depending on the sector and structure involved.
Read also:Top Russian Companies Operating in Kenya (2026)
—Top Israeli Companies Operating in Kenya (2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Arise IIP investing in Kenya?
Arise IIP is investing $3 billion over five years to build industrial parks and Special Economic Zones across Kilifi, Mombasa, Naivasha, and Eldoret.
Who owns SportPesa’s operating company now?
Techglow Ltd, a UAE-registered firm based in Ras Al Khaimah, holds a 54 percent stake in Milestone Games, SportPesa’s licensed operator, as of July 2026 filings.
Which UAE company is pursuing Port of Mombasa operations?
Gulftainer is pursuing a 25-year public-private partnership to modernize and operate older berths at the Port of Mombasa.
What is the Kenya-UAE CEPA agreement?
It is the Kenya-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a bilateral trade deal that has accelerated UAE investment across multiple Kenyan sectors.
What does the Dubai Chamber’s Kenya Business Council do?
Launched in July 2026, it works to directly connect Emirati investors with local Kenyan businesses and facilitate trade partnerships.
UAE investment in Kenya now spans everything from massive government-backed industrial zones to opaque ownership shifts in the gaming sector, reflecting just how varied this economic relationship has become. Arise IIP’s $3 billion industrial push represents the most transparent and structurally significant piece of this puzzle, while deals like Techglow’s SportPesa acquisition show a less visible side of Emirati capital flowing into Kenya.
With trade facilitation bodies actively working to deepen this relationship on both sides, expect UAE investment in Kenya to keep expanding across infrastructure, logistics, and digital sectors in the coming years.