Category: Business Daily

By the time a Kenyan streams a football match on a smartphone, joins a video meeting, uploads content to TikTok or pays through a mobile app, there is a good chance part of that experience is now running on a fifth-generation (5G) mobile network.

Fresh data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows subscriptions on the super-fast 5G network rose to 1.9 million as of March 2026, up from 1.7 million three months earlier.

The addition of 170,656 new users, a 9.8 percent increase, signals continued adoption of a technology that only entered Kenya’s commercial market less than four years ago.

Yet the bigger story lies in how heavily 5G users are consuming data once they join the network.

CA statistics show that quarterly mobile broadband consumption by 5G subscribers crossed the 100 million gigabyte (GB) mark for the first time, hitting 102.01 million GB during the three months ended March.

The consumption represents a jump from 80.5 million GB consumed by 5G users in the preceding quarter, highlighting the growing appetite for bandwidth-intensive services among subscribers connected to the network.

Across all mobile technologies, total broadband consumption rose to 800 million GB during the quarter, representing a six percent increase from 755 million GB recorded three months earlier.

The regulator said average mobile broadband usage per subscription increased from 14.6 GB to 15.1 GB during the review period, with 5G users consuming data at a significantly higher rate than the rest of the market.

Average 5G consumption

According to the CA, the average 5G subscriber consumed 53.5 GB during the quarter, more than three times the national average across all mobile broadband users.

‘During the quarter, the average mobile broadband consumption per subscription increased from 14.6 GB to 15.1 GB with 5G users recording the highest usage at 53.5 GB,’ wrote the Authority in its latest quarterly statistics release.

Unlike previous generations of mobile technology, 5G is designed to support ultra-fast internet speeds, lower latency and the simultaneous connection of large numbers of devices.

The technology enables a raft of capabilities including faster downloads, smoother video streaming, cloud computing applications, online gaming, as well as emerging services that require real-time connectivity.

Kenya’s 5G journey began with trials conducted by Safaricom in 2021 before the operator commercially launched the service in October 2022.

Airtel Kenya entered the market in mid-2023, setting off a fresh phase of competition as both operators raced to expand coverage and attract high-value data users.

Safaricom had deployed about 1,700 active 5G sites by last year, while Airtel had 690, with both operators continuing to expand their footprints across major urban centres and high-demand locations.

While 5G remains the fastest-growing network category, fourth-generation technology continues to dominate the market.

CA data shows 4G subscriptions increased by 1.8 million during the quarter under review to reach 45.9 million users as of March, up from 44.2 million in December.

The continued expansion of 4G demonstrates that it remains the workhorse of Kenya’s mobile internet ecosystem even as operators invest heavily in next-generation networks.

The number of subscribers connected to older technologies, 3G and 2G networks, however, continues to shrink, falling by 654,379 and 662,896 users, respectively, during the quarter.

The exodus reflects broader changes taking place across the telecommunications sector as consumers shift toward faster internet services and smartphone-based applications.

Significant barriers

Despite its rapid growth, 5G still faces significant barriers to mass adoption, among the biggest being the cost of compatible devices.

Many entry-level smartphones sold in Kenya still support only 4G connectivity, leaving 5G-capable handsets concentrated among middle-income and higher-income consumers.

Although prices have gradually declined, 5G-enabled smartphones remain significantly more expensive than standard 4G devices.

Because 5G users tend to stream more video, download larger files and spend more time online, their monthly data expenditure is also often higher than that of conventional mobile users.

The CA data further shows that the number of smartphones connected to mobile networks crossed the 50 million mark for the first time as consumers continued abandoning basic feature phones.

The growth in smartphone ownership provides a larger pool of potential users capable of migrating to faster networks.

Getting the job done. Spotting the right talent. Spurring the shareholders. There are things that one knows in leadership-who knows how?-like a shadow passing through your cells. Fatherhood resists all this. You make it up as you go. You submit yourself to it, bend the knee, and kiss the ring.

That’s what the BDLife discovered after ringing up a few executives seeking to find out what frightened them most about fatherhood, about being fathers.

Because, unlike running a company, where if you stick to the equations, that a-often-leads-to-b, fatherhood demands you rip the how-to guide, submerge yourself in the water, and find out how much of an amphibian you could be. ‘Despite my success as a parent,’ one executive reflected, ‘my children can still end up failing.’ It’s the absurdity of being a dad-like racing west as the sun goes down to make the day longer.

Prof Busalile Jack Mwimali

Secretary and CEO of the Council of Legal Education

Father of two

I planned to be a father. We got our firstborn nine months after our wedding. I have a 16-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter.

My fear as a parent is what will drive my children to work hard and desire something. When we were growing up, there were so many things that we dreamt of because of the poverty in the society at that time.

We worked hard on the premise that if we work hard, get a good job, a good car, and buy a nice house, but our children have grown up seeing those things we dreamt of. So what will motivate them?

I hope my children never have to forgive me for not giving them the future they deserve. The Bible says a wise man leaves a bequest for his children and his children’s children.

There is that fear that everything I’ve worked for will be lost in one generation. I hope my children will be responsible enough to take care of their children.

Maybe I’ve not modeled it well enough for them. Unfortunately, in this generation, we work so hard to provide for them that we forget to be there.

You will not find this in a parenting book. Every child is different from the others. These books say that parenting would be the same, that whatever you use on Son A will work on Son B. That is not true; each son comes out differently and needs to be parented differently.

It’s much more acute when you have a son and daughter with different personalities and expectations.

When my children wear my shoes, I hope they understand that everybody in society, including themselves, needs to carry their own burden and be responsible. They need to be their own person. I say this because, despite my failure as a parent, I want them to know that they can succeed. And despite my success as a parent, they can also fail if they do not take care.

When my children describe me, I hope they say that he did the best he could for us.

Am I the kind of son my children would be proud of? It’s a difficult one. I was very naughty. In fact, sometimes when my children behave the way I did as a young man, when I get so angry and before I punish them, I remember that I was exactly like that.

Childhood passes in a blur. They grow up so fast. Unfortunately, I stay away from my children because they are in Dar es Salaam and I am in Nairobi, and every time I get to meet them, I find they have grown faster than I anticipated.

Now that my son is a teenager, we open up and have man-to-man talks. I tell him the realities of life: sometimes, even if you are treated wrongly, you don’t have to take revenge. But I realized that these are actually individuals, and they need to learn how to live their own lives. I will not be there as a parent to carry them through every circumstance and situation because the world will not always be fair to them.

Being present for my children means the world, especially for the girl. It is one of the things that haunts me, my absence in their lives as they pass through most stages in life. I tell myself that my heart is in the right place. I will do everything for them to succeed in life. And I tell myself, as long as I have committed them first of all to God, who is a better father than I am, then they are in good hands.

