Sweacc - Swedish East African Chamber of Commerce

19/03/2026

Sustainable business is where we as a Chamber see most success from Sweden in East Africa so this is good news coming out of Kenya:

We are proud to announce a landmark partnership between the Sweden and I&M Bank Ltd, advancing green transition financing in Kenya. Through a Green Finance Risk-Sharing Guarantee, this collaboration unlocks up to USD 30 million in green lending to support climate-aligned projects and accelerate Keny...

13/03/2026

Today we had a courtasy call from Winnie Mukaru from Talangakademin in Stockholm. We been talking about the brilliant minds in Sweden and East Africa today. Talangakademin is a non-profit organization that helps people who are far from the labor market find the right path, and become a valued resource for the local business community, often through internships. Winne Mukaru also represent the Kenyan diaspora in Sweden and work with matchning people to job opportunities, some from East Africa that many times come to Sweden with execellent academic background, or have educated themselves here but not found the perfect opportunity yet.

We have talked about ways to engage the diaspora more and create more cooperation between Sweden and Kenya (and rest of East Africa too). We will try to arrange some SWEACC/Kenyan diaspora meeting later this spring to keep in touch with SWEACC if interested (info@sweacc.se).

Thank you Winnie for a great meeting!

13/03/2026

Time to revisit Ethiopia? SWEACC want to pass on an invitation to attend the fourth edition of Invest in Ethiopia: High-Level Business Forum (HLBF) - the country's flagship investment event, taking place on March 26 – 27, 2026, at the Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa. This year's forum is jointly organized by the Ethiopian Investment Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Development Partners Group. Picture is from Ethiopia - Sweden Business Forum and activities in November 2025 that SWEACC was arranging.

The Invest in Ethiopia - HLBF presents a unique opportunity to engage with one of Africa's fastestevolving economies under the theme "Ethiopia: Ready for Business". Bringing together over 700 participants, including senior government officials, policymakers, development partners, investors, and global investment professionals, the forum will feature high-level panel discussions, strategic dialogue on priority and emerging sectors, highlight key policy reforms, networking sessions and foster high-impact B2B, B2G, and G2G partnerships designed to translate dialogue into concrete investment outcomes.

For registration, please visit: forum.investethiopia.gov.et

10/03/2026

Today I (Joachim Davidsson) attended Business Sweden breakfast meeting focusing on Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with SWEACC colleague Rita Nyomera at Business Sweden headquarters in Stockholm. This was hosted by the Swedish Embassy in DRC and Business Sweden. Moderator for the day Said Abdu, Senior Project Manager working out of South Africa and managing DRC for Business Sweden. Keynote Speakers was Sweden's Ambassador to the DRC, H.E. Ambassador Joakim Vaverka, and the Ambassador of the DRC to Sweden, H.E. Léopold Bompese Lofemba. We also had interesting presentations from the World Bank who show us an overview of upcoming investment programmes and opportunities in multilateral procurement and a brief introduction to an engagement program in DRC from the International Council for Swedish Industry (NIR).

DRC is a large country inside the East African Community (EAC) as the population already are above 110 million people and today 4 million new babies are born every year. That growth rate will for sure lead to 200 million people within 20-25 years. The capital Kinshasa is already one out of 4 Mega Cities in Africa, the others are Cairo, Lagos and Luanda. In 20 years, you will see another 15-20 Mega Cities (city with more than 10 million people) in Africa and they need companies helping them to plan, build and manage in a sustainable way. SIDA support last year was some 760 million SEK and our exports were just short of 600 million. No real import beside small volume of coffee.

Summary of what I learned today is that a lot of focus is on mining and the economic growth inside DRC are strong and fast. Mining companies and all of them supplying mining industry with products and services should pay attention but there are also many opportunities in Energy, Transport (Sustainable Transport), Healthcare and Forestry. I would also say agri business. Only 10% of arable land today in DRC is used for active farming but when you expand and develop this, of course I hope it is done in a sustainable way. World Bank said they have 22 pending projects in 11 districts that in total carry a value of 7.7 billion USD. This mean there are a lot of "bankable projects".

As we recently worked with a tourism delegation from Kenya visiting Sweden, I notice the tourism sector only stand for 2% of the national GDP. In Kenya this is around 7% and their target is 10% of GDP should come from tourism. This and many other service industries should be able to grow in DRC.

We here at SWEACC will work more and closer with our Embassies in Stockholm and Kinshasa. If you want to know more our work and how we together can with DRC as part of EAC, contact us by email info@sweacc.se

-sweden

06/03/2026

SWEACC Board Member Tamara Nerima share some news out of Kenya

Last week we hosted a small group of partners and business leaders at the Swedish Embassy. Together with our MD Vincente Connolly, Sweden's ambassador to Kenya H.E. Håkan Åkesson and our energy partners Total Energies, we opened up the conversation around the opportunities available for the use of...

05/03/2026

As Chair for the Swedish East African Chamber of Commerce (SWEACC) I had the pleasure holding a simple lecture on East Africa and Africa as an interesting growth market before a group of students and members to Stockholm Association of International Affairs (UF Stockholm). This was a presentation of my own experiences and SWEACC work in strengthening ties between Sweden and East Africa. Diaspora and engaging both young people and diaspora are important to us and I met interesting new minds from Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi and Ethiopia. I really enjoyed myself and I am sure I will meet more young brilliant minds from UF Stockholm in our work to come.

I talked about Africa economic growth. That there are demographic momentum and urbanization is not a problem, but as an opportunity. Middle class consumers with a digital lifestyle are being created rapidly and Sweden as a Brand is well known and for most in a positive light.

