Nairobi, Aug. 31 -- Kenya has set an ambitious goal to build a stronger manufacturing economy capable of creating jobs, attracting investment and expanding exports across Africa.

It is a vision anchored in Vision 2030 and reinforced by growing opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Realising that ambition, however, will depend not only on expanding industrial capacity, but also on protecting the integrity of the market in which legitimate businesses operate.

One of the greatest threats to that ambition receives far less attention than energy costs, taxation or access to finance. It is the steady growth of illicit trade.

Smuggled, counterfeit and tax-evading products continue to find their way into Kenyan ...