Category: Business Daily

Kenya’s security agencies are the biggest winners in the freshly tabled second supplementary budget for the current 2025-26 financial year, which proposes to raise spending by Sh17.29 billion to a total Sh4.66 trillion.

Documents from the National Treasury tabled in the National Assembly show that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) is earmarked for a Sh3.5 billion increase in its budget to Sh64.9 billion, while the allocation to the Internal Security and National Administration would be raised by Sh1.6 billion to Sh57.9 billion.

Together, the NIS and the State Department for Internal Security account for 29.2 percent of the proposed mini-budget.

The National Assembly is now caught in a race against time to consider and pass Supplementary Budget II, just two weeks before the end of the current financial year while simultaneously considering the Appropriations Bill 2026 which captures the estimates for 2026/27.

‘I am advised the second supplementary estimates seek to revise allocations in respect of a few votes, largely for purposes of reallocation and regularisation of the expenditures. Noting the limited scope of the second supplementary estimates and the period between now and June 30, 2026, the estimates shall only be referred to the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

“The Committee may, where necessary, liaise with the relevant departmental committees under whose mandate the affected votes fall’, National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetan’gula, said on Tuesday.

According to the National Treasury, the NIS budget has been raised because of enhanced security operations, while the extra cash allocation to the State Department for Internal Security is attributed to rising demand for national government coordination services.

The Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund is set for Sh4.1 billion increase in its budget, which is earmarked for financing capital grants to government agencies to support development and management of sports facilities.

The State Department for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises is the second biggest gainer with the proposed increase of its budget by Sh3.85 billion to Sh12.09 billion.

The increase reflects additional donor commitment towards the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme, with the number of those targeted for skills training in the 2025/26 fiscal year being raised to 50,000 from the initial 17,500.

Spending pressures

Provision for additional financing for the construction of Mwache Dam in Kinango, Kwale County has pushed the allocation for the State Department for Water and Irrigation up by Sh2.3 billion to Sh60.33 billion.

The State Department for Youth Affairs and Creative Economy is set for a Sh1.94 billion increase in its allocation, which will be dedicated towards entrepreneurship and talent development.

Spending pressures for national examinations and assessments have necessitated a Sh1.5 billion increase in the budget for the State Department for Basic Education, which is now expected to close the financial year at Sh132.67 billion.

Between 2024 and 2025, the number of examination centres for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education increased from 10,755 to 10,771 while the number of candidates increased by 3.2 percent to 995,841.

In 2025, the number of candidates who sat for the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment stood at 1.11 million. The allocation for State House in the current financial year is set to increase by Sh1.0 billion in what is being attributed to enhanced operations and maintenance.

The National Treasury’s budget is set for a Sh2.5 billion cut as the government rationalises spending under the Contingencies Fund, which is the kitty designed to provide for rapid financing in the case of emergencies such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks and any unplanned emergencies.

In 1979, the founders of Brown’s Food Company decided to go into the dairy industry with two cows. Over four decades later, they have given birth to a venture dominating cheese-making, not only in Kenya but across the East African region.

Originally Brown’s Cheese, the dairy products-making company managed by the second generation, was established by David and Sue Brown as a solar heater manufacturing firm while keeping only a few cows for household milk consumption.

Now, the family-owned company produces cheese wheels, some costing as high as Sh100,000 a piece, with a keen eye on high-end markets, including exports within East Africa.

‘When our parents started the business, they were initially focused on solar heaters while keeping a few cows for household milk. During a prolonged drought, cheddar cheese became scarce in the market, forcing the family to experiment with making cheese at home,’ Delia Andrew, who co-owns the company with her spouse, tells the BDLife.

The first lesson

That experiment, she says, became the first lesson in entrepreneurship: opportunity often emerges from constraint. What started as a household activity soon attracted interest from friends and early customers.

‘They [friends] began asking for more cheese, and that slowly transformed into commercial production,’ says Delia.