My fatherhood weakness is that I let my daughter get away with a lot. She is a good shopper. She goes in and picks her stuff, and she loves the best things in life; you can’t always tell her no, she might even bankrupt me [chuckles]. Sometimes I sympathise with the man my daughter will date [chuckles]

This Father’s Day, I’ll be in church. My responsibility is just to commit my children to God, to ensure He will take care of them, irrespective of their situations and circumstances in life.

Bonface Isinta Ombui

CEO, Choice Microfinance Bank

Father of two

Having children was very intentional. I currently have two. My firstborn is Brianna, who is four years old, and my secondborn is a boy called Tai, who just turned two. My wife, Christine, and I planned for it, prayed for it, and waited. We didn’t want to just ‘have’ a child-we wanted to be ready for one. When it finally happened, it felt like an answered prayer we’d prepared our hearts for.

I hope my children never have to forgive me for pressuring them or pushing my own unfulfilled dreams onto them. I want them to be free to become who they are, to chase their own passions, not mine. My job is to give them roots and wings, not a script.

Failure in parenting would be if my children didn’t feel they could come to me. I want to build a strong connection and friendship with them. I want to support who they are, not who I think they should be. If they ever felt alone or judged instead of safe with me, that would be my biggest failure.

What frightens me most about fatherhood is the weight of it. The realisation that my choices, my moods, even how present I am on an ordinary day, are shaping how my children see themselves and how safe they feel in the world.

In fatherhood, there’s no dry run, no do-over. You only get to raise them once. It is actually easier running Choice Bank than being a father to Brianna and Tai. And tied to that is the fear of not being enough.

Of facing a moment that really matters and not having the answer, or falling short right when they need me most. I’ve learned to sit with that fear instead of running from it. I won’t always get it right, but I can keep showing up, and I think that matters more than getting it perfect.

Being present for my children means giving them my full attention. When they talk about their day, I listen, laugh, smile, and comment. It’s not about being in the same room but about them knowing I’m with them in that moment.

My dad was a workaholic, and I picked that up from him without realising it. When he was teaching, he was also farming, running a business, chairing the teachers’ union, and serving as a church elder. I admire his drive, but now that I have two children, I’m intentional about creating time for them, and not passing down my father’s flaw. I’m learning that being present is a different kind of work.

A lie about fatherhood I no longer believe is that you have to be the ‘tough parent’ so mom can be the soft one, and that dads should only come in for discipline and tough decisions. I don’t believe that anymore. My children need me to be soft, to listen, to comfort, and to guide, not just to discipline. Fatherhood is both strength and gentleness.

You will not find this in a parenting book: there’s no perfect father. I actually stopped reading parenting books because I realised I had to give myself permission to make mistakes and learn from them. I used to think a good child meant obedient, clean, homework done. But with my son, I’ve learned that’s not always true. Children will teach you more about yourself than any book can.

I am marking Father’s Day by being present. Christine, our children and I will spend the day together. For me, Father’s Day isn’t about gifts or big plans. It’s about creating memories with them, giving them my full attention, and letting them know they are very special to us, my wife and I.

Arthur K. Igeria

Senior Partner, Igeria and Ngugi Advocates

Father of two

I decided when I wanted to be a father, in the sense that when I was in high school, I knew I couldn’t be a father, so I didn’t have the desire then. I had two children. I lost one last year.

Losing a child is terrible. You would not wish that on anyone. The loss of a child also shines a different spotlight on fatherhood because you keep wondering what you did wrong and blaming yourself for that occurrence. After all, as a father, you take on the responsibility of ensuring your children are provided for and protected. When you lose them to death, the underlying feeling is that you failed to protect them.

Death redefined fatherhood. It brought home a realisation that God is in control of our lives, and He has the prerogative to determine life in all its aspects-birth, health, and death, and others. Some of these prerogatives are easier to accept than others, and others can make you question your relationship with God, or even make you very angry.

I would have failed as a parent if I did not instill quality values in my children. Especially about integrity. Even if my children end up being extremely successful and wealthy, I would have failed if they lack integrity.

When my children wear my shoes, I hope they understand I have given them the tools to have successful relationships at all levels, for I believe relationships are the barometers to gauge how successful you are as a human being.

That’s why at a funeral, the eulogy is focused on the impact that the deceased had on the people who were critical stakeholders in their lives: family, friends, colleagues, and mates. The total of your life when it comes to an end is based on the impact you had on the people you interacted with and the value that they had for you in that regard.

Am I the kind of son my children will be proud of? I believe so, yes. And I say that with humility. Because fatherhood is something that I have taken very seriously. In a sense, just to make them assured that as long as I am present, if they have anything worrying them, they know I am there for them. It’s almost like the relationship you have with God because when you pray to God, He assures you that He will resolve everything. You needn’t worry.

My father’s flaw was his ambition. I cannot speak too much about my father’s flaws because I lost him when I was very young, so I never established a serious relationship in terms of what his character was. But I have been told in many instances that my late father was ambitious. He said that he wanted things done.

Quickly. If you have a certain timeline or standard that you want to get and it’s not met, then you’re irritable with those who are working toward that goal. There’s a positive side to it because it allows you to progress quickly. But a lot of times, people struggle with dealing with that level of impatience, and I hope not to bequeath that to my children.

It’s true that the sting of loss can either harden you or soften you. It has made me more empathetic to people’s struggles. As Africans, we feel that men are obliged to behave in a particular way, especially with regard to their emotions. Loss made me realise that you can be in touch with your emotions, and it doesn’t erode your masculinity.

The epitome of masculinity is your ability to manage not just your emotions but also difficult tasks in life. That’s why we acquired bad habits like overworking, that you’re a hard man, you’re able to withstand hard tasks in life.

The challenge that sometimes we have as men is that when you have many examples of projects that you have done successfully, you tend to assume that this is your route in life and that you’re invulnerable to failure. And then when something happens, and especially if you are to blame for a certain consequence, then you don’t take it well.

A lie about fatherhood I no longer believe is that if you are very deliberate as a father, you can get your children to be exactly what you want them to be.

‘Eddie is my son. I want him to be a doctor because I was a doctor, and my father was a doctor, but then he graduates, and he doesn’t want to go to med school… but you cannot break the family streak!’ [chuckles] But Eddie wants to be a rapper! I used to think those who are unable to mentor their children in specific directions have failed. When I came to the realisation that that is a lie, it was a rude shock because I personally was affected by it.

I had wanted my children to be a certain way, especially career-wise, but they chose their own path. The irony is that we plead with them to be independent thinkers, yet we want to push them in certain directions and are frustrated because they are not us. You can’t control them, but you can equip them with the tools they need to succeed in whatever path they choose.

My fatherhood weakness is that I’m guilty of insulating my children from certain realities in life. I’m the kind of person who would go and pay off a huge bill we have accumulated and say, “Okay, let’s make a fresh start.” Other people would just say, “You sort yourself out.’ This is my weakness, because even though I know that I won’t always be there to sort them out, I will still sort out the problem, with a caveat that may not be strictly enforced: ‘Usirudie tena! This is the last time!’ [chuckles].

