Economic Development and Investment Council for Greater Mombasa

The Economic Development and Investment Council for Greater Mombasa (EDIC, also styled EDIC Pwani) is a multi-stakeholder council for Greater Mombasa, covering Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties. It describes itself as a public-private economic-development model, piloted on Kenya’s coast, that works with local government, business, universities, financiers and development partners to move projects and SME opportunities “from early concept through preparation, coordination and capital mobilisation”.¹ It was co-created with the Swahilipot Hub Foundation and incubated by GDI Africa, its council is chaired by Dr Kevit Desai and its executive director is John Kashangaki, and it says it is not a lender but structures projects and mobilises blended finance.²

How it works

EDIC’s September 2026 brief sets out a four-step model. It finds and focuses, screening opportunities against sponsor strength, job potential and commercial readiness; prepares and structures, developing evidence, feasibility scopes, financial logic and investor materials; coordinates and unblocks, convening government, business and technical partners around transaction and policy bottlenecks; and mobilises and learns, connecting capital, tracking verified progress and leaving reusable tools with local partners.

Its case is that across African cities and regions “viable investment themes often outpace the local capacity needed to prepare them”, and that sustained local capacity is needed to prepare credible projects, align public and private actors, resolve policy barriers and manage the long path from feasibility to investment. It presents itself as that “connective tissue” across trade and value addition, tourism and business events, industrial infrastructure, sustainable energy, logistics and the blue economy.

The brief describes four kinds of funding it seeks: core platform support for local investment and policy capacity, pipeline management, partner coordination and outcomes tracking; catalytic project preparation for demand validation, feasibility, transaction structuring, investor materials and market sounding; proof and scale capital for testing SME and trade platforms and early risk-sharing structures; and co-finance and earned income from public and private mandates, partner contributions and advisory fees.

The Coast pilot

EDIC reports that during 2025 and 2026 its advisers developed or advanced nine project concepts and supported the screening of a pipeline of 72 opportunities across Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale. It names two priorities as having advanced into pre-feasibility or feasibility, the Mombasa Convention Centre and an industrial solar mini-grid (see Greater Mombasa Greenfield Energy Investment). It also reports policy work on air access that has convened county, national and industry actors, and skills mapping with the Technical University of Mombasa to connect employer demand to training priorities.

EDIC says it links investment to jobs in three tiers, direct operational roles in bankable projects, indirect work in local supply chains, and catalytic employment from SME market access, skills and follow-on investment, and that the pilot records project-stage evidence for each tier “rather than treating early interest as a result”. It intends the model to be adapted to other African geographies, each starting from its own local diagnosis and priorities rather than a transplanted project list.

Projects

• Dongo Kundu SEZ Off-Site Infrastructure
• Greater Mombasa Greenfield Energy Investment
• Greater Mombasa Private Specialty Hospital
• Mombasa Convention Centre
• Mombasa Electric Ferry and Water Transport System
• Mombasa Multi-Commodity Common-User Facility
• Mombasa Private Desalination Plant
• Tea Value Addition SME Export Enablement Platform

Sources

• Project Brief: Economic Development Investment Council, EDIC, September 2026.
• Our Priorities, Economic Development and Investment Council for Greater Mombasa.