The following are economic activities of the Coastal Bantu during the pre-colonial period.
- Agriculture. They mainly cultivated grains, with which they traded.
- Keeping livestock. They kept cattle, sheep and goats, which provided them with milk, meat, hides and skins.
- Fishing. Most of the coastal Bantu who lived on the sea-shore and along river-banks caught fish to supplement their diet and to boost their trade.
- Hunting. This was more so with the Taita and Mijikenda, who hunted elephants and rhinoceros for ivory, horns, etc.
- Trade. The Mijikenda traded with the Akamba, Chagga and Taita as far back as the 18th century AD. They traded in grains, goats, sheep, cattle, iron tools, beads, clothes, ivory, skins, rhino horns, etc.
