The central objective of this Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) is to identify the main impediments to productivity growth Kenyan firms face. This objective is achieved through the analysis of firm-level data directly collected by the World Bank in 2007. This ICA arrives at a critical juncture; the government has committed to improving the investment climate, even further convinced that growth can be achieved only through a prosperous private sector. Based on the view that prosperity requires a thriving industrial sector, private sector-led growth is central to the government's economic recovery strategy and its recent "vision 2030." In early 2007 Government of Kenya (GoK) launched its first-ever private sector development strategy. This strategy is based on five pillars: improving Kenya's business environment, accelerating institutional transformation, facilitating growth through greater trade expansion, improving productivity of enterprises, supporting entrepreneurship, and developing small and medium enterprises. All these pillars are linked to the ICA's analytical goal. The ICA uses a robust and standardized methodology that has been applied to many countries worldwide.