The East African Portland Cement Company started as a trading company importing cement mainly from England for early construction work in East Africa. It was formed by Blue Circle Industries United Kingdom. The name Portland was given due to the resemblance in colour of set cement to the Portland stone that was mined on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England.

It was not until February 1933 that the Company was incorporated in Kenya with the first factory in Nairobi's Industrial Area. The Company had one cement mill (Mill No. 2) and used to import clinker from India. The production capacity was about 60,000 tonnes of cement.

In December 1956, construction of the Athi River facility started. The factory was commissioned in 1958 and consisted of a Rotary Kiln (Wet), a big cement mill (Cement Mill 1 & 3) which significantly increased production capacity to 120,000 tonnes per annum.

Since then the EAPCC has greatly expanded its production capacity with the introduction of Mill No. 5 and at present produces over 1.3 million tonnes of cement per annum.