Category: Business Daily

Imperial Bank (In Liquidation) has taken over Salute Holdings, one of East Africa’s largest Apple-authorised distributors, as the lender in liquidation steps up efforts to recover billions of shillings owed by borrowers.

In a public notice, Imperial Bank’s court-appointed receiver manager, Kamal Anantroy Bhatt, announced that he had taken over the management of the Nairobi-based firm, best known for distributing premium consumer electronics, including Apple products.

This is the latest in an aggressive debt recovery strategy by the receiver manager, who recently also took over two other firms for non-payment of the lender’s loans.

Mr Bhatt disclosed that Imperial Bank appointed him receiver and manager of Salute Holdings Limited on May 5, 2026, paving the way for a takeover that will see him oversee all of the company’s businesses.

“The purpose of this notice is to notify all interested stakeholders that following the Receiver’s appointment, the affairs and business of the company shall be directed by the receiver,” said Bhatt in a notice published on Daily Nation on Thursday.

“The powers of the Receiver extends to all assets and undertakings of the company,” he added.

The takeover of Salute Holdings came days after Mr Bhatt placed Sparetech Trading Company Limited and Mawa Dairy Farm Limited under receivership in the latest asset recovery drive by Imperial Bank.

The government, through the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), placed Imperial Bank under receivership on October 13, 2015, following the discovery of a multibillion-shilling fraud orchestrated through undisclosed insider lending and irregular transactions.

Since then Imperial Bank has been running as a going concern with the government hoping to turn it around and recover the depositor’s cash.

Certain assets and liabilities of Imperial Bank were taken over by KCB Bank Kenya, leaving the troubled lender to focus on recovering the bad debt to repay creditors including depositors not covered by government guarantees.

Salute Holdings’ flagship technology business is iWorld, one of the largest authorised resellers of all Apple products in the region. Apple products sold at iWorld include iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods and accessories. Apple-certified repairs and servicing are also done at iWorld.

Besides Apple products, Salute iWorld also stocks premium accessories from brands such as Belkin, Promate and Beats.

Belkin is one of Apple’s longest-standing accessory partners and manufactures. Its products include wireless chargers, charging cables, power banks, USB-C hubs and docking stations, and screen protectors.

Promate Technologies is a Dubai-based company that designs and distributes mobile and computer accessories in more than 150 countries. Its products include phone chargers, power banks, Bluetooth speakers, earphones and headphones, smartwatches, laptop bags and car chargers.

Other businesses under the Salute stable include SportsPlanet, the group’s sports and lifestyle retail chain that sells sporting goods, fitness equipment, apparel and footwear from international brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Grays, Gilbert and Bestway.

The third business is Sensations, a lifestyle retailer specialising in premium audio products, personal electronics, travel accessories, smart gadgets and other consumer technology products from leading global brands.

In line with the Insolvency Act, the current directors of Salute Holdings, including its founder Vivek Mehra, have lost their powers to deal with the company’s business and assets.

Mr Mehra founded Salute Holdings in 1999 as a distributor of premium international consumer brands in East Africa.

The company later became one of the region’s largest Apple-authorised resellers through its Salute iWorld chain.

“Any person who purports to hold, receive, use, or attempts to buy or sell, contract, or otherwise deal or otherwise deal with the assets of the company or with the company without the prior written consent of the receiver will be acting in contravention of the law and will be liable to legal action,” said Bhatt while giving creditors 30 days to lodge their claims with him.

“The directors are required to furnish the receiver the statement of affairs within 12 days, from the date of this notice. The receiver acts on behalf of the company without any personal liability.”

For many organisations, integrating sustainability across the business remains a complex undertaking. Beyond setting ambitious environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, organisations must invest in the systems, skills and processes needed to embed sustainability into everyday decision-making. A key challenge is translating non-financial information into reliable, decision-useful insights that support financial planning, risk management and reporting.

Building this capability often requires significant investment in data, technology, reporting systems and staff competencies. At the same time, organisations are under pressure to ensure these investments deliver practical business value rather than becoming theoretical compliance exercises. Sustainability initiatives must respond to an organisation’s current operational realities while strengthening its ability to withstand future disruptions, regulatory changes and evolving stakeholder expectations.

The challenge is finding the right balance. Organisations that invest too little may address only immediate needs while failing to develop capabilities for long-term resilience. Conversely, organisations that overinvest in sophisticated tools or frameworks without considering their operational context may end up with costly solutions that do little to solve pressing business challenges.

Striking this balance begins with a clear assessment of the organisation’s circumstances. This assessment should consider two key dimensions. The first is the organisation’s exposure to a particular sustainability risk or opportunity. Applying a financial materiality lens helps determine how significantly that issue could affect future cash flows, business performance and enterprise value. The second dimension evaluates whether the organisation has the skills, systems and resources needed to manage that exposure effectively.

Investment decisions should then align with the results of these two assessments. Organisations facing significant sustainability risks should allocate greater resources to strengthening their capabilities, while those with lower exposure may require more proportionate investments. The same principle applies to scenario analysis. Organisations should select analytical approaches that match the scale of their exposure, ranging from qualitative assessments for lower-risk issues to advanced quantitative modelling where risks are material.

In just four years, the ownership of Milestone Games Ltd, the holding company that operates the SportPesa brand in Kenya, has moved from being dominated by a few Kenyan tycoons to being led by a UAE-registered company.

