NAIROBI GATE INDUSTRIAL PARK, developed by Improvon through Impact, is a 103-acre Special Economic Zone along the Eastern Bypass. As Kenya’s first customs-controlled SEZ, it offers major fiscal advantages. With phased expansion underway and the new Mara facility set for 2026, we spoke with Managing Director Dean Shillaw (pictured below) on its progress and impact.
Construction Kenya Showcase (CKS): Could you give us an overview of Nairobi Gate Industrial Park — its size, location, features — and what developments are underway?
Dean Shillaw (DS): Sure. Nairobi Gate is a 103-acre industrial park located on Nairobi’s Eastern Bypass, about 15 kilometres from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is fully gazetted as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and we recently operationalised a customs-controlled area within the SEZ. That’s critical, because without a customs-controlled area, tenants or end users cannot realise the fiscal benefits.
We’ve built over 400,000 square feet of space so far, and the overall capacity could reach over 2 million square feet in the current phase. Our plan is to complete phase one by 2035, then expand through phases two, three, and four, so that the development may eventually cover up to 400 acres in total and offer around 8 million square feet of space.
There’s also a new facility, Mara, coming up, which will add more leasable space for tenants. Mara is expected to be operational by March 2026.
CKS: What are the benefits for tenants operating in a SEZ like Nairobi Gate?
DS: There are major fiscal and non-fiscal benefits. Among others, tenants become VAT zero-rated, enjoy preferential withholding tax and dividend tax benefits. The major ones, however, are that you pay no import duty on any products (including IDF or RDL), and your corporate tax is reduced from 30% to 10% for a 10-year period.
CKS: What kind of infrastructure have you put in place to support these operations?
DS: We designed the park with strong infrastructure, both horizontal and vertical. By horizontal I mean everything above ground — roads, power, water, sewer, walkways, and ICT connectivity. We have over 20 megawatts of power capacity, and water capacity exceeding 6,500 cubic metres, with commercial water connections that don’t rely on boreholes. We supply fresh water via a commercial line through the Ruiru-Juja Water and Sewerage Company.
Vertical infrastructure refers to the buildings. We provide A-grade facilities with good yard sizes, loading/offloading areas, and height suitable for racking. We build speculatively, but also offer bespoke units if a tenant has specific requirements.
CKS: How has uptake been so far, and what are your expectations?
DS: Very good. Of the 400,000 square feet built to date, about 83% is already let. We forecast reaching about 95% occupancy by February 2026. Then Mara will come online in March 2026, giving us more leasable stock.
CKS: Let’s talk about the new development — Mara — that you mentioned will be online in 2026. What is it about? How different is it, so to speak?
DS: Yes, it’s a very interesting and probably the most exciting development we’ve built to date. What we’ve done is design a product that’s a combination of various different buildings. We’ve taken the design criteria from the demand perspective of our existing tenants — what type of buildings they prefer, what height, what kind of doors, what level of green compliance, and what type of flooring.
We also considered yard sizes and space requirements, creating a highly flexible modular design where a tenant can take 10,000, 20,000, 80,000, or even 120,000 square feet within the development. One more exciting aspect is that this is the first time we’ve built something within our new customs-controlled area where we’ve also taken advantage of import duty exemptions.
CKS: How does Nairobi Gate compare with other industrial parks in Kenya?
DS: Look, there’s nothing quite like us, I would say — firstly because of the location, within close proximity to JKIA and with access to the Eastern Bypass. The infrastructure we’ve created, which I’ve just described, is simply superior per square foot to any other park. We also have the only operational customs-controlled area in the country.
We offer a plug-and-play or turnkey product where a company can come in today, lease a building tomorrow, and start operating immediately. So we are truly the only one of its kind in Kenya.
CKS: How do you select the project teams?
DS: We have various teams involved from a property management perspective — probably over 25 service providers — all of whom go through a rigorous due diligence process based on financial capability, market experience and international expertise. We want tenants not to worry about roads, access, power, water, gardens, landscaping — anything like that.
From a contracting perspective, our main contractors also go through a strict tender process. We engage over 10 professionals in each tender to ensure compliance and competitiveness for our tenants. We’re not trying to increase construction costs — in fact, our goal is to reduce costs so that rents remain affordable. We therefore maintain a very strict due diligence process for anyone who wants to be involved here.
CKS: What challenges do you face?
DS: We do face challenges, which we address daily and weekly. It’s a difficult environment to do business — not always straightforward — but we consistently manage to deliver our buildings on time and under budget.