For Father’s Day, I’ll go for lunch and spend quality time with my daughter, who recently got engaged. She has an active Instagram presence and has made me quite famous in ways I never anticipated, especially among people of her generation. I will spend quality time with her and her fiancé.

Losing my son has sensitised me to young men who may be struggling with fatherhood issues. Kenyans are quick to point out that things aren’t working well, but we don’t take action to rectify. It’s the ‘Tunaomba serikali’ attitude, yet you can do it yourself. This has made me more solution-oriented in my effort to create a better society for myself and those around us. Because the quality of our life is predicated on the kinds of relationships we create and how we manage them.

David Karega

Head of Africa, Woodrow

Father of five, one on the way.

I wanted to be a father. I told myself I’ll do my best, and so I went ahead and had five children, and counting.

What frightened me most about being a father is mortality. Before I was a dad, I kept asking myself, ” Will I be there for these children until they are older and they’ve got families of their own?’ I could aim to be this kind of a dad that is present, involved, and intentional, but something takes me out. I dealt with that through faith, praying to God for a long life. What’s frightening me now is the changes the world is experiencing and having to keep up with them in the journey to be a good dad. Our children now know so much in this tech age, which requires that I step up, learn new things, and be intentional in connecting with them.

I hope my children never have to forgive me for leaving them. Or that I abandoned them for work, investments, or whatever reason. I’ve lived and worked out of the country, and I’ve always told myself that I’d never leave my children behind. So, if my employer is not willing to take me plus my family, then I’m not going. I ensure I am not travelling for long periods, and I’ve curated my life around availability and being present, not just physically but emotionally.

I will not demand my children follow my path, but I demand discipline at home and having the right values, like kindness and caring. I will actually be more supportive of them based on whatever they select for their careers. If my son tells me he wants to be a DJ, I’ll be the one buying him the newest DJ decks and connecting him to event organisers, making him the best DJ around.

My father was absent. I first got a father figure at 25; this is the first man I ever became vulnerable with. I used to watch the sitcom, My Wife and Kids, and the protagonist was one of the men I followed and felt I could borrow elements of masculinity from. Mr Mbugua, my former landlord, showed me how to be vulnerable, empathise with my children, apologise when I am wrong, and hold me to account. I am more open, that I am not a dictator, let us reason together.

My mom introduced my father to me when I was in my second year of university, and I have done my best to get answers from him on why he left, but he has yet to give me a response. I have seen him no more than three times. Legend has it that they didn’t or they were not allowed by their parents to be together. I lived with my stepdad for about three years, it didn’t work out, and I spent most of my growing up with my grandma.

The most important thing is to keep my family together. That’s what I live for. It left a lot of scars that I never want my children to carry. It’s my life’s mission to ensure my family stays together so that no one ever has to go through that.

Am I the kind of son my children would be proud of? I’d say yes. The jury’s out there on whether I was the best son to my mom, especially in her latter days, as I was building my family and was 100 percent focused on them. What would matter more to my children in retrospect when they grow older is, ‘Was he a good father to us,’ and I’d want that hopefully to be the thing that matters to them more than how best of a son I was.

My children misunderstand how busy I can get. They’re still young, so they might not understand how I disappear and appear in different intervals because of the travel that I need to do for work.

My fatherhood weakness, says my wife, is that I have a soft spot for my daughters, and she always cautions me that I could be too hard on the boys and too soft on the girls. I believe every dad understands how easy it is to have a soft spot for their daughters.

Fatherhood is not easy, but Dad tried. That is what I want my children to know. But I also hope they understand that you don’t stay down. Rise and do it again. Fatherhood is the greatest job they can ever do because it speaks to legacy, future, and continuity. The better fathers we have, the better the community and nations.

Being present for my children means I have answers for them. When I see their smiles whenever I come back home, it’s always amazing, it means absolutely everything.

A lie about fatherhood I no longer believe is that fathers are mean. Sometimes we will tighten the budget or refuse to do some things for our children. But it’s always from a good place, not to curtail fun. Dads are great!

The plan for Father’s Day is in motion. I have heard some chatter that something special is being organised. The details are a bit scanty, but I am expecting something because we as fathers don’t get to be celebrated a lot.

Absa Bank Kenya’s share price jumped 4.59 percent on Friday, representing a gain of Sh7.33 billion as investors reacted to Absa Group Limited’s bid to raise its stake in the Kenyan subsidiary at a premium price of Sh34.5.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm’s stock touched a high of Sh33 and closed trading at an average price of Sh30.75, giving it a market value of Sh167 billion.

The lender’s stock rose from Sh29.4 on Thursday when its market capitalisation stood at Sh159.6 billion.

The price jump has slightly narrowed the gap with Absa Group’s offer which is seen as a bullish signal on the target firm’s future prospects.

A total of 3.49 million shares changed hands on Friday, valuing the deals at Sh107.5 million. Those who bought the shares will be in a position to profit from selling the units to the multinational.

Baloobhai Patel is among the beneficiaries of the bank’s share price growth, with the billionaire investor recording a gain of Sh135.1 million on the day.

Mr Patel’s holdings of 100 million shares -based on Absa Bank’s latest annual report- were valued Sh3.07 billion on Friday. Their value had risen from Sh2.94 billion on Thursday.

Absa Bank becomes the latest lender to stage major share price gains catalysed by mergers and acquisitions announcements.

NCBA Group’s stock also surged from Sh75 in mid-October 2025 -when news broke that South Africa’s Standard Bank Group was keen to acquire the company- to highs of Sh100 after the lender was later confirmed to be the buyout target of Nedbank Group.

NCBA’s share price subsequently lost some ground and closed at Sh90 on Friday, leaving it still higher compared to the pre-deal level.

Absa Group has offered Sh30.9 billion or Sh34.5 per share to buy an additional 16.5 percent stake in the Kenyan subsidiary.

This will lift its ownership to 85 percent from the current 68.5 percent.

The multinational says it intends to retain the Kenyan unit’s listing on the Nairobi bourse on completion of the deal and has sought an exemption from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) from making a full buyout offer to all minority shareholders.

This means it will buy a maximum of 895.9 million shares in the proposed tender offer, giving it a larger share of the subsidiary’s earnings.

The Kenyan business has significantly raised its profits and dividend payouts while improving returns on shareholders’ funds since it separated from its former ultimate parent firm Barclays Plc in 2020.

The company’s return on equity (RoE), the metric that determines a company’s profitability by measuring how much profit it generates from shareholders’ capital, has risen steadily from 16.4 percent in 2019 -the year before it completed its separation from Barclays.

That metric rose to peak at 24.5 percent in 2024 before moderating to 22.8 percent in 2025.

Net earnings meanwhile surged from Sh7.4 billion in 2019 to Sh22.9 billion last year while dividends increased from Sh6 billion to Sh11.1 billion over the same period.