The dramatic ownership changes have also seen little-known Commtech Consortium Ltd acquire a 25 per cent stake in Milestone Games, and quietly exit ownership of another company providing the digital platform for Kenya’s Social Health Authority (SHA) in a Sh104.8 billion deal.

Business Registration Service (BRS) records show that Commtech Consortium now owns 2,500 shares in Milestone Games, which operates one of Africa’s best-known betting platforms in SportPesa.

The share acquisition has made Commtech Consortium the second-biggest shareholder of Milestone Games, only second to another new investor in UAE-registered Techglow Ltd.

Techglow now owns 54 per cent of Milestone Games in share transfers that have seen the ownership of businessman Robert Macharia and Ronald Karauri diluted from 71 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively.

The regulatory filings place the direct stakes of Mr Macharia and Mr Karauri at 0.75 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

The ownership shifts in Milestone Games have emerged in the middle of a boom in the sector, with gamblers placing bets worth a record Sh330.5 billion in the year to June as the State eased punitive taxes on the industry.

At Sh330.5 billion, the bets surpassed the Sh145 billion that retail, foreign, and high-net worth investors splashed on purchase of shares at the Nairobi bourse, which posted a return of 34 percent.

This underlines the outsized dividends available to owners of betting firms.

Under UAE law, company shareholding and directorship records are not public documents, making it difficult to establish the beneficial ownership of companies registered in the emirates.

Techglow is registered in Ras Al Khaima.

Ras Al Khaima is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE. It is located on the UAE’s northern coast, approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Dubai.

Publicly available records online did not provide any information on Techglow other than its registration in Ras Al Khaima.

There was no company website or social media pages linked to or associated with Techglow.

In a separate round of ownership changes, Commtech Consortium is no longer listed in the ownership structure of the firm that built and leased the digital platform to SHA.

A consortium of Safaricom PLC, UAE-registered Apeiro Ltd and Konvergenz Network Solutions is developing and leasing to the Health ministry a system integrating Kenya’s public health ecosystem, for Sh104 billion over 10 years.

Commtech Consortium owned 22.5 per cent of Konvergenz Network Solutions when the consortium was formed.

That 22.5 per cent stake is now in the hands of UAE-registered Starway Trading Ltd, BRS filings show.

It is unclear whether that transfer was the result of a share sale to the UAE firm, or whether Starway Trading is an offshore vehicle owned by Commtech Consortium’s shareholders.

The Business Daily was unable to get a comment from Commtech Consortium because calls listed at BRS were unanswered.

Emails sent to Konvergenz Network Solutions on the ownership changes were also not responded to by the time of going to press.

Commtech Consortium was incorporated on March 23, 2023.

Dadson Wahagi Mugo owns 80 per cent and Elvis Charo Kitsao has a 20 per cent stake, according to BRS records.

Milestone Games has two shareholders – Commtech Consortium and Nob Five Ltd, with a 75 percent stake.

Benard Chauro Matoke is listed as the only director in Milestone Games, but holds no shares.

A breakdown of Nob Five owners reveals seven shareholders, including Techglow, Mr Macharia, Mr Karauri and James Ngengi Muigai, a relative of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

White Hart Ltd, owned by businessman Tom Waireri Thuo, a top shareholder in Nob Five, is the third-largest owner of Milestone Games, with an 11.6 per cent stake.

SportPesa exited the Kenyan market in 2019 amid a tax dispute, which also saw its operating licence suspended.

At that time, its owners were largely consolidated under a different holding company – Pevans East Africa.

In November 2019, SportPesa halted operations due to a drastic hike in taxes on betting stakes and a multi-billion shilling demand from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

Pevans East Africa, the original owner of the SportPesa trademark, would later transfer the brand to UK-based SportPesa Global Holding Limited (SGHL).

Milestone Games was subsequently assigned the right to use the SportPesa trademark in Kenya by SportPesa Global in the roundabout deals, sparking shareholder fights in Pevans East Africa.

Data from the KRA revealed the boom in online gambling after the taxman netted Sh16.5 billion in excise taxes from the industry, surpassing its target by 15.9 percent.

This emerged in a period when Kenya lowered excise duty to 5.0 percent from 15 percent, offering relief to gamblers.

The cut in the excise rate likely encouraged more gambling activities as the taxman rejected a push to encourage betting, linking the rise in collections to improved tax administration.

As a boom in online gambling across Africa gathers pace, governments are hiking taxes to contain addiction risks and fill depleted public coffers.

But Kenya pushed back from the higher taxes in the year starting July 2024.

Betting firms across the continent have lobbied hard against higher taxes, arguing that the tax would not curb problem gambling but instead push it to underground sites, which they say would proliferate without the extra burden of the levies.

Once a niche activity, gambling has exploded across the continent as a result of easily available online betting accounts.

The outsized stakes underline Kenya’s ranking as Africa’s top betting market. A GeoPoll survey, published last month, showed that 64 percent of respondents in the country had placed a bet on at least one football game in the past 12 months.

Kenyans outpaced other African peers with the high level of sports betting engagement in the past 12 months, beating Ghanaians and South Africans, who ranked second and third with engagement levels of 60 per cent and 58 percent, respectively.

When Kajiado County Government awarded a contractor a Sh3.9 million contract to grade and gravel the Acacia Feeder Road in February 2024, Kitengela residents expected smoother journeys to Namanga Road and the town centre.