From the beginning, another guiding principle took centre stage-only produce what the family would confidently consume before scaling it for the market, a philosophy Delia says has helped the company maintain quality discipline even as it expanded.

When she joined the business about 16 years ago, she stepped into a company still rooted in farm-based production but already carrying the ambition of expansion.

The second lesson

That moment, she says, marked a second lesson: growth must be structured, not accidental. ‘Our involvement marked a shift from informal growth to structured scaling, where systems, quality control and product diversification became central,’ she says.

One of the earliest decisions under her leadership was opening up the farm to visitors, a move she describes as a deliberate lesson in transparency and trust-building.

‘Consumers are not just buyers. They want to understand how food is made and where it is made from,’ she says, noting that openness became part of the company’s competitive advantage.

Business resilience

Over time, Brown’s Food Company expanded beyond cheese into other value-added products, including flour milling. Delia says this diversification was driven by another key entrepreneurial lesson-resilience comes from not depending on a single product line.

‘We realised we could not just focus on milk. We had to look at the entire farming system, ranging from soil, crops, and livestock to nutrition altogether,’ she notes.

Brown’s Food Company now processes more than 20,000 litres of milk per day, sourced from around 6,000 farmers in Molo, Kinangop and Embu. The milk is transformed into multiple products, but cheese remains the most complex and most valuable output.

Capital for expansion remains one of the key challenges for many entrepreneurs, and Delia says that their family business strategy has been to avoid over-borrowing credit. ‘That discipline has kept us stable,’ she says.

Over the years, the business has increased its workforce. When she joined, they had 25 workers, and the company employs about 300. Exports are growing too, accounting for about 25 percent of production within East Africa, mainly to Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, with future expansion targeting Dubai and China.

At the centre of the business is cheese-making, which Delia insists is not manufacturing but biological transformation.

‘Cheese is alive. It continues to ferment and mature over time. It is not static. It evolves,’ she says.

Unlike fresh milk, cheese, just like wine, appreciates in value with time, a reality that has shaped the company’s investment in ageing rooms where temperature and humidity are tightly controlled.

Some wheels are aged for months, others for years, developing richer flavour profiles and higher market prices. In premium cases, a single wheel weighing about 25 kilogrammes can fetch over Sh100,000 depending on its age, quality and type.

‘A kilogramme of an aged cheese wheel, matured for up to six years, sells for not less than Sh4,000,’ Delia says.

Brown’s produces a wide range of cheeses, including mozzarella and pizza cheese for hotels and fast-food chains, alongside aged varieties such as parmesan, gouda, camembert, brie and feta for specialty markets. It also produces yogurt, butter and ice cream, often blended with fruits sourced from farmers.

Expansion challenges

Even with the immense growth, expansion has come with challenges. Delia says one of the most persistent is distribution, particularly maintaining the cold chain from production to market.

‘Once temperature control is broken, you cannot recover product quality. That is why we invested in our own distribution fleet,’ she says

Another major challenge is milk quality consistency, especially for ageing cheeses, where small variations at the farm level can affect flavour months later.

To mitigate these challenges, Phineas David, the company’s quality controller, explains that milk collection systems were developed gradually alongside expansion.

‘The company now operates cooling and collection centres in Embu, Molo and Kinangop, working closely with farmers to ensure quality begins at the source,’ he says.

He notes that milk intake has grown from about 15,000 to 18,000 litres per day from earlier years to around 35,000 litres currently. They have had to be involved in the milk production process and keep the farmers happy.

Farmers, he says, are supported with veterinary services, training and inputs to improve productivity, while payments are made twice a month directly to their bank accounts after verification. ‘Quality starts on the farm. If milk is compromised there, no amount of processing can fix it later,’ Phineas says.

The company works with over 6,000 farmers and has built traceability systems that track products from farm to final cheese wheel, ensuring accountability at every stage.

Taxation pressures

However, rising milk prices, taxation pressures and input costs continue to squeeze margins, making efficiency and diversification critical for survival.

Delia says this pressure has reinforced entrepreneurial diversification, noting that it has come with a key lesson: never depend on a single product or market.

