The number of Kenyan entrepreneurs setting up shop in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has risen in recent months, according to the Export Promotion Council (EPC).

The traders are eyeing the multi-billion shilling consumer and reconstruction market in the DRC after relative calm returned there.

The DRC installed a unity government in 2006 which has seen instability lessen in large parts of the country, save for pockets of insurgency in  the eastern parts that are now fading following a joint military operation led by Rwandan military.

The push by the Kenyan traders came following the allowing of South Africa and European competitors to establish businesses in the DRC.

EPC data shows Kenya’s exports have remained near static in the past five years while exports from countries like South Africa have been growing every year.