A decade ago Jua Power, a family-owned solar-energy firm,
had little reason to leave China in search of customers.
With the country in the midst of a green-energy boom,
"we had plenty of orders domestically," recalls Xu Bo, its chief executive.
But as China's economy has slowed
and profits in its solar industry have fallen, Mr Xu's calculus has shifted.
In March 2025 he decided to build a factory in Tatu City,
a special economic zone (SEZ) in Kenya.
It is the firm's first direct overseas investment in its nearly six-decade history.
Jua Power joins a growing wave of Chinese manufacturers
who have recently landed in Kenya and other parts of Africa.
In 2025 Chinese foreign direct investment in manufacturing in Africa surged to $12.3bn,
spread across 64 new projects—the highest number in a single year in at least a decade,
according to fDi Markets, a data provider.
(Total capital expenditure announced in 2023 was $24.6bn, but spread across 35 projects.)
Between 2023 and 2025 China invested more than America and Europe put together.
Never before has Africa been so attractive to Chinese manufacturers,
says John Mwendwa, the head of Kenya's investment authority.
Not all planned projects will come to fruition.
But at a time when Chinese lending to Africa is shrinking,