Barclays previously set the risk appetite for the South African multinational (then trading as Barclays Africa Group Limited) which in turn cascaded the policies to different subsidiaries including the Kenyan unit.

After the split, the reporting line for the Kenyan business stopped at the South African firm which is keen to grow in the African continent.

Absa Group says the proposed increase in its stake in the Kenyan subsidiary aligns with its broader strategy around Africa expansion and presenting its clients with strong regional and global opportunities.

‘The proposed acquisition through this tender offer is a natural extension of the group’s commitment to build a diversified pan-African franchise,’ the multinational said.

‘Absa Group regards East Africa as a cornerstone of its pan-African growth ambitions.

‘Absa Group’s strategy is to deepen presence in high potential markets, improve returns through scale and enhance corridor capabilities connecting clients to regional and global opportunities.’

The South African firm has been on a regional expansion drive ever since Kenny Fihla assumed leadership on June 17, 2025.

In early June 2026, Absa Group received the green light from Bank of Uganda to acquire Standard Chartered Bank’s Wealth and Retail business unit, paving way for consummation of a deal whose process started in October 2025.

There is a long-running debate on TikTok and other social media platforms about the massive growth of Money Market Funds (MMFs) in Kenya in recent years. On one hand are those who attribute this growth to the higher yields that MMFs offer when compared to ordinary bank savings accounts and deposits.

On the other hand, some are convinced that the massive growth of MMFs is a bubble that may burst.

Reality is, awareness of MMFs and investment options has grown tremendously across the country, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, when people realised the need to increase their savings and investments.

Financial influencers on platforms such as X and TikTok have made investment knowledge accessible. As a result, retail investors have flocked to these funds, making them one of the leading short-term savings options for retail investors, especially Gen Z and millennials.

According to the Capital Markets Authority’s Collective Investment Schemes Quarterly Report for the period ended March 31, 2026, MMFs manage over Sh442 billion, representing approximately 52 percent of the Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) market. This is a significant rise from Sh56.5 billion in assets under management in 2019.

Such a rapid growth rate has understandably raised questions about the sustainability of the pace of inflows. A closer look suggests that MMF growth may eventually moderate as the majority of investors house their savings in MMFs. Then, shift some of their savings toward other CISs as they seek higher returns or diversification.

First, the massive capital inflow into MMFs has been driven by retail digitisation, improved financial literacy and structural shifts away from traditional bank savings accounts and deposits. Digital platforms have made onboarding easier and faster, lowered the entry barriers, allowing more Kenyans to start investing with ease through mobile phones and online channels.

Second, there is a growing public appetite for products that combine liquidity, stability, and yield returns.

For many investors, MMFs function like a current account, but one that earns interest.

You deposit money, it earns interest, and you can usually access it within two to three days to address an emergency. Innovative industry players have gone further by providing customers with real-time withdrawals and easier visibility of returns through the USSD platform and mobile App.

Third, distribution models have also played a major role. Today, insurance agents, financial advisers, digital platforms, and even content creators have become important intermediaries in explaining CISs such as MMFs to Kenyans in a simple and accessible format. What was once seen as a complex investment product is now part of everyday financial conversations, helping to democratise a product that was once viewed as inaccessible for investors with lower investment amounts.

Liquidity of the MMFs is based on their investments in relatively stable, liquid and short-term instruments such as Treasury bills, bank deposits, government securities and selected corporate instruments. This structure is designed to preserve capital, provide liquidity, and generate steady income.

Calling the phenomenal growth of MMFs a bubble may be misleading. A bubble normally involves speculative buying, inflated asset prices, and a rush into products whose prices are detached from their real value. MMFs are different. They are not built on hype around future prices. They are pooled funds invested in income-generating instruments, short-term, highly liquid and stable.

These funds are among the lower-risk investment options available to retail investors. They are diversified across several instruments, regulated by the Capital Markets Authority and structured with checks and balances involving fund managers, trustees and custodians.

Plus, they are incorporated as Trusts with Trustees looking after the investors’ interests. While this does not entirely eliminate risks, the governance framework makes MMF very different from speculative investments that are more susceptible to market and governance risks.

MMFs have also generally delivered stronger yields with net annual returns often ranging between 7.5 percent and 10.6 percent over the last few years. In an environment where Kenyans are looking for ways to protect the value of their money, such returns are naturally attractive.

So, will the growth of MMFs flatten? Possibly. As awareness increases, the pace of growth may moderate. Some investors may eventually move into fixed-income funds, pension products, equities or other long-term investment vehicles depending on their goals and risk appetite. That is an expected market development. It is market maturity.

Kenya’s money market fund growth is not about a new investment trend. It is about savers discovering a regulated, liquid and relatively low-risk way to grow their money.

A court has upheld Kenya National Highways Authority’s (KeNHA) requirement that applicants for road engineer jobs be registered with the Engineers Board of Kenya, dealing a setback to engineering technologists seeking access to the positions.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court dismissed a petition filed by the Institution of Engineering Technology of Kenya (IET-K), ending a legal challenge that had frozen the recruitment of 27 Engineer (Roads) positions advertised by KeNHA in December last year.

The ruling comes amid a growing dispute over professional boundaries in the engineering sector, where engineering technologists have increasingly challenged hiring criteria they say exclude qualified graduates from public service jobs.

The court found that engineers and engineering technologists are distinct professions established under separate laws, training frameworks and regulatory systems.

“The two professions are distinct and intended to be so,” the judge said.

“While engineers are defined as creators, designers and developers, engineering technologists are defined as implementors of technology education,” he added.

The contested vacancies were advertised on December 2, 2025, and later re-advertised on December 9. The positions required applicants to hold engineering degrees and be registered by the Engineers Board of Kenya as graduate engineers.

IET-K argued that the requirement unlawfully locked out its members, who are registered by the Kenya Engineering Technologists Registration Board, despite being qualified to perform many of the duties listed in the job description.

The organisation asked the court to quash the recruitment exercise and compel KeNHA to issue a fresh advertisement for the positions.

KeNHA rejected the claims and said it was implementing career progression guidelines approved by the Public Service Commission.

The authority told the court that engineers and engineering technologists follow different academic pathways, perform different functions, and occupy separate career streams within the organisation.

KeNHA explained that road engineers are tasked with functions such as design, feasibility studies, quality assurance, and professional decision-making.

On the other hand, engineering technologists perform more applied, technical, and support roles. It attributed this distinction to fundamental differences in academic training and professional competence.

According to court filings, Engineer (Roads) positions form part of the engineering cadre, while engineering technologists have their own progression structure and entry-level positions.

The Engineers Board of Kenya supported KeNHA’s position and argued that only persons registered under the Engineers Act can practise as engineers or offer professional engineering services.

In dismissing the petition, the court said IET-K had failed to prove that engineering technologists and engineers were similarly situated for purposes of recruitment.

The court found that the petitioner had provided no evidence showing that engineering technology qualifications were equivalent to civil engineering or civil and structural engineering degrees required for the positions.

