Zoho says Kenya has become one of its fastest-growing markets after recording 55% year-on-year revenue growth, prompting the company to deepen its investment in the country through a strategic partnership with the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI).
The announcement was made during Zoholics Kenya 2026, Zoho’s annual customer and partner conference held in Nairobi.
As part of the partnership, eligible KNCCI members will receive KES 65,000 in Zoho Wallet Credits that can be used across Zoho’s portfolio of more than 60 cloud-based business applications, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to adopt digital tools with little upfront investment.
Speaking during the event, Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head for Zoho Kenya, said the company’s continued expansion reflects growing demand from Kenyan businesses seeking integrated digital platforms.
“Kenya continues to be one of our fastest-growing markets as more businesses embrace digital transformation to improve resilience and competitiveness,” he said.
He added that businesses are increasingly looking for unified software platforms rather than managing multiple standalone applications.
Kenya revenue up 55%
While announcing the partnership, Zoho revealed that its Kenyan business grew 55% in 2025, with revenue increasing 15-fold over the last eight years. This makes Kenya one of the company’s strongest-performing markets in Africa.
According to Natarajan, the strongest demand is coming from products including Zoho One, workplace, CRM Plus, Zoho CRM and Zoho Books.
The company says sectors driving adoption include IT services, financial services, manufacturing, insurance and telecommunications.
During the presentation, Zoho also highlighted what it describes as its vertically integrated technology approach.
Unlike many SaaS vendors that rely heavily on third-party cloud providers, Zoho said it builds and operates much of its own technology stack—from data centres and infrastructure to software and AI capabilities.
The company also reiterated Zoho’s long-standing position on customer privacy, stressing that the company generates revenue by selling software rather than monetising customer data.
“We sell software, not customer data,” adding that the company continues to invest in privacy-focused AI and operates its own infrastructure to give customers greater control over their information.
Zoho said its AI strategy focuses on using different models depending on the task rather than relying exclusively on large language models. Smaller, specialised AI models are used for functions such as document processing, OCR, grammar correction, sentiment analysis, forecasting and workflow automation across its products.
Helping SMEs digitise
Beyond providing software credits, the KNCCI partnership will include onboarding support, product training, workshops and business enablement programmes designed to help SMEs successfully adopt digital technologies.
Premanand Velumani, Associate Director for Strategic Growth at Zoho Middle East and Africa, said the initiative aligns with the company’s strategy of supporting local business ecosystems through partnerships.
“The partnership represents a shared commitment to empowering SMEs by expanding access to technology, strengthening digital capabilities and lowering barriers to business transformation.”
KNCCI Nairobi Chairman Dr James Mwaura said members would benefit not only from access to business software but also from training and implementation support.
The two organisations will also collaborate on digital skills programmes, awareness campaigns and joint events aimed at encouraging technology adoption among Kenyan businesses.
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