Tatu City hires more as business growth surges

Tatu City is a 5,000-acre investment featuring homes, schools, offices, a shopping district, medical clinics, nature areas, and a sports & entertainment complex. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Tatu City has strengthened its workforce with over 100 key appointments in 2023 as businesses and home ownres join its growing ecosystem.

The 5,000-acre mixed-use Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on Nairobi's doorstep, is now home to over 78 businesses providing employment opportunities to 15,000 workers, with thousands more jobs to follow in 2024.

Over 4,500 pupils and students attend Tatu City's schools which include Crawford International School and Nova Pioneer Primary and Secondary.

"Tatu City has reached an important inflection point. Our SEZ status, combined with first-class infrastructure, and our safe, secure and predictable environment, is attracting investors from all over the world, creating additional demand for our residential offerings, schools and retail amenities," said Preston Mendenhall, the country head at Rendeavour, the owner and developer of Tatu City.

"To support this rapid growth, we are hiring both locally and internationally with over 100 new roles in key areas such as urban planning & design, construction, sales and marketing and security."

Tatu City's rapidly expanding client base includes CCI International, a global leader in contact centre services, which recently moved the first 800 workers into its new 5,000-seat call centre at the Eneo building in Tatu Central.

Also at the Tatu City, medical devices manufacturer Zhende is setting up the largest medical production facility in East Africa employing 7,000 Kenyans.

Kenya Wine Agencies Ltd, a subsidiary of Dutch brewer Heineken, has built an ultra-modern drinks manufacturing facility at the city.

"As a leading player in business process outsourcing services, we have high standards and specific requirements for where we establish our operations," said CCI Kenya Managing Director Rishi Jatania. "Tatu City provides an attractive and low-risk environment underpinned with first-class infrastructure which is good for both our business and our people. It was a logical choice for the next phase of our Africa expansion."

Its infrastructure build-out includes over 50km of tarmac roads, a high-redundancy power network, three water sources, an on-site water treatment plant, and over 15 km of fibre optic cables.

In addition, to service the growing residential communities at Kijani Ridge and Unity Homes with over 3,000 residents today, Tatu City has invested in recreational spaces and parks, requiring additional staff for landscaping and security sourced from neighbouring communities.

Tatu City has also invested in the Tatu City Training Academy in line with its commitment to fostering sustainable economic growth and positively impacting the local community.

The academy provides free training to local youth, empowering them with industry-relevant skills and bridging the gap between education and employment.

Since its inception, the academy has trained over 500 young people, with more than 80 per cent securing employment within Tatu City.