AHK Eastern Africa

With rapidly growing urbanized populations and often dry climatic conditions with corresponding water scarcity, the demands for professional water use are increasing throughout East Africa, both for domestic use and agriculture. Across countries, traditional, low-tech or manual forms of water use are reaching their limits. In the fast-growing metropolitan areas of Dar es Salaam and Nairobi with over several million inhabitants, solutions and technologies are being implemented that are spreading to equally growing regional metropolises and neighbouring countries.

A strengthening private sector, increasing consumption needs of a growing middle and upper class as well as a young public water supply sector characterized by strong progress make the Kenyan and Tanzanian market interesting for German suppliers of technologies, solutions and products. More and more public and private sectors are finding users for advanced and long-term cost-efficient solutions and technologies. The manufacturing of products required for this purpose has so far been limited domestically to standard components such as pipeline segments or water tanks. Solutions for water treatment, use and disposal are therefore mainly demanded from abroad. German product and solution providers in the field of water technology can open up a relevant market here. In addition to the need for physical infrastructure and technical solutions, the training of specialists in the water and wastewater sector, as well as the general development of systematized know-how, is also seen as a major challenge. This results in a concrete opportunity to work the target market of Kenya and Tanzania in depth through training measures in this sector with expertise and technical solutions made in Germany.

The approach of the AHK for East Africa was a training course in which Kenyan and Tanzanian professionals from the water and wastewater sector, with a focus on public water utilities, learn in three modules the workflow and technical procedures of German water and wastewater companies. Over a period of one year, local training as well as technical solutions and processes were presented to the East African participants. This enabled Germany to act as a competent and strategic contact partner as well as a know-how carrier and technology provider.