However, the contractor abandoned the project four months later after completing barely one kilometre of the promised four, leaving the estate’s only access road covered with loose stone chippings, patches of exposed cotton soil and poor-quality murram that turned into dust during dry weather and mud whenever it rained.

The residents refused to accept what many Kenyans have become accustomed to-poor workmanship, substandard roads, abandoned public projects and disappearing public funds.

Instead of complaining on social media or waiting for the next election cycle, they organised themselves through residents’ associations. They documented the defects, photographed the damaged road, commissioned an engineering assessment and sued the county, its contractor, the local MCA and other officials over substandard works and an undelivered project.

Their request for the procurement records from the county government was unsuccessful after the officials declined to release the information.

Two years later, the High Court has handed them a landmark victory, finding that ordinary citizens can invoke the Constitution to challenge how public money is spent on local development projects.

In a judgment dated July 20, the court rewarded their persistence with a precedent-setting judgment that recognised the residents’ petition as an effort to enforce “constitutional accountability, transparency and integrity obligations against public officers and a county government.”

Affirming the power of citizens to use the Constitution to demand accountability over public projects, the court also issued far-reaching orders requiring the Director of Criminal Investigations, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Controller of Budget and the Kajiado County Assembly to examine the judgment and supporting evidence for any action they may consider appropriate.

The case was filed by four officials of the Kitengela Acacia Larger Neighbourhood Association (KALNA) and the Oloika Community Resident Association (OCRA) on behalf of the residents and daily users of the road.

Their petition targeted Simongiko Valley Works Limited, which had won the road contract, the County Government of Kajiado, senior county roads and public works officials, and Oloosirkon/Sholinke MCA.

According to the residents, the contractor reported to the site only in early June 2024 after repeated demands from the community despite receiving the award in February. They told the court that the works fell far below the contract specifications.

The petitioners said the contractor spread a thin layer of poor-quality material presented as murram over a short stretch of the road without proper compaction.

They also complained that loose stone chippings were scattered across the surface before the contractor abandoned the site while claiming the works had been completed.

Their concerns went beyond poor workmanship. They alleged that the project was supervised not by county engineers but by a ward development officer attached to the MCA’s office, who also procured the murram used on the road.

They further alleged that the MCA was the true beneficiary of the contract through the contractor. The MCA did not file a response in court to challenge those allegations. The residents also wanted to know how nearly Sh4 million in public funds had been spent.

They repeatedly wrote to the county government requesting the Bill of Quantities, road designs, tender evaluation documents, award letter and contract agreement. The documents were not supplied despite several requests.

The court found that the county only produced some of the records after the case had already been filed.

“The Bill of Quantities was only provided when it was annexed to the 2nd to 5th respondents’ (county government and Roads Chief Officer) replying affidavit… over a year and a half after the petition was filed and only in the context of these proceedings,” the court said.

The court ruled that supplying the documents after litigation had begun did not erase the earlier violation.

“A constitutional violation is not expunged by belated compliance under the compulsion of litigation.”

The county government maintained that the procurement process complied with the law and that its engineers had inspected the road before issuing a completion certificate confirming the works had been completed.

The court, however, was not persuaded. The court noted that the residents had produced photographs showing punctured tyres, damaged vehicles, schoolchildren walking on loose stones and school buses stranded after rainfall.

They also presented an engineering assessment estimating that the actual works completed were worth about Sh1.2 million compared with the Sh3.97 million contract value.

“A completion certificate does not, in and of itself, constitute conclusive proof of satisfactory execution of works where there is credible evidence to the contrary,” the court ruled.

It found that the county had failed to ensure public money was used to deliver the project to the required standards.

“The failure to ensure that public funds were applied to execute the contracted works to specification, resulting in the road being left in a worse condition than before the works commenced, constitutes an omission that violates the petitioners’ right to a clean and healthy environment,” the court stated.

It also awarded the four petitioners Sh150,000 each, totalling Sh600,000 as damages and Sh300,000 as costs of the case.

In its final orders, the court ordered the county government to organise an independent inspection of the road within 60 days and prepare a plan to remedy any defects identified.

It directed the county to release all procurement records relating to the project free of charge to the residents.

The aviation industry has long measured progress through engineering breakthroughs. Predictive maintenance systems, advanced avionics and increasingly sophisticated digital flight planning tools have reshaped how airlines operate and how safety is maintained.

However, alongside these technical advances has been a subtler transformation, which has had less to do with hardware and more with how operations are communicated and understood.

For example, at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ we have an ‘Intern on a Mission’ programme series, which places interns inside real airline workflows, documenting everyday processes that are rarely visible to the public.

With this, interns have a full view and narrative covering crew briefings, cockpit preparation, take off, route optimisation, inflight coordination and landing procedures.

That perspective matters because aviation safety is shaped as much by organisational culture as by technology. Airlines operate through complex networks of interdependent roles, yet much of that complexity remains hidden, even from professionals outside their own departments.

Story telling initiatives like this open a window into daily operations and begin to dissolve existing boundaries, revealing how engineers, cabin crew, pilots and ground staff function as parts of a tightly integrated safety ecosystem.

Seen this way, storytelling aligns with a broader industry movement toward systems thinking.

