Background: Development finance institutions operate under competing institutional logics that shape how they design intervention strategies. The East African Development Bank (EADB) prioritises industrialisation and manufacturing, yet limited research examines how it navigates these competing logics in designing manufacturing interventions in Kenya.

Methodology/Design: This qualitative study adopted an interpretivist philosophy and a cross sectional case study design. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 32 respondents drawn from EADB, partner financial institutions, beneficiary manufacturing enterprises, and government agencies. Data were analysed using thematic analysis guided by institutional logics theory.

Findings/Results: Four themes emerged for strategy design: strategic prioritisation of industrialisation, multi mechanism intervention approach, partnership-based delivery model, and balancing developmental and financial logics. Four themes emerged for institutional tensions: coordination challenges with partner institutions, monitoring and evaluation of development impact, political economy factors, and tensions between long term financing and short-term portfolio performance. EADB navigates competing logics through selective coupling and compromise.

Implications: The study extends institutional logics theory to regional development banks and offers practical guidance for managing competing logics in development finance.

Originality/Value: This study provides the first qualitative examination of how EADB designs manufacturing intervention strategies in Kenya, contributing to limited literature on strategy design in regional development banks.