The company has since ventured into flour milling under Groven Meadow, incorporating indigenous crops such as sorghum, millet and traditional beans into its product line to promote biodiversity and nutrition.

She says the company is also exploring plant-based cheese, driven by rising lactose intolerance and shifting dietary preferences.

‘There are consumers who cannot tolerate lactose, and we are working on plant-based alternatives while maintaining the same philosophy of quality and integrity,’ she says.

Running the family-owned company, Delia observes that entrepreneurship has ultimately been about learning to adapt without losing identity-building a business that grows, evolves and matures much like its own cheese: slowly, deliberately, and with increasing value over time.

Lewis Hamilton has won Formula One world championships driving for different teams across different eras of the sport. McLaren. Mercedes. Ferrari. That is not merely talent. It is

transferable dominance. It means the driver was never just succeeding inside one machine.

He understood the game deeply enough to keep winning even as technology, politics and systems shifted around him.

Hamilton does not enter races hoping that participation itself is the victory. He arrives to win.

That distinction matters more than it first appears because not everyone enters the same competition with the same definition of success.

The Fifa World Cup quietly teaches this every four years. For some nations, qualification alone is already a historic achievement. Streets erupt. Airports fill. The country has

arrived at football’s highest stage. For others, qualification means almost nothing. Anything short of lifting the trophy is treated as failure. Same tournament. Completely different psychological contracts with winning.

This week, another version of that same question played out politically. President William Ruto attended the G7 Summit discussions despite Kenya not being a G7 country. Depending

From a perspective, that appearance can be interpreted in two different ways.

One view says Kenya is simply being allowed near power while the real decisions remain elsewhere.

The other says something more strategic is happening. The global order is shifting. By 2050, several of today’s dominant economies may no longer occupy the same centre of gravity

they currently do. Influence is moving eastward. Demographics are changing. Technology is redistributing leverage. Africa’s relevance is becoming less theoretical.

So perhaps showing up today is not symbolic at all.

Perhaps it is positioning. What exactly does winning mean to you? Because many founders spend years chasing definitions they inherited without ever interrogating them.

For some, winning is survival.

The company is still alive after years of brutal pressure. Salaries are paid. Debt has not swallowed the business. In unstable

environments, survival is not a small achievement. Getting invited into rooms that once felt inaccessible. Being taken seriously by investors, governments or industries that previously ignored them. Showing up itself becomes evidence of movement.

Then there are founders for whom winning means scale. Regional expansion. Institutional capital. Market leadership. Global recognition. These founders are not trying merely to

participate in the industry. They are trying to alter the hierarchy inside it.

And finally, there are those rare builders who arrive intending to change the game itself. Not simply to succeed within the system, but to redesign what success means for everyone after them. These are completely different forms of ambition. The problem begins when founders confuse one category for another.

Social media amplifies this confusion daily. A founder surviving impossible pressure compares himself to another founder scaling with institutional capital and assumes he is

losing. A profitable entrepreneur feels inadequate because a venture-backed startup appears larger online. A founder rebuilding quietly after a collapse believes he has failed

because someone else just closed another funding round.

But founders are often competing in entirely different tournaments while pretending they are in the same one.

This is why the African Founders Operating System matters beyond philosophy. It forces founders to understand context before judgment.

Strategically, winning is never static.

Timing matters. Environment matters. Leverage matters.

Emotionally, the danger becomes externalising your scoreboard. Once founders allow public perception to define victory, they become psychologically trapped. Every funding round becomes validation. Every setback becomes an identity collapse. Winning that depends entirely on applause, which eventually becomes emotional debt.

Socially, ecosystems reward different things at different stages. Some rooms reward visibility. Others reward endurance. Others reward proximity to power. Founders who misunderstand the social architecture of the game, often mistake temporary attention for long-term positioning.

Spiritually, the question becomes harder still. What happens when you achieve the version of winning the world celebrates, only to realise it costs your health, peace, family, or integrity? Was that winning, or merely successful self-destruction?