Modern safety frameworks rely on layers of redundancy and human decision-making designed to anticipate and absorb risk. However, these systems only function effectively when participants share a common understanding of how their roles intersect. Making operational workflows visible helps cultivate that shared awareness, reinforcing the idea that safety is a continuous collaboration across disciplines and not just a single action, as can be easily perceived.

Meanwhile, as airlines seek to strengthen safety culture internally, they are also confronting an external challenge, and that is attracting the next generation of aviation professionals.

Rising passenger demand and expanding connectivity across the world are increasing the pressure on airlines to recruit pilots, engineers, maintenance specialists and digital operations experts.

Already, there are calls in some regions to raise the pilot retirement age by two years to mitigate a looming shortage, as many approach the mandatory 65-year retirement age.

In this context, traditional recruitment messaging often struggles to capture the dynamism and complexity of such careers, while behind-the-scenes formats offer an alternative that could allow potential recruits to see aviation as a lived environment defined by teamwork, decision-making and constant learning.

The appeal of such formats lies partly in authenticity.

Watching an intern participate in operational briefings introduces viewers to the rhythms of airline life without the distance created by corporate messaging.

For audiences in emerging markets, like those in Africa, where direct exposure to aviation careers may be limited, such visibility can play a role in expanding the talent pipeline by making unfamiliar roles feel attainable.

This same transparency carries implications for how airlines engage with passengers. The aviation industry operates under intense scrutiny, particularly during delays, disruptions or safety-related incidents, when public confidence can be tested.

Explaining procedures and decision-making processes through accessible storytelling helps build a more informed audience, one that understands both what happens but why. Over time, this form of communication may help reduce misunderstandings and reinforce trust during moments of operational stress.

At the same time, as airlines increasingly adopt advanced technologies, the demand for such clear, narrative-driven communication is only intensifying.

Data analytics, predictive maintenance and connected aircraft technologies are adding new layers of operational complexity that can be difficult to convey through traditional channels. Narrative-driven formats offer a bridge between technical depth and public comprehension, translating sophisticated systems into stories that retain accuracy without sacrificing accessibility.

However, maintaining credibility in this approach requires restraint because audiences quickly detect when storytelling prioritises branding over substance.

The effectiveness of ‘Intern on a Mission’ over the last eight years has been grounded in its observational tone, which allows professionals to demonstrate expertise organically rather than through scripted messaging. Such authenticity suggests a broader lesson for airlines experimenting with similar formats that transparency works best when it feels earned rather than engineered.

Kenya’s savings and credit cooperative (sacco) sector remains one of the country’s greatest financial inclusion success stories. For decades, saccos have enabled millions of Kenyans to save, access affordable credit, educate their children, invest in businesses and improve their livelihoods.

Today, regulated saccos serve approximately 7.4 million members, with assets exceeding Sh1.2 trillion, leveraging on over Sh870 billion in member deposits, making it a critical pillar of Kenya’s financial system and economic development.

As the prudential regulator, the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) has a statutory responsibility to safeguard members’ deposits, preserve financial stability and promote a safe, sound and efficient sacco sector. This responsibility guides our supervisory approach and the reform agenda currently underway through our parent Ministry of Cooperatives, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

Kenya’s savings and credit cooperative (sacco) sector remains one of the country’s greatest financial inclusion success stories. For decades, saccos have enabled millions of Kenyans to save, access affordable credit, educate their children, invest in businesses and improve their livelihoods.

Today, regulated saccos serve approximately 7.4 million members, with assets exceeding Sh1.2 trillion, leveraging on over Sh870 billion in member deposits, making it a critical pillar of Kenya’s financial system and economic development.

As the prudential regulator, the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) has a statutory responsibility to safeguard members’ deposits, preserve financial stability and promote a safe, sound and efficient sacco sector. This responsibility guides our supervisory approach and the reform agenda currently underway through our parent Ministry of Cooperatives, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

Average annual commissions earned by M-Pesa agents have dropped to a record low of Sh112,244 in the year ended March 2026 as increased competition squeezes returns, pushing them to seek additional income through rival services such as agency banking and Airtel Money.

The latest figure, which is equivalent to Sh9,353 per month, marked a drop from Sh124,720 in 2025 and Sh144,355 in 2024, with the estimates inferred from the number of agents and total commissions paid out by Safaricom.

Disclosures from the telco show that the number of M-Pesa agents climbed to 333,011 in the financial year ended March 2026, up from 298,890 in a similar period last year, nearly double the 173,000 outlets recorded in 2020.

The rapid rise in the number of agents has intensified competition for transactions, shrinking the average earnings per agent despite continued growth in overall mobile money usage.

Safaricom says M-Pesa now facilitates over 136 million daily transactions for 40.66 million customers, having processed Sh41.68 trillion in the year to March 2026 or an equivalent to about 2.4 times of Kenya’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Sh17.577 trillion.

Over the past three years to March 2026, Safaricom has welcomed 70,995 new agents. However, its spending on the agents has dipped by Sh444.8 million to Sh37.38 billion in the year ended March 2026, having peaked at Sh37.82 billion in the year ended March 2024.

Safaricom data shows M-Pesa commissions remained relatively stable at about Sh37.38 billion in the year under review compared to Sh37.27 billion in 2025, highlighting that the decline in individual earnings is largely a function of the swelling agent base.

