There is little if any scholarly work on institutions and internationalisation of companies from Africa. This research contributes to the clarification of the interactions between firms’ capabilities and institutional support in relation to international expansion. Using a cross-sectional sample of sixty surveyed enterprises and four case studies the article explains why clothing manufacturers from Kenya expand into non-African markets. To that end, the article builds on resource-based and institution-based views to uncover the circumstances under which each view precedes the other. Key findings reveal that institutional support attracts investors in this sector and influences their exports destination. However, since international expansion is an entrepreneurial activity, which entails continuity, firms-specific capabilities are found to be critical antecedents to international expansion.