“The respondent’s advertisement was lawful, just, reasonable and consistent with its human resource instruments and the law,” the court said.

The ruling lifted orders that had stalled the recruitment process since December.

The engineering technologists have other similar petitions challenging requirements tying engineering jobs to registration by the Engineers Board of Kenya.

An Egyptian health technology company has moved to challenge a court order to halt its radiology services in Kenya following concerns over the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and telemedicine.

Rology Medical Kenya filed an urgent application seeking orders blocking implementation of the judgment that halted its business pending compliance with Kenyan health and data protection laws.

The application has been certified urgent and is scheduled for directions on June 24, escalating a dispute that could shape the regulation of digital healthcare, telemedicine and patient data transfers.

The move comes days after a Nairobi court ordered the immediate suspension of the firm’s operations, finding that regulators failed to ensure it complied with medical licensing and data protection requirements before offering radiology services in Kenya.

The court also directed the Ministry of Health and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) to cancel any licences, approvals or authorisations issued to the company relating to the handling, storage or processing of patients’ health records through its digital platforms.

The case was brought by officials of the Kenya Association of Radiologists, who argued that the company’s model exposed patients to privacy risks and undermined professional oversight of medical services.

At the centre of the dispute is Rology’s platform, which links hospitals with radiologists in different countries to interpret medical images and return reports to local healthcare facilities.

Read: Court freezes AI-powered radiology platform over patient safety, privacy fears

The company told the court that the platform was designed to address shortages of radiologists and improve access to specialist diagnostic services, particularly in underserved areas.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Rology also said important facts about its operating model, licensing arrangements, clinical governance structures, patient-safety systems and data protection safeguards were not properly presented before the court.

“Rology strongly believes that important facts regarding Rology Kenya’s operating model, licensing arrangements, clinical governance, data protection safeguards, and patient-safety processes were not properly presented before the Court,” the company said as it seeks to regain its operating licence.

“We are hopeful that the court will find in our favour, enabling us to seamlessly continue providing critical support to our patients,” the company said.

Rology said it had worked with hospitals across Kenya to reduce reporting backlogs, ease pressure on radiologists and improve turnaround times for diagnostic reports.

The company previously told the court that it had supported more than 60,000 patients and worked with about 40 public health facilities.

It also rejected allegations that Artificial Intelligence generated diagnoses without human oversight.

According to court filings, the company said its platform matched medical images uploaded by hospitals with qualified radiologists and that reports were reviewed and validated by Kenyan-licensed radiologists before release. The petitioners, however, argued that radiological images and patient information were being transferred outside Kenya without adequate disclosure to patients.

They contended that patients were not informed about the identities, qualifications or locations of professionals preparing reports and that the arrangement raised concerns over privacy, consumer protection and professional accountability.

In its judgment, the court held that questions raised in the case extended beyond administrative compliance and touched on constitutional rights linked to privacy, healthcare and consumer protection.

The judge found that regulators had failed to adequately address concerns about whether the company was properly registered and licensed to provide health services in Kenya.

The court said registration requirements were not mere procedural formalities but safeguards intended to protect patients and ensure accountability in healthcare delivery.

The ruling came as Kenya expands the use of digital health technologies to bridge shortages of specialist medical personnel, particularly outside major cities.

On Tuesday, Family Bank shares will start trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), allowing shareholders, including its founder Titus Kiondo Muya, to sell part of their stakes to interested investors.

It is a watershed moment for Mr Muya, popularly known as TK, as he proudly watches a bank he founded more than 42 years ago grow from a modest idea to a listed firm.

Muya and his associates, including members of his family, hold a combined 35.6 percent stake in Family Bank, well above the 25 percent ownership cap enforced by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

While the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) requires top shareholders in companies listing by introduction-where no new capital is raised, and there is no initial public offering-to retain their shares for at least two years, Mr Muya and his associates have been exempted from the rule partly to enable the lender to comply with the CBK’s ownership limit.

This means Mr Muya, now in his 80s, and his family could be looking at a windfall running into billions of shillings should they reduce their stake by the required 10.6 percentage points.

Yet for Mr Muya, who stepped down as chief executive in 2006 and relinquished the chairmanship on July 1, 2007, when Family Finance Building Society converted into a commercial bank, his greatest satisfaction is likely to come, not from the potential windfall but from watching the institution edge closer to fulfilling his high-school dream of building a financial institution with branches beyond Kenya.

Today, Family Bank boasts assets of Sh168.5 billion and a network of 95 branches, making it one of Kenya’s largest lenders and the sixth-largest by branch network.

In a public lecture at the University of Nairobi three years ago, Mr Muya traced the origins of Family Bank to 1961, when he was in Form Two, and not 1984 when he registered Family Finance Building Society.

Back then, it was just an abstract idea that crossed his mind after reading a business article in an international magazine: “Most of the big institutions you see today were started by individuals,” Mr Muya recalled the article saying.

“They all start small, and in their own countries of origin, thereafter they open branches across the world to become international organisations.”

The article went on to note that the same principle applied to the world’s largest banks. The young Muya would eventually forget about the article after completing his O-Level examinations in 1963 and entering the workforce. Through the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, he worked diligently, hoping to rise through the ranks.

However, promotions never seemed to come. Instead, he watched as graduates he had mentored rose above him. Whenever he asked why he had been overlooked, he was told that his lack of a university degree stood in his way. He was incensed.

Over time, however, the anger gave way to reflection. Returning to school was unrealistic. He had four children, a wife and mounting family responsibilities. Entrepreneurship appeared to be the only path left. His difficult childhood had already taught him resilience.

His father was killed by British soldiers during the Mau Mau emergency in 1953 and, like the family of Dedan Kimathi, they never learnt where he was buried. His mother was tortured so severely that she eventually became a permanent resident of Mathari Mental Hospital, Mr Muya recalled.

The adversity would later fuel his determination. As he contemplated his future, the article he had read in 1961 came flooding back.

Armed with little more than an idea and an unshakable belief in himself, Muya set out to build a bank. He had neither the money, the university education, nor the experience required to establish and run a financial institution.

“The desire to start a bank was so strong at that point, and it did not even matter that I did not have the money or the knowledge of how to start it. I convinced myself that once I started a bank, somehow, money would be available,” he recalled.

In 1977, he registered a company known as Family Finance and Credit Limited. For the next three years, he did little more than, in his own words, “build castles in the air” about the bank he wanted to establish.

In January 1980, he submitted an application to the Treasury seeking a banking licence under the name Family Finance and Credit Limited. The officials were unimpressed.

He lacked capital, a university degree and banking experience. They repeatedly questioned his qualifications and even asked who his political godfather was: “All I had was an idea. I also had a belief in myself.”

For four years, the application remained stalled. Yet Mr Muya refused to give up. Every Thursday, he would walk to the Treasury Building to inquire about the status of his application.

Eventually, Treasury officials told him he could not be granted a banking licence. Instead, they suggested that he starts a building society. The experience mirrors that of Equity Group founder Peter Munga, who also started with a building society after facing barriers to establishing a bank.