The trend points to a growing pressure on the traditional M-Pesa agency model, which has long been a key income stream for thousands of small businesses across the country.

Agents, once buoyed by strong margins from deposits, withdrawals and airtime sales, are increasingly finding these revenue streams insufficient to sustain operations.

The latest average earnings, which is about Sh9,353 a month, is barely enough to cover basic costs such as rent and wages for those who employ attendants.

Many M-Pesa operators are therefore diversifying into other financial services to cushion their earnings as the rise of digital payments in the economy cuts cash sending and receiving footfall at agent’s outlets.

Many mobile money recipients who previously withdrew cash before transacting are now paying for expenses such as food, school fees, rent and fare directly through mobile money platforms.

For instance, Safaricom’s Lipa na M-Pesa revenues rose by 21.7 percent to Sh9.3 billion in the year ended March 2026, while Pochi la Biashara revenue grew by 86 percent to Sh4 billion over the same period, boosted by increased usage.

Average annual earnings per M-Pesa agent peaked in 2016 at Sh145,768 when Safaricom paid out Sh14.68 billion to 100,744 agents. The average earnings have been generally declining since then.

Agency banking, where agents offer services on behalf of banks such as cash deposits and withdrawals has emerged as a key alternative for agents trying to steady their earnings.

Many of the mobile money agents are now opting to run M-Pesa business alongside rival Airtel Money and banking agency services for multiple banks such as KCB Bank Kenya, Equity Bank Kenya and Co-operative Bank of Kenya under one roof.

Offering the financial services of multiple firms under one roof is helping them to tap into additional transaction flows and commissions, making their operations sustainable.

M-Pesa agents’ squeeze on earnings is also being compounded by declining revenues from airtime sales, which were traditionally their supplementary income stream.

Safaricom disclosures show Airtime commissions stood at about Sh9.41 billion in 2026, marking modest recovery from a record low Sh8.1 billion in 2025.

The telco does not disclose the number of agents who exclusively sell airtime. However, many M-Pesa outlets also sell airtime, meaning that the per agent commission for airtime has followed the same trend as that of mobile money.

Earnings from airtime have generally been on decline, having peaked at Sh11.42 billion in 2018 before dropping below Sh10 billion in 2020 and further to the record low of 2025.

The decline in airtime earnings has coincided with reduced talk time and falling calling tariffs as telcos cut prices to cushion the drop in voice usage among Kenyans.

The Kenyan market has witnessed shifts in consumer behaviour including the rising use of internet-based messaging and calling apps such as WhatsApp.

In addition, customers are increasingly purchasing airtime directly through M-Pesa and other digital channels, reducing reliance on physical scratch cards that agents used to sell. This has further tightened margins in an already competitive environment.

The continued expansion of the agency network in the financial sector, driven by efforts to deepen financial inclusion and expand access points, means that competition for transactions in the financial sector will intensify further.

Central Bank of Kenya data shows banks and microfinance banks had contracted 89,167 and 539 bank agents, respectively by the end of 2024. Over 90 percent of the approved bank agents were concentrated in three banks namely Equity Bank Kenya (37,704), KCB Bank Kenya (23,336) and Cooperative Bank of Kenya (18,207).

Safaricom, once dependent on voice and messaging revenue, has transformed itself into a technology firm drawing most of its revenue from mobile money services and data.

In the year ended March 2026, M-Pesa was the top revenue earner, generating Sh182.74 billion, followed by mobile data revenue (Sh92.91 billion). Voice revenue came third (Sh84.82 million) while messaging returned Sh11.17 billion.

Frank Mwiti likes to say that he could have been an astronomer. He certainly shoots for the stars, because when he was a boy, he sent NASA a letter. The space agency replied with space magazines, and Frank became an instant celebrity in his local Meru School, a superstar. He was a new generation of nerd back then, its promised messiah.

Not that the CEO of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has lost that sense of wonder. If the world is still an oyster, he has eaten most of it-devouring horses in Russia, whale meat in Japan and wrestling with the notoriously pungent fermented fish in Finland. He is down for whatever. ‘Paying for a trip has a better return on investment than going to a movie theatre or a lecture hall,’ he says.

Travel has whetted his appetite for life. To cover the world before it covers him. It’s what an astronomer would do. ‘By the way,’ he says, ‘I am an astronomer, not an astrologer. There is a difference.’ The difference is he can’t read stars, but he knows, in his favour, they are aligned.

What is the best compliment you’ve received that has stayed true over the years? That I’m not a pushover. It came through earlier in my career, but it has become more pronounced as I grew older. If I think there is something that needs to be done and I am the person to get it done, then I walk the journey, and I won’t get pushed over. But there is probably an element of stubbornness too [chuckles].

What do you believe today that the 25-year-old you would not? Haha! I’m surprised that I am still in employment. Because as much as I’m in a leadership position, I had exited employment and started running my business, transitioned back to Kenya, and joined Ernst and Young as a partner. And a partner is an owner of a business. I’m happy where I am, but maybe in my twilight, I will go back to entrepreneurship.

Do you remember your first ever salary? PwC in the year 2000. When they offered me a role, I was on campus, and at that time, I had been offered Sh45,000 by KPMG. So I went and told PwC that if they wanted me, they needed to give me Sh50,000. They gave it to me, and I thought I had negotiated a lot of money [chuckles].

