By Patricia Okumu

Kenya’s wealthy are planning new nationalities as part of their investment activities, this is to provide them with greater investment, education, and healthcare access.

According to the 2022 attitudes survey issued with Knight Frank’s annual Wealth Report, over a quarter of Kenya’s 3,362 dollar millionaires are now planning to apply for a second passport or new nationality.

This level of second-nationality investment amounts to almost twice the global average for wealthy individuals, with an average of 15 percent of dollar millionaires seeking additional or changed nationalities worldwide, compared to 28 percent in Kenya.

Andrew Shirley, editor of The Wealth Report at Knight Frank said: “Amongst Kenyans seeking new passports, the proportion interested in reducing their tax bills, enhancing their safety, or getting a better quality of life is much the same as for the wealthy globally. The big difference for Kenya’s dollar millionaires is the proportion of new nationality applications for investment purposes, and in pursuit of better education and better healthcare for themselves and for their families.”

Of Kenyans seeking new passports, around 59 percent are doing so as an investment, against a global average of 17 percent, while 38 percent cite education as a driver, compared with 18 percent worldwide. Meanwhile, 34 percent are seeking better healthcare, compared with 13 percent worldwide.

Ben Woodhams, Knight Frank Kenya MD said: “This rising trend of ‘nationality planning’ from our own wealthy is highly focussed as a route to best-in-class investments, education and healthcare, with property investments making up a significant component of that investment.”

Kenyan HNWIs are far more likely to be residential and commercial landlords than average. This difference is most notable in commercial property investments, accounting for around 49 percent of the wealth held by Kenya’s most wealthy individuals, but only around 27 percent of the assets of the wealthy worldwide.

However, Kenyan millionaires are unusual in holding such a high proportion of their assets in their own country, owning an average of just 19 percent of their property portfolio overseas, compared with an average across all HNWIs of 32 percent.

“Overall, the shift to nationality applications driven by the principle aim of investment and from an established platform of preference for property ties with the interest by Kenya’s wealthy in owning properties overseas. Their long-standing preference for investing in property at home is now extending to real estate investments in the US, UK, Australia and UAE,” said Andrew.