Slow and steady progressAlthough East African companies remain hugely underrepresented in our Top 250 in comparison with the region's population, they are making steady progress. The value of the East African firms listed in our table has increased from 18.3bn last year to 20.8bn for 2025, largely because of a 1.6bn rise in the value of the Kenyan companies included.
It is unclear what impact the April launch of the East Africa Securities Exchanges Association's new stock exchange index will have on Kenya's dominant position. The new index includes companies from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, including Safaricom, KCB Group and Equity Group Holdings, among a host of Kenyan banks, Tanzania Breweries, Tanga Cement Company, MTN Uganda, Stanbic Uganda and MTN Rwandacell.
The index has been developed by the Kenya Bankers Association, which is also its anchor shareholder, and development agency FSD Africa, which is providing technical support. It is backed by securities exchanges across the region, including those in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
In February, it received regulatory approval from the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority to operate an over-the-counter securities exchange and to function as an autonomous self-regulatory organisation.
Aside from equities, it will also provide a platform for trading repurchase agreements and treasury securities. FSD Africa's director for capital markets, Evans Osano, commented: "This is the most significant capital market infrastructure development in Kenya and the wider East African region in decades. It promises to uplift the regional fixed income markets to world class status and will be instrumental in mobilising at scale long term local currency financing for the East African economies."