Bringing assistive technology to market in Kenya

The gap between a working AT product and one that reaches the people who need it is not a design problem. It is a systems problem  and most innovators walk into it blind. 

On 14 April 2026, GDIHub convened an AT Commercialisation Workshop at Senses Hub in Kenya. The goal was blunt: to map the four systems that determine whether an assistive technology product ever reaches people living with speech impairments and the broader disability community or stalls somewhere between customs and a tender committee. 

Four specialists took the floor. Each one exposed a different layer of the market access challenge and together, they told a story that every AT innovator in Kenya needs to hear. 

Daniel Mututo from Skylux Logistics walked through the full importation journey from placing an order to final delivery and made one thing clear: the hidden costs are what sink most first-timers. Demurrage charges, misdeclared shipments, missing permits. These are not edge cases. They are the norm for innovators who engage a clearing agent too late, or not at all. 

Joseph Gachanja from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) covered certification and the most striking insight from his session was about timing. Applying for certification before your product design is finalised is a costly mistake. Aligning with standards from the earliest stage of product development is not bureaucratic box-ticking; it is foundational market strategy. 

Jacinta Kiruthi from In Trade Africa/KRA tackled the tax layer specifically the Harmonised System (HS) code, a classification number that quietly determines your entire duty and exemption landscape. Get the code wrong, even unintentionally, and you lose both money and time. Get it right early, and you may qualify for exemptions that dramatically change your cost model. 

Early engagement with each system  before you import, before you launch, before you tender is where the leverage is. 

Leonard Dawafula from NCPWD closed the day with procurement  perhaps the most opaque system of all for early-stage AT innovators. Government and institutional markets represent significant volume, but the pathway in is precise: sample approvals, documentation readiness, a clear understanding of the tender cycle. Changing product specifications mid-process is one of the most common and most damaging mistakes made.  

Every speaker, in their own domain, made the same underlying point: the system rewards those who engage it early and penalises those who engage it late. Logistics, certification, taxation, procurement each one has a learning curve, a documentation requirement, and a timeline that does not bend to product launch plans. 

For people living with speech impairments and the wider disability community, this matters enormously. Every month a product is delayed in the system is a month that a person goes without a tool that could change their daily life. The moral urgency of AT access is real. But urgency alone does not clear customs, earn a KEBS mark, unlock a tax exemption, or win a government tender. 

Understanding how to navigate these systems is not secondary to the work of building good AT. It is part of the work. 

 This workshop is one part of GDIHub's ongoing commitment to making AT commercialisation in Kenya more navigable, equitable, and scalable. If you are working on AT products for the Kenyan or East African market, this is the conversation you need to be part of. Watch this space.