Private company

Centum Investment Company Limited

East African investment company

Centum Investment Company Plc, commonly known as Centum is a public East African investment company. It operates as an affiliate of the Kenyan government-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1967Founded1

Centum Investment Company Plc, commonly known as Centum is a public East African investment company. It operates as an affiliate of the Kenyan government-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).2

The story

ICDC was founded in 1954 as a government parastatal, whose primary objective was to provide a vehicle for Kenyans to invest in the economy of newly independent Kenya by investing in Kenyan companies. In 1967, ICDC formed the subsidiary ICDC Investment Company Limited, whose shares were listed on the NSE.

In 1998, with the Government of Kenya having sold some of its majority shareholding, ICDC Investment Company adopted a new management structure, handing over day-to-day management to an independent professional managerial team, supervised by an independent board of directors elected by the shareholders.

In 2008, the shareholders changed the name of the company to Centum Investment Company Limited. The shares of Centum Investment Company Limited have been publicly traded on the NSE since 1967 and on the USE since 10 February 2011. Over time, Centum's strategy has evolved in line with the company's growth with Centum currently in its 2014 – 2019 strategic period dubbed "Centum 3.0". Under Centum 3.0, the company maintains focus through 4 distinct business lines namely Real Estate, Private Equity, Development and Marketable Securities.

From Wikipedia’s article on Centum Investment Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Growth portfolio

This division is involved in real estate development in Kenya and Uganda, with an eye to expanding into other countries in the African Great Lakes region. These include:

Centum Real Estate – 100 percent shareholding – A real estate management, ownership, and development company. Centum RE has approximately 2,113 units in its project's portfolio spread out across Vipingo (Kilifi, Kenya), Nairobi (Kenya) and Pearl Marina (Uganda) and 89% of these had been sold as of 31 March 2024. During the year ended 31 March 2024, the company recognized revenue from 290 units (FY 2023: 222 units) and booked revenue of Ksh 3.7 Bn (FY 2023: Ksh 1.9 Bn).

Centum Real Estate's portfolio comprises Two Rivers Duplexes, The Loft, Riverbank, Cascadia Apartments, 26 Mzizi Court Apartments and 265 Elmer One Apartments. The company was recently recognized as a super brand and has won global accolades recognizing it as the top fastest growing company to watch in 2024.

Vipingo Development – 100 percent shareholding – 10,254-acre development off the Kenyan coast.

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Vipingo Development offers a diverse range of investment opportunities. These include residential homes, fully serviced residential and industrial plots, as well as enticing prospects in commercial, hospitality and institutional sectors. The development features key urban infrastructure, including a 3 million litre capacity per day sea water desalination plant and an on-site power substation. Vipingo Development's portfolio comprises Awali Estate Phases 1 and 2, 1255 Palm Ridge Phases 1 and 2 and Kingswood Park Vipingo homes.

On 5 December 2024, Vipingo land was granted a permit to operate as a Special Economic Zone

Pearl Marina – 100 percent shareholding – 389-acre development located in Ntabo Peninsula, popularly known as Garuga, by the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda. The estate offers residential, recreational, social and retail facilities.

Pearl Marina's portfolio comprises Bellavista Apartments, Mirabella Residences, Springfield Apartments, La Perla Bungalows, Riviera Residence and Kingswood Park.

Private equity portfolio

Centum Capital Partners (CCAP)

Centum Capital Partners (CCAP) is a wholly owned, independently managed subsidiary of Centum and a private equity fund manager and currently manages Centum's private equity assets with an additional mandate to manage any new private equity funds and third-party capital alongside Centum's own capital.

This division acquires equity positions in either publicly or non-publicly traded companies, mainly in the African Great Lakes region, but increasingly in other parts of the continent as well. Investments under this segment include the publishing, financial services and utilities businesses. Per its March 2024 annual report, these included:

Longhorn Publishers – 62 percent shareholding – A publishing company listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania Rwanda, Cameroon and DRC and distribution in Malawi and Zambia.

Products and services by Longhorn Publishers include, Longhorn Publishers, and Longhorn Language Services.

Greenblade Growers - 100 percent shareholding - This business is involved in the production and export to Europe and the US of premium herbs such as fine beans chives, basil, mint, taragon, rosemary, chervil and thyme.

Tribus Security Group - 80 percent shareholding - An internationally accredited company and is the security arm of the Centum Investment Group. Tribus operates businesses along 4 main verticals: Facility Management, Cybersecurity and Technical, Training and Manufacturing.

Tier Data - 100 percent shareholding - An IT firm that provides outsourced IT services, ICT infrastructure and software solutions for medium-sized businesses.

Others

Isuzu East Africa - A motor vehicle retailer in Kenya and the local subsidiary of American-based General Motors.

NAS Servair – An on-site airport catering facility supplying over 30 International airlines that fly into and out of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in Mombasa.

Sidian Bank – 12.64 percent shareholding – A commercial bank in Kenya, licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator.

Marketable securities portfolio

The Marketable Securities Portfolio comprises investments in securities and fixed income instruments managed by Nabo Capital. Nabo Capital Limited (Nabo) is entrusted by Centum Investment Company PLC (Centum) with a dual mandate of

capital preservation and delivering asymmetric risk adjusted returns on its Marketable Securities Portfolio (MSP) while maintaining operational liquidity. According to the FY24 Performance Review, The portfolio generated solid mean returns of 13.0 percent despite significant macroeconomic challenges. The portfolio outperformed the local Kenyan index (NSE), the Pan-African index (MSCI) and the Bloomberg Africa Bond Index by 5.0 percent, 19.9 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively Nabo Capital was named Best Asset Manager Africa 2025 by the Global Business & Finance Magazine

Development portfolio

This represents investments that are still under development. As of March 2024 the development portfolio consists of

Two Rivers International Finance and Innovation Centre (TRIFIC) - 80.5 percent shareholding - The only services-focused Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Kenya, offering new and exciting prospects for global, regional and Kenyan service-oriented business enterprises seeking a competitive and advantageous base to access international markets. TRIFIC spans over 64 acres within Nairobi's prestigious diplomatic blue zone a further robust development capacity of 1.2 million square meters. TRIFIC is a member of the prestigious World Alliance of International Financial Centers

Akiira Geothermal Limited – 70 percent shareholding – The first private sector greenfield geothermal development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Akiira is Centum Investment's investment vehicle in the energy sector that is looking to set up an initial 140MW geothermal powerplant, within the Greater Olkaria Geothermal Area. Akiira has access to a concession area covering up to 480 sqkm and has completed the exploration stage of project development.

Jafari Credit - 100 percent shareholding - A non-deposit taking microfinance company that offers long term credit to civil servants employed by both the National and County Governments. Currently, the company has 24 branches and since inception in Q3’2021 to end of FY24, the company had disbursed Ksh 466 million in loans.

From Wikipedia’s article on Centum Investment Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1967Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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