Initially, Mr Muya was offended. In his mind, banks were institutions reserved for the wealthy and politically connected. A building society felt like a downgrade. The following weekend, he shared his frustrations with friends.

One of them advised him to take the opportunity: “You never know, you might end up doing with the building society what you wanted to do with the bank,” Mr Muya recalled his friend saying. The advice changed everything. Within two weeks, on October 1, 1984, he registered Family Finance Building Society. The building society label, however, existed only for regulatory purposes.

Once he received the licence, he walked around town proudly telling anyone who cared to listen that he had started a bank.

“I did not talk about a building society. I said bank, because that is what I believed in.”

He appointed himself chief executive and became the institution’s first employee. On November 1, 1984, Family Finance opened a temporary office on the second floor of Standard Building along Kenyatta Avenue. A year later, it opened branches in Kiambu, Githunguri and Nairobi. In 1986, it expanded further with a branch in Gatundu.

The institution initially focused on serving ordinary Kenyans, particularly tea, coffee and dairy farmers. Loans were designed around farmers’ cash flows, with repayments deducted directly from proceeds earned from tea, coffee and milk deliveries. The model proved highly effective. As more farmers joined, profits followed.

A breakthrough came when Kenya Tea Development Association handed them a cheque of Sh149 million as bonus payment for its members. The bank had never handled such money. According to Mr Muya, he secretly convinced cashiers of some banks to take leave and work for him. Some of them accepted, helping the institution to survive a critical phase of its growth. Expansion followed.

Branches spread throughout the Mt Kenya region before extending to other parts of the country. The 1990s brought fresh challenges.

Interest rates surged, non-performing loans increased, and many indigenous financial institutions collapsed. Political uncertainty compounded the problems, creating widespread panic among depositors.

Yet Family Finance survived. Its resilience strengthened customer confidence and reinforced its position in the market. By the early 2000s, management began pursuing a more ambitious goal-converting the building society into a fully fledged commercial bank.

The process was lengthy and involved significant regulatory and operational hurdles. But by 2005, Family Finance had expanded to more than 30 branches and was ready to make the transition. On July 1, 2007, the building society converted into Family Bank.

Today, his focus is on succession and preserving the legacy of the institution he spent decades building.

Looking back, Mr Muya’s message to young entrepreneurs remains simple: “Take courage and follow your dream and actualise it.”

Growth in corporate tax receipts has slowed to the weakest level in five years, exposing the government’s struggle to squeeze more revenue from businesses and triggering Treasury’s failed bid to raid a minimum of 60 percent of retained earnings.

Analysis of the latest taxation data for nine months ended March 2026 shows that taxes paid by corporations and other enterprises on their income, profits and capital gains rose by a minimal 5.24 percent to Sh351.6 billion.

This marked the weakest expansion since the economy emerged from the Covid-19 downturn, extending a four-year decline from the 21.3 percent expansion recorded in the nine months to March 2022.

The figures indicate that while Corporate Kenya remains profitable, earnings growth is steadily losing momentum amid weaker consumer demand, higher operating costs and an increasingly heavy tax burden.

Against that backdrop, Treasury had sought a new avenue for raising revenue by targeting a minimum percentage of retained corporate earnings.

The Treasury proposal would have required companies to distribute or be deemed to have distributed at least 60 percent of retained earnings, triggering dividend taxation on a much larger portion of corporate profits.

This was an amendment to the prevailing law, where the Commissioner for Large and Medium Taxpayers can demand tax after an assessment on undistributed profits, but the law does not provide a minimum threshold.

Under the Income Tax Act, deemed dividends are charged withholding tax at the rate of five percent for Kenyan residents and 15 percent for non-residents.

The proposal in the Finance Bill 2026 immediately ran into resistance from major business organisations, including the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Eastern Africa, the Kenya Bankers Association, the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY.

Business groups argued that retained earnings are critical for financing expansion projects, maintaining liquidity, strengthening balance sheets and cushioning firms during periods of economic uncertainty.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi defended the bid to trigger dividend taxation on a much larger portion of corporate profits when he presented the Budget statement, arguing that some companies were indefinitely holding back profits to avoid dividend taxation.

“When companies make profits, those profits should find their way back to shareholders within a reasonable time,” Mr Mbadi told lawmakers on June 11.

“Currently, some companies have been holding back their profits indefinitely, simply to defer paying dividend tax. This is a loophole that needs to be addressed.”

The Finance and Planning Committee of the National Assembly, however, acknowledged sustained opposition from manufacturers, bankers, accountants and other private-sector lobbies.

The committee, chaired by Molo legislator Kuria Kimani, noted that stakeholders had warned that the proposal risked creating cash flow constraints and could undermine investment plans.

The House team subsequently recommended that the proposal by the Treasury be watered down from a minimum of 60 percent to a maximum of 40 percent as the threshold for deemed dividend distribution.

“To balance revenue objectives and business sustainability, the committee observes that a 60 percent deemed dividend threshold could place undue pressure on companies and constrain investment decisions,” the Kimani-led team wrote in the report tabled in the House.

The reduced threshold, however, failed to survive amid strong resistance from MPs.

During debate preceding passage of the Finance Bill 2026 last Thursday, Mr Kimani gave notice to drop the clause entirely, handing businesses a victory.

The collapse of the dividend tax proposal removes a potential source of additional revenue at a time when corporate tax growth is slowing.

While total tax collections continue to grow, taxes linked directly to company profits are losing momentum.

The annual increase in corporate tax receipts has fallen from Sh43.4 billion in 2021/22 to Sh37.3 billion, Sh28.8 billion, Sh21 billion and now Sh17.5 billion.

At the same time, the share of total tax revenue contributed by corporations has started to decline, falling to the lowest levels in four years.

Corporate taxes accounted for 17.94 percent of total collections in the nine months to March, down from 18.72 percent a year earlier and below the recent peak of 19.1 percent recorded in 2023/24.

The collections expanded by 21.3 percent in the nine months to March 2022 before easing to 15.1 percent in 2023, 10.1 percent in 2024, 6.7 percent in 2025 and now 5.24 percent in 2026.

The trend mirrors the challenges many firms have reported in recent years, including elevated borrowing costs, higher energy and transport expenses, exchange-rate volatility and subdued household spending.

Listed companies across sectors have increasingly pointed to shrinking consumer purchasing power as households grapple with higher living costs and heavier tax burdens, making it harder for businesses to sustain rapid revenue growth.

A quarter of a century ago, I was a rookie relationship manager at Citibank Kenya. Together with my colleauges, we successfully convinced the finance team of Kenya Ports Authority to outsource the weekly cash payment to thousands of labour casuals to the bank.

This would take the headache away from the finance department for sourcing and holding cash weekly, hiring cashiers in the ‘payment hall’ as well as reconciling payments made to the labour roll.

