President William Ruto has called for a new approach to Africa’s economic partnerships, saying foreign investment must create value for both investors and African countries rather than deepen patterns of extraction.
Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce Business Summit in Nairobi on Wednesday, Ruto said African countries were seeking partnerships that combine their natural resources, human capital and markets with foreign capital, technology and expertise.
The two-day summit brings together government officials, investors and business leaders to discuss trade and investment between the United States, Kenya and the wider East African region.
Ruto rejects extractive investment
Ruto said Africa should no longer accept commercial arrangements in which resources leave the continent while most of the resulting value is created elsewhere.
“We do not want relationships that extract from Africa or that are exploitative. We want a relationship built on the solid foundation of investment for mutual benefit,” he said.
The President argued that Africa’s minerals, workforce, entrepreneurial talent and expanding consumer markets should form part of a broader investment equation with international partners.
“We want a nexus between our assets, minerals, human capital, talent, and friends who come with investment, technology and skills,” he said.
The remarks come as Kenya positions itself as a gateway for companies seeking access to the wider African market. The AmCham summit is specifically designed to strengthen two-way trade and investment between the US and East Africa.
From exporting resources to creating value
A major part of Ruto’s argument was that Africa needs to capture more value from its own resources.
He said capital generated from African resources should contribute to development on the continent instead of primarily benefiting economies elsewhere.
The President has also pushed for Kenya to move away from exporting raw minerals without processing them locally.
He has cited minerals including gold, limestone, iron ore, graphite, titanium and soda ash as resources that could support local industries, create employment and increase the value retained within the economy.
The approach reflects a broader push to attract investment into productive sectors rather than simply securing access to African raw materials.
Sovereignty at the centre of partnerships
Ruto also linked economic cooperation to the principle of sovereign equality, arguing that African countries should engage international partners as equals.
“We want to have a new kind of engagement, a relationship that is better than what we have had in the past and it must be built on sovereign equality,” he said.
The position echoes arguments he made during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, where he called for international partnerships based on sovereign equality, mutual respect and shared responsibility rather than dependency and extraction.
What Kenya wants from investors
Ruto’s message was not a rejection of foreign investment but a call for a different type of investment.
Kenya is seeking companies willing to bring capital, technology, expertise and skills while establishing production, creating jobs and expanding exports from the country.
At the AmCham summit, Ruto also presented Kenya as a potential base for companies targeting the continent’s growing market, urging investors to look beyond the country as a destination for sales.
“Do not look at Kenya simply as a market. Look at Kenya as your platform to a continent of 1.4 billion people,” he said, according to The Star.
The President’s pitch comes as Kenya seeks to attract investment across sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, technology, health, energy, infrastructure, critical minerals and the creative economy.
For Ruto, the central question is therefore no longer whether Africa should work with global investors, but what Africa gains from those partnerships.
The proposed model is one where foreign capital and expertise meet African resources, talent and markets — with investment measured not only by money entering the continent, but also by jobs, technology, production, exports and long-term economic value created locally.