Was that good money? For a young single man? Okay, my context is different. When I joined university, I was already doing different biashara. I was selling stationery; I had some part-time accountancy job, I had done my CPAs. I was selling clothes from Gikomba…I had money. Sh50,000 in 2000 was good money haha! And it was constant too.

What did you understand about money then that has been helping you till now? Saving. Biashara money was volatile. Getting into employment and having a constant check that was also supporting savings into pension. I saved in Saccos, and used some money to buy I shares in the NSE. I have kept that discipline.

What do you admire most about that young man? He was very intellectually curious. He embraced change very early. And that has actually been a big contributor to my career growth. He enjoyed himself, and aspects of that have remained. I read a lot, especially documentaries and astronomy. I am an amateur astronomer.

What does that look like, astronomy? Looking at the sky, following developments around matter and space. Thinking about my early childhood, big ambition to be an astronaut and go to the moon. I would love to travel in space. That’s on my bucket list. I’m a member of the Kenya Space Society. I love going to Meru just to look at the stars; you can’t do that in Nairobi. Space grounds you-how significant and insignificant we are.

How does a boy from Meru start learning about space without people thinking he is going cuckoo? I have always been fascinated by space. I decided one day to write a letter, while in Standard Four, to NASA. True story. I bought a stamp, sent the letter, and a year later I got a package from NASA with magazines about rockets, space travel, the astronaut club, such things. I was a big celebrity in my school then [chuckles]. They told me that being an astronaut would be tough, so the next best thing was to be a pilot, which is how I ended up at Mang’u High School, which offered aviation classes.

How do you ensure the boy in you doesn’t lose that sense of wonder? By remaining curious and not defining myself by the work I do. To lead a full, purposeful, healthy life, you have to have different interests and accommodate them. I’ve never gotten to a point where I think it’s all work and nothing.

How has astronomy changed the way you live? One, it has enabled me to have other friends and relationships outside work. Two, it has informed my view of life, which is that we really are stewards of this planet. It’s incomprehensibly big, which means you cannot consider yourself overly important. Three, it’s an escape from all the pressures and stresses of working life. I couldn’t care less about football; I know I’m a nerd [chuckles].

Tell me about your shamballa. Do they have a meaning for you? All of them have serious meaning, and I have had them for long. I have one that speaks to my continent, Africa. I lived in the UK for 15 years, and part of the reason I came back is that I feel we need to pull our weight because no one is coming to save Africa. It’s for the same reason I have one Shamballa for Kenya. Then I have this one, that’s about my children, why I wake up every day. There’s Leo, my son; he’s seven, so that tells you I started late [chuckles]. And my daughter, Rose Watiri, but we call her Teshi. This other Shamballa was from my wife. And the final one reminds me of my extended family. I have been wearing my watch on the right since the year 2000.

Starting a family late, do you think your children got a better father now than they would have if you had started earlier? Yes. I look back now, and I feel I really was absolutely inexperienced. I got my children in my 40s. They now have a more patient father compared to who I was in my 20s and 30s. I don’t suffer fools. I was fairly impatient. Now I am more sober. They also have a more experienced father, who has figured out his life’s purpose.

How did you block out the pressure of your contemporaries having children earlier? So you’ve assumed it was a plan? Haha! I used to say I would marry when I was 35. It was just life happening the way it did. You go through ups and downs. You have relationships that don’t work and all that. With hindsight, this has been fantastic. It is working exactly how it should work. I am very happy.

When your children are adults, you will be at a different stage of life than many other fathers. How does that shape the way you think about the years ahead? My focus is to bring up children who are globally oriented. I also want to bring up children who have moral values, including respect and hard work, not just instructions. I also want them to be proud of being African.

How has travel changed you? I’ve been very fortunate to travel the world extensively. In Africa, you can count on my hands where I have not been. Perhaps that’s part of the reason I got married late. I was all over the place [chuckles]. In many ways, that has also contributed to who I am now. But it has also helped demystify some of these places and made me realise they have serious challenges, but also that some have absolutely done phenomenal transformation that we can learn from. Travel widens your perspective.

What’s your top travel tip? Be open-minded. I would even say don’t plan everything to the T. Go off the beaten path. When I travel to a popular tourist destination, say Rome, I try the local areas and food. The tourist places are very sanitised and scripted for you and boring, actually, in my view.

How has travel changed over the years? When I moved to the UK in 2004, and budgets were very constrained, I only went to the common places. Over time, I have been more adventurous, going to destinations others are not going. I value local guides. The difference is real. The local guide will accompany you and tell you stories about things that are very different from if you were just sauntering alone. They will even make you notice things you wouldn’t otherwise have noticed. Be open to cuisine too. I can eat anything.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten? Frogs. Horses in Russia. Whale meat in Japan. I have tried shark meat too. I don’t hold back [chuckles]. There is a fish (surströmming) in Finland that smells so bad; in fact, it is rotten. I have eaten that one too haha!

What’s a misconception about travel you’d debunk? That it’s expensive. Travel is not expensive. Buying travel tickets early can be very affordable. Travelling is not just about plane tickets; a lot of Kenyans have not even been to Uganda or Turkana. What is travel for you? Start where you are.

What habit are you trying to break? I have many [chuckles]. One is being preoccupied with work. I want to strike a better balance between work and life. If I have more life than more work, then all the other things I can solve. But I also want to be a better person. Eddie, we need to be optimistic about our continent. We have everything we need to make Africa successful. More of us need to commit to unlocking Africa’s potential.

