The Board of the East African Business Council (EABC), through the EAC chairperson John Lual Akol, appointed Ahmed Farah as the new executive director of the regional body.
Farah boasts of more than 20 years of leadership experience in East Africa, other African markets, and the Kenyan authority in trade and investment policy. He succeeds Adrian Raphael Njau of Tanzania, who was named acting executive director following the resignation of John Bosco Kalisa of Rwanda in 2024. Before joining EABC, Farah was the Country Director for Kenya at TradeMark Africa, where he oversaw initiatives centred on corridor performance, trade facilitation, customs modernisation, and private-sector competitiveness.
Additionally, he has held senior advisory and leadership positions at Deloitte East Africa and PwC, and served as the CEO of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The timing of his appointment is crucial because EABC has stepped up its efforts to overcome non-tariff obstacles, high trade and logistics costs, and unequal regional commitment implementation. Farah will guide the EABC Secretariat in carrying out the EABC Strategic Plan, enhancing communication with National Focal Points and EABC members, and expanding cooperation with the organs, institutions, and secretariat of the East African Community.
In order to further EABC’s goal of a borderless East Africa that stimulates investment, jobs, and business growth, he will also lead the mobilisation of resources and high-level lobbying at the ministerial and heads of state levels.
The top regional organisation for corporations and associations in the business sector from the eight member states of the East African Community is the East African Business Council. It was founded in 1997 to advance the corporate sector’s interests in the East African Community’s integration process.