Inside TRIFIC SEZ
The name TRIFIC stands for Two Rivers International Finance & Innovation Centre. This is one of the the smallest , by size, and yet the fastest growing, by investments, SEZ in Kenya formed in 2023. It is located in Ruaka, Nairobi County.
Background:
TRIFIC was conceived as a services-focused Special Economic Zone embedded inside Two Rivers, Nairobi’s 106-acre, master-planned urban node that mixes corporate, retail, hospitality, and residential uses. It is currently directly managed by Special Economic Zone Authority (SEZA).
It occupies 64 acres out of the total and has been master-planned with 1 million square meters of future development capacity.
It was developed by Centum PLC and gazetted via legal Notice No. 76 of 14 June 2023 as a private SEZ. Currently, its a member of World Alliance of International Finance Centers (WAIFC). WAIFC is a non profit association registered in Brussels, Belgium which represents leading international financial centers and facilitates cooperation and the exchange of best practices.
Operations:
TRIFIC is primarily a business engine with a plug and play ecosystem deliberately designed for service companies. These include Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), global/regional headquarters, shared service centers, advisory & financial service, technology/innovation firms, investment management and data centers.
There are several requirements needed to setup a SEZ enterprise within and such comes with a fit out turn around time of 3 months. The enterprise must:
- Have a services-oriented business scope.
- Showcase movement of capital across international markets.
- Lease space within the TRIFIC SEZ to set up its operations.
- Be licensed as a SEZ Enterprise by the SEZA.
The fact that its inside Nairobi’s diplomatic blue zone, ringed by Gigiri (UN complex), embassies, hotels, international schools, shopping centers and executive housing attributes that service firms cite as decisive for client access, executive mobility and staff retention.
Just other SEZs, it enjoys all relevant incentives and additionally has a dedicated Expat Centre which supports expatriate professionals (including work permit facilitation), as well as an in-house international arbitration facility.
Development Status:
Generally the TRIFIC Ecosystem is composed of:
- Two Rivers Mall – the anchor development and the largest mall in East and Central Africa with a retail space of more than 700,000 square feet.
- North Tower SEZ – grade A office with 161,189 square feet as the lettable space.
- Holiday Inn – a 4 star hotel with 178 meeting rooms.
- Victoria Tower – grade A office with 156,077 square feet as the lettable space.
Upcoming, is the Trific Tower 2 A.
At launch, TRIFIC made available 150,000 sq ft of Grade-A, immediately usable office space. This is paired with furnished options, shell-and-core floors and a co-working/innovation layer to align with different operating models from startups to large multinationals.
The North Tower was officially awarded the prestigious EDGE Certificate by the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) on grounds of having achieved 25% Energy Savings, 23% Water Savings and 58% Reduction in CO₂ Emissions.
The infrastructure is meant for services workloads unlike the like roads, drainage e.t.c that we see with other SEZs. They include:
- IBM’s Intelligent Operations Centre (IOC) deployed to unify hundreds of security subsystems such as access control, surveillance, threat detection into a single command layer, with 24/7 controlled access and manned security.
- 99.99% uptime to compliment enterprise grade resilience. This means that systems hosted within TRIFIC enjoy continuous availability with redundant power, internet, and cooling backups – ensuring uninterrupted business operations even in case of outages. The ICT backbone is designed to Tier III data-center standards, making it attractive for financial, fintech, research and BPO tenants that cannot afford downtime.
Some of the notable firms who have already setup operations there include:
- Design Gallery – A creative design and innovation hub providing branding, interior solutions, and workspace aesthetics for businesses.
- Tendersure – A digital procurement platform offering secure, transparent, and automated vendor prequalification and tender evaluation services.
- Teleperformance (TP) – the world`s largest global outsourcing and business process management firm specializing in customer experience, call center, and support solutions.
- Dalberg Research Ltd – A data, analytics, and insights firm delivering market research and policy evaluation for governments, businesses and development organizations.
- Britam BetaLab – Britam’s innovation and incubation hub supporting fintech, insuretech, and digital financial solutions in insurance and investment.
Conclusion:
TRIFIC SEZ has quickly positioned itself as a differentiated player within Kenya’s SEZs by focusing on service-led industries rather than the usual manufacturing or logistics. Its deliberate integration into the wider Two Rivers ecosystem; anchored by retail, hospitality, residential and diplomatic adjacency has made it a functional ecosystem for international business. The presence of blue-chip firms such as Teleperformance and other innovators demonstrates growing confidence in its value proposition.
Its role in capital mobility and knowledge transfer makes it a critical pillar in Kenya’s economic diversification journey. Having personally been there recently, I commend the leadership for such an incredible initiative.
TRIFIC provides its clients with a fully integrated ecosystem of physical infrastructure and business-support services covering both set-up and ongoing operational support embedded in the rental model.
Brenda Mbathi, CEO of TRIFIC
For more information, reach out to us via info@rickfes.co.ke
At Rickfes Construction Ltd, we are keen to receive and facilitate investors; local or international; seeking to establish their developments into this SEZ. Our role is to be your development partner, liaison and local representative on the ground while in setting up in this SEZ.
