Kenyan president orders shutdown of foreign-owned small business

Kenya President William Ruto has ordered the shutdown of small retail shops owned by foreigners in the east African country.

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Mr Ruto, on Wednesday, directed the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry to begin enforcement action against foreigners engaged in local trading and hawking next Monday.

The president said the directive was based on the need to protect local Kenyan traders and ensure that businesses reserved for citizens are not affected by unfair competition.

There’s a bill before the Kenyan parliament that targets foreign participation in certain small-scale businesses. The Local Content Bill introduced in 2025 seeks to increase Kenyans’ participation in economic activities and provide greater opportunities for local businesses and citizens.

The bill also proposed sourcing at least 60 per cent of goods, services, and supplies locally where they meet the required standards.

But the president said the government would not wait for the parliament to pass proposed legislation before taking administrative measures to address the issue.

‎”All those traders and hawkers doing these small businesses should close down,” Mr Ruto said, adding, “From next week, all traders doing those small businesses should close them.”

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Mr Ruto said the country’s goal is to attract large-scale foreign investments and protect small business owners, especially those at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

“We have made efforts to improve the economy; we have not improved investor confidence for hawkers to come to Kenya.

‎“We have not built investor confidence so that hawkers can come to Kenya,” Mr Ruto said, according to local media.

‎“The investor confidence we have built is for investors to come to Kenya, not hawkers and traders. People should not confuse us,” he added.

Kenya now joins the growing list of African countries restricting foreign nationals from operating small-scale businesses reserved for citizens. These include Tanzania, Botswana, and Ghana.

The restrictions target low-capital businesses such as petty retail, mobile money services, salons, and small-sector manufacturing.

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Tanzania barred non-citizens from 15 business activities in July 2025.

The restrictions covered most wholesale and retail trade, mobile money services, electronics repair, salons, small-scale mining, tour guiding, real-estate brokerage, clearing and forwarding, crop purchasing, and some micro and small industries.

Ghana also reserved informal retail for citizens in August.

Botswana has also put in place measures to protect selected businesses through its citizen-reserved licensing system.