On the very first day of the pilot, a riot ensued at the port. ‘Menejment wameleta ma-foreina, wameuzia wazungu porti yetu!’ Chaos, anarchy and fear fanned the port.

Turns out, our new system would surface a number of ‘ghost workers’ and it was their malevolent spirits that weaved gracefully amongst the legitimate casual workers, spreading rumours and formenting hate. We prevailed, after much management angst. And the spirits of the ghost workers disappeared.

A video recently went viral on various social media platforms, where the speaker waxed not-so-lyrical about how Kenyan parastatals had been privatised via the Government Owned Enterprises (GOE) Act 2025.

The speaker went further to allege that 63 parastatals had already been privatised and some sold to foreigners and local companies who would later list the shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange and reap the profits thereafter.

As a wise CEO once told me, never counter an emotional argument with facts. I’m not one to follow conventional wisdom, so here come the facts with which I hope those who are spreading that video will at the very least familiarise themselves with.

It bears noting that the current parastatal reform can be traced back to the Kibaki administration with the tabling of the September 2013 report by the Presidential Task Force on Parastatal Reform.

The document commonly known as the Abdikadir Report on Parastatal Reforms, and named for one of the two joint chairmen of the Task Force, Abdikadir Mohamed and Isaac Awuondo, laid out a thorough framework for how government owned entities could be managed commercially and professionally to meet Kenya’s strategic Vision 2030 goals.

The report introduced a new legal framework, the Government Owned Enterprises Bill 2013, to replace the State Corporations Act.

Sadly, the report was placed deep in the back corner of a building on Harambee Avenue by ‘the then owners of power’ whose deeply entrenched noses would have been put out of joint if their board appointing power wings were clipped.

But somewhere deep in the annals of the State Corporations Advisory Committee and within the Office of the President, some people continued to work hard at the thankless task of bringing much needed reform to State agencies. Which work has now culminated into an Act of Parliament that is in full force as we speak.

The purpose of the GOE Act 2025 is to overhaul how Kenya owns, governs, manages, and holds commercially oriented public entities accountable. In practical terms, it is intended to move public ownership away from a fragmented parastatal model and toward a more disciplined, transparent and commercially driven ownership framework.

The core purpose of the Act is to: Establish a clear legal and ownership framework for Government Owned Enterprises;

ensure GOEs operate commercially, profitably, and with greater financial discipline;

reduce reliance on the Exchequer by making GOEs self-financing where possible; improve governance through professional boards, independent directors and clearer accountability; separate the government’s role as owner/shareholder from its role as policy-maker or regulator; require stronger performance management, reporting, disclosure and audit obligations, and

clarify how non-commercial public service obligations are assigned, costed, funded, and monitored.

The Act can fundamentally change public ownership by treating state-owned commercial entities more like accountable investment assets rather than administrative extensions of ministries.

This means firstly moving from political control to shareholder discipline: the National Treasury becomes the central ownership authority, reducing fragmented ministerial control and helping the government act more consistently as a shareholder.

Secondly, it means moving from subsidies to commercial sustainability: GOEs are expected to finance themselves, operate profitably, and justify any public funding through clearly defined public service obligations.

Thirdly, the Act envisages a move from weak politically motivated boards to professional governance: Independent directors, fit-and-proper criteria, competitive appointments and board accountability should reduce patronage and improve strategic oversight.

Fourthly, the GOE Act moves from scattered entities to rationalised ownership. The Act supports mergers, dissolutions, restructuring, and transition into Companies Act structures, enabling government to reduce duplication and focus ownership where there is strategic or economic value.

Finally, the Act gets the Kenyan government to shift its focus from passive State ownership to active portfolio management which means that Kenya can manage GOEs as a public investment portfolio thereby deciding which entities to retain, merge, list, partially privatise, or wind down based on performance, fiscal impact and public interest.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll go into the second schedule to the Act which defines which parastatals are to be converted into companies as well as the notorious kettle of fish that is the framework around appointment of board directors.

The things Prof Wyne Mutuma could do with time. He is an arbitrator, an architect, a professor of law, a lawyer and a father. The chairman of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Kenya hopes, by pursuing professional qualifications, that he is not being elevated by his credentials so much as elevating the credentials themselves. ‘No one,’ he says, ‘can best you at being you.’

He grew up plaiting hair, spending his youth around heads. Perhaps the irony is not lost on him. While education has been served up as his main course, art is the appetiser, the drink and the dessert. He reckons he could have been a poet. ‘Maybe for just one moment in time,’ he says, Whitney Houston, in her prime, in his ears. He may not yet be the world’s greatest, but he is the greatest in the world at his dreams.

For this moment, he’ll settle for being a learned friend. A present friend, too. And for running his race as a good father, so his children begin a little further ahead than he did.

Prof, your résumé is stacked. Have you ever lacked a job?

No, for two reasons. One, I believe work is not necessarily what you’re paid for. Work is a matter of service, and there’s a lot to do in terms of service. I don’t think anyone anywhere should be saying they lack a good job.

Do you remember your first job?

Yes. We had a family business, a beauty salon. You’d be very surprised at how much knowledge I have of Revlon, perming and curly kits [chuckles]. We also had a kiosk and a matatu.

What was your first salary?

About Sh10,000.

What does your buried life look like?

If I had a second chance, I would probably be in the art sphere. I love poetry and music. Those weren’t an option with our parents growing up, but I might have been a very serious musician.

What’s a song that captures your life?

Whitney Houston’s ‘One Moment in Time.’ It gives you a sense of aspiration. Selah’s ‘You Lift Me Up on Your Shoulders’ is a beautiful song too, because it assures you that you can rely on an inner source of strength to carry you through.

‘One Moment in Time’ – where does that song take you?

To the world of dreams, moments, possibilities and the future. I have very strong faith. And I believe we are not here by accident. We get to fulfil something, which is no small feat.

Which artiste feels like an old friend to you?

Denzel Washington and [Lionel] Messi, but I can’t help but admire [Cristiano] Ronaldo. Maybe if I use that phrase, I won’t catch too much fire from either side haha! Ronaldo has a great physique and work ethic [chuckles].

Who are you to yourself?

I’m a learner. I’m also my own best company. I enjoy being alone.

What do you do in your me-time?

I hike every weekend, and I swim a lot too. In the morning, if I have a good day, I wake up, hit the treadmill and then swim. I also love playing guitar, but unfortunately, my guitar vanished. My children deny that they took it. I am also into playing golf, but I haven’t been as consistent.

What have you learnt about yourself on the mountains?urance. It’s a battle, but as you hike, you conquer yourself. I’ve learned to be patient with people and give them grace because I want the same for myself. I’ve also learnt to motivate myself and push through any barriers, and to stay disciplined enough to make a mark.

Why is making a mark so important for you?

Because time is running out. We are in a game of 90 minutes, to borrow a football analogy. If you are lucky, you might get extra time. But you have to use those 90 minutes well. Don’t play for a draw.

