Kenya’s businesses are ready to go digital. The law and agencies need to catch up.
On Tuesday, 6 October, ICC Kenya, the EBRD and the ICC Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) convened government, banks, logistics players and legal experts in Nairobi for Advancing Digital Trade and Trade Finance in Kenya.
Hon. Lee Kinyanjui, EGH, Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry, was chief guest. Hon. Ndiritu Muriithi, Chairman of the Board, Kenya Revenue Authority, ICC Kenya Chairman Julius Opio and Anna Brod-Ohana of the EBRD Trade Facilitation Programme gave welcome remarks.
Where Kenya stands
Kenya’s paperless trade systems are strong. It scores 90/100 on paperless trade in the UN Trade Digitalization Index, and 67% on cross-border paperless trade, against a Commonwealth average of 45%. The gap is legal trust in electronic documents. Kenya has no recorded stage on the ICC DSI–UNESCAP tracker for the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR), while 65% of global exports now come from economies aligned or committed to it, up from 34% in 2023.
The stakes are real. ESCAP’s lower-bound estimates say full trade digitalisation could lift Kenya’s exports by 39.4%, about US$1.26 billion. Africa’s unmet trade finance demand was US$74–92 billion in 2024, and banks rejected 37% of SME trade finance applications between 2019 and 2024.
What businesses told us
ICC Kenya’s survey of 48 organisations across the trade chain found:
- 96% say legal recognition of electronic trade documents would help “a great deal”
- 94% had a shipment or financing held up by a paper original in the past year
- 65% still usually or always need a paper original to prove ownership, release cargo or pledge goods. Commercial invoices (81%), certificates of origin (73%) and bills of lading (69%) lead the list
- 85% want government to speed up digitalisation of its own agencies, the top ask, ahead of training (81%) and tax incentives (71%)
Even digitally advanced firms hit the wall: 6 of the 11 that rate themselves “high” on digital maturity still usually or always need paper originals. Small firms are hit hardest, with all five surveyed citing cost as a barrier.
What the panels discussed
- Digital transformation of trade: how Kenya fits into global digital trade standards and the AfCFTA opportunity.
- Trade finance: how banks can digitalise trade finance and manage the risk that comes with it.
- Logistics and supply chains: progress so far and the challenges ahead for carriers, the single window and exporters.
- Legal and regulatory foundations: Kenya’s reform priorities, lessons from other countries and MLETR adoption. The panel’s message was that legal frameworks, digital infrastructure and financial systems have to move together, and that reform only counts once it shows up in real transactions.
- Closing discussion: the policy and government action needed to support digitalisation, and how to enable innovation and an inclusive economy.
Four themes
- Law first. Electronic documents need the same legal standing as paper, aligned with MLETR and the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol.
- Interoperable systems. Common standards within Kenya and across borders.
- Trust in data. Consent-based data sharing, so banks can finance SMEs with better information.
- Real-world reform. Pilots, shared responsibility and measurable results for Kenyan businesses.
What businesses are asking for
The survey report set out six asks: give e-documents legal force (by amending section 83B of the Kenya Information and Communications Act or passing an MLETR-aligned law), finish the government side with end-to-end e-acceptance across KRA, KEPHIS, KEBS, KPA and KenTrade, and get the Central Bank and the Insurance Regulatory Authority to issue guidance on e-bills of lading and e-letters of credit. The other three are an enhanced tax deduction for digitisation spending, skills support for small firms and agricultural exporters, and a paperless pilot on a fresh-produce export corridor.
Next steps
The next step is turning what was agreed into action. ICC Kenya will keep working with the EBRD, ICC DSI and our members to push for it.
Thank you to the EBRD and its Trade Facilitation Programme, ICC DSI, our speakers and panellists, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) and everyone who joined the conversation.
