Broken Chain? AGOA and Foreign Direct Investment in the Kenyan clothing industry

Drawing upon survey and interview research covering 23 of an estimated total of 35 clothing manufacturing establishments operating in Kenya as well as interviews with the policy community, this paper examines the local economic development impacts associated with the recent AGOA-prompted re-birth of the clothing industry in Kenya just after its recent high watermark in 2003. It provides evidence of the characteristics of these manufacturing establishments as well as evidence of the multiple and interconnected failures on the part of Government, parent companies, agents, and customers to promote the longer-term sustainability of the industry. As such, it provides further case study evidence of Africa’s uniquely problematic incorporation into global commodity chains.