What part of success disappointed you? Maybe not disappointing but eye-opening. You climb a hill. You get to the peak. And then you find there’s another hill. It’s a sobering, Herculean task.

When is it enough? It’s enough when it’s served its purpose. If I set out to do a task or to accomplish a goal, and that goal is accomplished, in my view, it’s enough. They say money will never be enough. Money itself has no value. It’s what you use it for. And it’s enough when the purpose for which you set out to do is accomplished.

What do you do today exactly the way your mother taught you? I have to be tidy. When I wake up, I have to make the bed. I need to wear clean, polished shoes. My mum said, ‘Be tidy.’ My dad said, ‘What you start, you finish.’

When you look in the mirror, what do you hope to see? The man staring back at me is a man who knows his weaknesses and his strengths, and has come to embrace them. But it is also a man who is very purposeful in playing a role in Africa’s transformation, which starts with me being a responsible father and husband. And then it goes to my country.

Tell me a life secret that life has taught you. Be you, the world will adjust. It also removes a lot of stress [chuckles]. In my 30s I realised I needn’t copy others, just be you.

What’s your superpower? I can focus, and I see my daughter has the same focus. I don’t get easily distracted.

How do you do that considering the world we are living in today, everything wants your attention? It’s down to things that align with my interests and my purpose. If it’s not aligned with my interests or my purpose, it doesn’t attract my attention. It can be in my view, but the filter is my interests.

When was the last time you did something for the first time? Two weekends ago, I switched off my phone on Friday and switched it back on on Monday. The stock market did not crash, which tells you I built a team and an institutional system that works haha! It was liberating! We all underestimate how much the phone has enslaved us.

What is your top tip for the second half of 2026? The stars are aligned with my purpose, which is to champion Africa’s transformation and the success we are having at the NSE. The peace and the joy of my family. When I look up at the sky, it confirms that I’m a child of the stars and the stars are with me.

What success metric no longer defines you? Being praised. See, you don’t require external validation. You know you’ve done it, whether you are praised or not. When I was younger, that mattered a lot.

The Auditor-General has flagged the purchase of Sh650million mobile phones for community health promoters (CHPs) without inclusion in the approved 2024/25 annual procurement plan of the Health ministry.

CHPs are trained community members who serve as a link between the community and formal health facilities. Often travelling on foot or by motorcycle, they conduct home visits, provide health education, support disease surveillance and facilitate referrals, particularly in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.

According to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, all government purchases must be included in an approved annual procurement plan before the procurement process can begin.

However, in the audit report for the financial year ending June 30, 2025, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu found that this requirement had not been met, raising concerns over compliance with procurement law and accountability.

‘During the year under review, the State Department procured community health promoters’ phones at a cost of Sh650 million, which were not included in the annual procurement plan,’ said Ms Gathungu. ‘In the circumstances, value for money on expenditure incurred could not be confirmed.’

Annual procurement plans are intended to guide government purchasing by identifying the goods, works and services to be procured during a financial year, their estimated costs, and sources of funding. This helps to ensure that public spending is planned, budgeted for, and subject to oversight before contracts are awarded.

The phones form part of the government’s plan to digitise community healthcare by equipping 100,000 CHPs with smartphones linked to the Electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS). The devices enable CHPs to register households, capture patient data, submit reports electronically, support disease surveillance and follow up with patients in their communities.

When the programme was launched in October 2023, the Ministry of Health stated that the devices were locally assembled Neon Ultra and Neon Smarta smartphones that had been developed in collaboration with Safaricom and customised for community health work.

However, in May of this year, MPs raised concerns about the quality of the smartphones after the Ministry of Health revealed it had incurred Sh876.9 million in outstanding bills for the devices.

Kenya has deployed over 107,800 CHPs across all 47 counties, with each promoter responsible for around 100 households. Shared across the workforce, the Sh396 million allocation equates to approximately Sh3,672 per CHP per year.

Since their formal rollout in October 2023, CHPs have reached 2.7 million households within four months, delivering services to an estimated 13.5 million Kenyans and screening over 1.1 million people for high blood pressure.

Apart from the irregular phone purchases, the Auditor-General raised concern on how the overall Sh24.76billion three-year contract for the CHP kits was awarded.

The Auditor-General found that the contract had been awarded to a foreign company that was not registered in Kenya, contrary to the Companies Act 2015. The audit also found no evidence that the Health Cabinet Secretary had informed the Cabinet and the National Treasury before awarding the contract, as is required for government contracts worth more than Sh5 billion.

‘This was contrary to Section 134(3) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015,’ said Ms Gathungu.

The audit also found that the value of the contract for the first year, at Sh10.23 billion, exceeded the approved budget of Sh5 billion by Sh5.23 billion. Additionally, no budget or procurement plan had been prepared for the second year.

‘This was contrary to Section 53(7) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015.’

The ‘sexy back’ has become one of the most coveted goals in the gym.

More Kenyan women are turning to lifting weights or strength training to get toned shoulders and defined back muscles.

The lean, sculpted back, with little visible fat and defined muscle, fitness coaches say, is earned rather than bought. Building a sculpted back requires months or even years of consistent strength training, good nutrition and patience. The reward goes beyond a sexy back because these women tend to have better posture and greater upper-body strength.