To make more medium size also see Africa, not only Europe, as a export growth market is important, and we do think we need diaspora to help is with that. For more information about SWEACC and how you can become a member, contact us at info@sweacc.se

28/02/2026

During last SWEACC Green City event AECF introduced a new program that will be open from next week (March 5th). Dont miss out on this opportunity to get a little help with a green energy project with a digital connection:

The Digital Innovation Fund for Energy and Climate (DIFEC) will support digital solutions that expand clean energy access for last-mile households and enterprises, including distribution and after-sales services, as well as consumer and carbon financing. The programme also supports scalable innovati...

27/02/2026

Invitation to register for the EU-Ethiopia Business Forum, set to take place on April 20-22, 2026. Please find the link to the event's website here: https://ddei5-0-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fcommunity.eu%2dafricabusinessforum.eu%2fevent%2feu%2dethiopia%2dbusiness%2dforum&umid=406C3BE4-4A9E-8206-86C4-9E4219A3BA36&auth=b32f7072cb1370b7b119b85843019516260d8fac-4a13eee5aeffb2f449ba1d6e492cad89178e1fa1.

EU–Ethiopia Business Forum 2026: Unlocking the Global Gateway PotentialThe EU–Ethiopia Business Forum (EEBF) will spotlight Ethiopia’s economic opportunities and demonstrate how the European Union and its Member States can strengthen their partnership with the country under the Global Gateway ...

23/02/2026

Interested in trade and investment between Scandinavia and Africa. On March 5th the Stockholm Association of International Affairs (UF Stockholm) will arrange a lecture held by Joachim Davidsson, the Chairman of the Swedish East African Chamber of Commerce (SWEACC), at Stockholm University.

The lecture will begin with an overview of the African market, political leadership and the Chamber’s work in strengthening commercial ties between Sweden and East African markets. This event offers students a unique opportunity to gain practical insight into Sweden’s international economic relations and to reflect on global careers and cross-border collaborations.

If you also are interested to join March 5th, please send your inquiry to info@sweacc.se and we can share an registration link.

19/02/2026

We just finished another SWEACC Green City meeting talking about electrification inside transport sectorn in East Africa. 41 people join in, today 21 in the room and 20 online. After this 2-hour meeting it was 1,5 hours spontaneous mingle as people did not want to go home. Great group from Sweden, Norway, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia today. SWEACC as chamber focus on East Africa Community but our clusters are Pan African.

First let me thank our SWEACC Green City cluster manager, and board member, Tom Walsh, for hosting and moderating. Also like to thank all the speakers such as Gösta Melkersson and Tapiwa Yemeke from LM International, Moa Rydell from Green Hub Uganda, Mikkel Becker-Aakervik from Thought Leader and Ricardo Pereira from AECF. Great Group that show us case studies and ways to finance and cooperate in East Africa.

We need more Swedish, Nordic, European partnerships cooperation in Africa and we also need all of you from diaspora to help us.

Welcome to join us at SWEACC. Contact us at info@sweacc.se

17/02/2026

Today SWEACC have been part of arranging a Kenya–Nordics Tourism B2B session at Kenya House in Stockholm. The company Golden Connections International, in partnership with the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), the Kenya Embassy in Sweden, the Kenya Tourism Board, and the Kenya Tourism Federation have come with Kenyan tourist companies, looking for partnerships both inbound, and outbound out of Kenya. This delegation has been in Baltic, now Sweden, and will finish their Nordic tour in Finland before turning home.

Great day with many new interesting connection and ideas how to develop more tourism and hospitality business between Sweden and Kenya. Also, interesting discussion about diaspora and how they can be a part of success, both in Sweden and to Kenya. We will follow up this with individual companies but also the Kenya Tourism Board, and the Kenya Tourism Federation.

We thank Kenyan Ambassador Angeline Musili for her hospitality and the whole Kenyan Embassy team for an event well done. Special greeting to Makena Mathiu from Golden Connection for good cooperation. Now SWEACC Green City cluster meeting will follow on Thursday. For more information about us or our activities, contact us at info@sweacc.se

16/02/2026

In November board members Joachim Davidsson and Sauda Luzze was in Addis Ababa as SWEACC arranged the Ethiopia Sweden Business Forum 2025. Our board collegue Tamara Nemira was also attending on behalf of Scania. Great event together with our partners the Ethiopian Embassy in Sweden, Swedish Embassy in Ethiopia, and Business Sweden. During that time, we also were informed about the European Chamber in Ethiopia (EuroCham). We are part of The European Business Council for Africa (EBCAM) and we both support and think it is important with more European cooperation in Africa. EuroCham in Ethiopia is not new and been in Ethiopia for some years already but now there is a chance for Swedish and European companies to attend the EU-Ethiopia Business Forum 2026, taking place on April 20 to 22nd, 2026. Read more about it here: https://community.eu-africabusinessforum.eu/event/eu-ethiopia-business-forum

Ethiopia is an important market as their GDP is over 150 billion USD and have a 7-8% annual growth rate. Ethiopia is one of the top 5 countries in the African Continent that stands for half ot the Continents GDP (1,5 trillion of a total 3 trillion USD). The others are Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa. In comparison the whole of East Africa Community (EAC) with 8 member states next to Ethiopia has a combined GDP of USD 330 billion. The new Airport in Addis Ababa, project budget 10-15 billion USD is a very important project, also for Sweden but we hope also for many other European partners. So, working with Ethiopian Airlines for this new airport is of course a high-value project. There are many others, also smaller projects to consider.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity in Addis Ababa now in April. If you want to know more about SWEACC and our work, contact us at info@sweacc.se