When you get to where you are going, where will you be?

I think I will be of value to the largest number of people. That would mean first and foremost my family – my wonderful wife and children. I have to make them enjoy the ride with me. Then my professional circles. My faith and community relations. I would love to do something like what Wangari Maathai did – put our flag on the global map.

Which personal mountain are you still climbing?

Let me make you laugh. I have tried reducing my paunch haha! I have tried quitting sugar, but every now and then I slip [chuckles]. The other, of course, is knowing how to balance everything. I’m constantly trying to make sure I don’t spend too much time chasing something at the expense of other, more important things.

What does fatherhood mean to you?

Modelling. Parents. A springboard to the next generation. I think the word is sustainability. Fatherhood means being there when people need you most, and having the mettle to withstand whatever pressure is hitting them.

What has frightened you most about being a parent?

How much control you don’t have, particularly as children grow. You always think there’s a rulebook, but you realise you’re not in control. You can be the best parent, the most responsible, follow all the rules, but your children go off the grid. The opposite is also true, and that frightens me.

Did your children redefine what success meant for you?

Absolutely. It changed everything. And introduced the notion of balance. That all success means nothing if you fail as a parent. It’s a huge realisation.

When your children wear your shoes, what do you hope they understand?

Success is not success without a successor. The idea of success assumes that you’ve passed on the relay baton to someone who can run faster and farther. I hope my children remember that I ran a good race for them and gave them what they needed to maximise their finish.

Not so much in terms of resources, but more in terms of values: faith, hope and love, and how I demonstrated all of those things in everyday living and in my relationship with people. I’ve been very blessed to have very bright children, but I tell them that beyond classroom intelligence, the world operates on different parameters.

How do you ensure that your achievements are not a standard your children must match or exceed?

Well, I tell them that there are different measures of achievement. And they shouldn’t peg their measurements against what I’ve done, but against their own unique personalities. I really discourage them from comparing themselves with others, including myself. We all cannot be president or recording artists, but we all can be our best.

My daughter, Talitha, used to put it very well when she was much younger: ‘No one can best you at being yourself’. And every time you try to copy others, you are essentially undermining the only gift you can win, which is being yourself.

Do you remember a lesson that has stuck with you from your own father?

My dad was an absentee. I grew up in a single-parent home. A very strong woman. I have huge respect for her. My dad left when I was young.

Left or died?

He left. I learnt that being brought up by a single parent required grit and determination. I’m not sure what happens to women when they have to play the dual role, but they become very strong and determined, and I picked up a lot of that strength in terms of persistence and staying on course.

You actually stole the thunder of my next question, which is: Have you always been a self-starter?

Interestingly, Eddie, I am more of a finisher, but I am a very lazy starter. I was always unfocused, playful and unserious when I started. In junior school, I was always the second- or third-last in class. I look at the young people now, and I admire them, because at university I was just playing.

I didn’t know this was the real deal, that you were in the real world now [chuckles]. It’s both a good and a bad thing because when you wake up towards the end, you work harder.

With your father having left, how did you model fatherhood and manhood to your children so that you did not replicate him?

I have had other father figures, and very strong faith convictions. They taught me a lot of things. I have a very sincere relationship with my heavenly Father. And a lot of what I do, think and believe I basically received from that model.

That’s not really about going to church, but about being authentic in that relationship – and I have learnt kindness, playfulness and laughter from that primary relationship, and hopefully, I will not repeat the things that my old man did during his time.

Did you reconnect?

We did. He is very successful in his own right. And I wanted just to say hello, and not make him think that, you know, ‘Now I’m a lawyer, so I’m going to sue you.’ Haha! He’s got his family, and I didn’t want to bring tremors and panic by popping up [chuckles].

Is your mum still alive?

She is very alive, very strong, very energetic. Full of spirit. Sometimes she hikes. She is a very important pillar of the family. She is a proper matriarch. She brought up, essentially, her 23 siblings.

What do people often misunderstand about you?

My resolve to get things done, because I tend to be very friendly. I don’t push my way. But they may take that to mean I don’t particularly need to get something done. I don’t necessarily take the front seat. I heard somebody say that I could be very unassuming. But people may not know that you are following the proceedings very well; you are just not speaking.

Prof, what’s your weakness?

Maybe saying yes too quickly. Wanting to help and then finding myself at a point where I have got too much to do [chuckles]. I’m getting to the stage where I have to learn to say no.

Has that burnt you?

It has left me committed to things which are overstretching me. In the worst-case scenario, I can’t deliver and have to backtrack. I have also been the culprit in this virtual world, where I am in two meetings.

What is something you used to believe that, with time, you no longer think is true?

I used to believe that everything arises and falls on some linear thing of what you’ve done. The older I’ve grown, the more I’ve seen serendipity and chance in action, and I’ve realised that the outcomes of life are really about chance. Where you are, who you meet and where you were born. There are just so many things at play that will determine the outcome.

And it’s not always, as people tell us, simply an equation of hard work and results. Because you can find two guys who work equally hard, but the opportunities that have come their way have been very different.

So it has humbled me and made me very compassionate towards others, because where they are is not necessarily a reflection of whether they were hardworking or not.

Do you believe in luck?

I believe in providence. I also believe you’ve got to take your chances and play the cards you are dealt. Don’t complain because the show must go on.

What matters less than you thought it would?

The applause people give you, particularly professional awards. What you want to do is just get on with the job. Of course, I also think success is a double-edged sword. Eddie, from my personal experience, the more successful you are, the more you draw, inadvertently, people who are not as pleased with you; success sets you up as a target.

What does success not fix?

It doesn’t fix contentment. You can be very successful, but contentment is not about how much you get. That’s for you to sort out. Be yourself. Be happy with who you are, whether you have much or little.

What does your perfect weekend look like?

It’s a mix of family, self and faith. If I can drag my family to a hike, even better. At times, we chill and watch a good movie together. If I can do outdoor activities like laser tagging, even better. I hike a lot and go on long swims where I reflect and deal with my issues, and when I come back, I’m very chilled. That’s a good weekend.

What do you wish you’d learned sooner in life?

The power of languages. I wish I could have learned many more languages. And two, the beauty of music. I was one of those children who picked subjects because I didn’t want to fail. I wish I could speak some French and not just the traditional languages in Kenya.

I was playing the trumpet when I was young, but I dropped it. Imagine if I could play it now, my wife would just be wowed [chuckles].

Prof, all I am hearing are excuses.

Haha! Okay, I have heard you. I will get back on the treadmill. I’m encouraged, inspired, actually.

Now, give us some good advice.

Live life based on what you would tell your older self. Live like you’ll be here for a long time, say 150 years. And then put all your resources into ensuring that you can do as much as you can.

It will give you two things: one, a lot of patience. It will tell you that the game is not over. There’s still a lot of playing time left.

And two, shame will lose its power because you can still self-correct. But also, live like today is your last day. Because it will ignite a sense of urgency and wonder. Try to live on both sides.