Fitness coach Abigael Ajuma attributes the growing desire by women to have a sexy back to the rapid growth of Kenya’s fitness culture and positive peer pressure.

‘Fitness has become a movement. Toning the back is a fairly new thing to Kenya, but it is picking up,’ she says, adding, ‘as people become fitter, they become more confident.’

To appreciate the discipline they have put in, these women are now posting photographs showing off their toned backs. ‘Social media has also amplified the trend, with images of women confidently wearing backless dresses or sports bras inspiring others to begin their own fitness journeys,’ she says.

But what exercises help build this sexy back?

According to fitness coach William Kitau, achieving that look depends on consistency, patience and allowing the body to become stronger over time.

One principle should guide every workout: progressive loading.

He says that rather than rushing to pile weight onto a barbell, beginners ought to master movement first. ‘You start with the lowest weight, even if it’s just a bar of 15kg. You start without loading weights. You do at least 15 reps [repetitions] times three,’ he says.

The idea is to allow the muscles, joints and nervous system to adapt before increasing your resistance. Once the body becomes comfortable with the movement, weight can gradually be added while the number of repetitions reduces.

‘Then you load, for a woman, at least five-five on each side. Then reduce the reps to 10. As you add the weight, you make sure you’re reducing the reps.’

The exercises

Ajuma agrees that patience is one of the most overlooked aspects of strength training. She says exercises such as rows and deadlifts can easily lead to injuries when people rush into lifting heavy weights before mastering proper form.

‘It is really important for someone to progressively load because exercises like this can injure your back and back injuries are not fun at all. You don’t want to compromise safety just because you want a nice back.’

Another exercise Kitau recommends is the back row, which is a movement that targets the upper and middle back while also engaging the shoulders and arms. It is one of the most important pulling exercises for anyone looking to build strength across the back.

Kitau insists that when it is performed consistently and with proper technique, rows help to improve your posture by strengthening muscles that often become weak from long hours spent sitting behind office desks.

Additionally, the progressive loading ensures that the muscles continue adapting instead of plateauing, which will gradually create the definition many women seek.

More muscles than back

Consequently, Ajuma adds that building a toned back requires looking beyond one muscle group.

‘It is important to target the entire back. That means your rear delts, your traps, your lats, your rhomboids and your lower back. You want uniform toning across all those muscles.’

She explains that this is what ultimately creates a balanced physique.

‘When someone sees a strong back, they are also seeing toned arms, a defined lower back and strong glutes. The entire posterior chain becomes defined.’

Another exercise Kitau recommends is the back row, which is a movement that targets the upper and middle back while also engaging the shoulders and arms. It is one of the most important pulling exercises for anyone looking to build strength across the back.

Kitau insists that when it is performed consistently and with proper technique, rows help to improve your posture by strengthening muscles that often become weak from long hours spent sitting behind office desks.

Additionally, the progressive loading ensures that the muscles continue adapting instead of plateauing, which will gradually create the definition many women seek.

More muscles than back

Consequently, Ajuma adds that building a toned back requires looking beyond one muscle group.

‘It is important to target the entire back. That means your rear delts, your traps, your lats, your rhomboids and your lower back. You want uniform toning across all those muscles.’

She explains that this is what ultimately creates a balanced physique.

‘When someone sees a strong back, they are also seeing toned arms, a defined lower back and strong glutes. The entire posterior chain becomes defined.’

Additionally, Ajuma adds that flexibility deserves just as much attention as strength.

‘I think a lot of people who are strength training are forgetting mobility. Pilates and yoga help open up your muscles and your back. It is nice to have a toned back, but you also want a functional and flexible back.’

She recommends stretching before and after every workout to improve movement and reduce the risk of injuries.

Nutrition, she says, is equally important.

‘Lifting alone is not enough. You have to watch your nutrition. Make sure you’re getting enough protein because that is what helps build muscle.’

She also insists on adequate hydration, incorporating cardiovascular exercise into training programmes and managing calorie intake according to individual goals.

Ajuma, who has trained since her teenage years, says her own physique is the result of years of consistency rather than a quick transformation.

She recalls that the leanest and most defined her back has ever been while preparing for a bodybuilding competition was when she had to reduce her body fat while maintaining muscle.

‘But I wouldn’t advise that level of conditioning because it isn’t sustainable. I denied my body a lot just to achieve that physique for competition,’ she says.

She urges women to be patient with themselves.

Not two weeks

‘There is no trainer who should promise you a toned back in two weeks. If someone tells you that, run. A back after three months of consistent training will look different from a back after two years because muscles mature over time. Every person’s body is different, every starting point is different, and every timeline is different,’ Ajuma says.

‘When you go to many gyms today, there are more women than men. Women are choosing themselves. They are becoming more confident, trying new things and taking up space,’ she adds.

Kitau, on the other hand, challenges the misconception that losing weight alone is enough to transform the body. Many people concentrate on reducing the number on the weighing scale without considering what happens beneath the skin. ‘You have to reduce the amount of fat in your body. Then start building muscles,’ he says.

Muscle helps to fill out the skin that creates a firmer appearance as the body fat decreases.

This fitness trend has also fuelled a boom in active wear. Women have grown to appreciate the three-piece matching sets-leggings, a supportive sports bra and a lightweight zip-up jacket that would cost as much as Sh7,000 and sometimes more.