Kenya targets Sh230bn from indigenous knowledge assets

National Museums of Kenya Chairman Edwin Abonyo (in the middle) samples indigenous medicines at the1st International Investment Conference and Trade Fair on Indigenous Knowledge Intellectual Assets 2026 in Nairobi.

Kenya has untold wealth locked up in indigenous knowledge. According to data from the National Museums of Kenya (NMK), the indigenous knowledge intellectual assets economy in Kenya is estimated to be worth Sh230 billion annually.

 It is under this background that in a forum dubbed the International Investment Conference and Trade Fair on Indigenous Knowledge Intellectual Assets, NMK through its Natural Products Industry (NPI) programme has now built an initiative that is meant to partner with local communities to document and digitise their indigenous knowledge systems in order to commercialise them.