And in mindset, perhaps the greatest shift is understanding that not every season requires domination.

Some seasons require survival. Some require rebuilding. Some require positioning quietly before acceleration.

Not every founder starts from the same line. Not every business has access to the same capital, networks, or insulation from political and economic shocks.

Yet despite this, many founders still carry shame for not “winning fast enough.” The mistake is not in showing up. The mistake is remaining there forever while convincing yourself that participation alone was the destination.

The first victory is entry. The deeper victory is influence. The rarest victory of all is changing what the game rewards after you arrive. And perhaps that is the real founder question.

Are you trying to survive the tournament, win the tournament or redesign the league itself?

Perhaps we need a more mature understanding of competitive reality. Showing up matters. Survival matters. Positioning matters. Scaling matters. Changing the game matters. But they are not the same thing.

Lewis Hamilton did not begin with transferable dominance. First, he had to enter the circuit. Some World Cup teams may never lift the trophy, but participation itself changes national confidence and identity. Kenya attending the global tables today may not yet mean control, but it may signal long-term strategic positioning in a changing world order.

CFAO Mobility Kenya has expanded its local electric vehicle (EV) portfolio with the launch of Toyota’s first fully electric vehicle in the Kenyan market. The mid-size sports-utility-vehicle retails for Sh10 million.

The dealer has introduced the Toyota bZ4X, a five-seater crossover SUV targeting corporate fleets, development agencies and private buyers amid growing demand for eco-friendlier alternatives to internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.

It is the world’s largest automaker’s formal entry into Kenya’s electric-car segment as competition among dealers and assemblers intensifies. Toyota had only sold its EVs in North America, Europe and Asia.

CFAO said it will initially import the Toyota bZ4X fully built, with plans to assemble it locally – therefore lowering prices – as demand increases.

‘We are now importing them from Japan as completely built-up units and sell them at Sh10 million,’ CFAO Mobility Kenya’s head of product training, Sukhjiv Kular, told Business Daily.

‘Assembly is dependent on volumes, so for now we will import fully built. We plan to begin assembling it locally in the near term,’ the company’s General Manager for Toyota sales, Daniel Maundu, said.

CFAO said it is targeting organisations seeking to reduce their carbon emissions as well as individual motorists looking to lower fuel and maintenance costs.

‘Our main targets are organisations like UN bodies, NGOs and local corporates. We are seeing interest from staff at these multinationals who are at the forefront of cutting their emissions,’ said Mr Maundu.

The company is also positioning itself to benefit from the government’s growing interest in electric mobility.

‘We are also targeting government departments, as the State recently floated a tender for leasing a 600-unit EV fleet,’ Mr Maundu said.

The Toyota bZ4X offers a driving range of up to 516 kilometres on a single charge, among the highest available in Kenya’s electric vehicle market. Electric subcompact SUV rivals such as the Chinese Neta V, assembled locally by the Moja EV, offer up to 400 kilometres on a full charge.

CFAO said the all-wheel-drive SUV accelerates from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in 5.1 seconds and comes with an eight-year or 120,000-kilometre battery warranty.

The vehicle is supplied with a portable AC charger capable of fully charging the battery in eight hours.

Using commercial charging infrastructure, the battery can be fully charged in about two hours, CFAO said.

‘We are confident this is a volume seller for us. Going by the interest we are seeing, our order book for this model is expanding. It is almost at par compared to our ICE models and we see it overtaking them,’ Mr Maundu said.

The Toyota bZ4X is comparable to the Toyota Corolla Cross and the Subaru XV, also known as the Crosstrek. But at Sh10 million, the SUV costs significantly more than these ICE models.

CFAO sells the Corolla Cross for Sh6.7 million, while the Subaru Crosstrek, distributed by ECTA Kenya, retails for up to Sh6.5 million.

Importing the bZ4X as a fully built unit also places CFAO at a cost disadvantage compared to local electric vehicle assemblers, who benefit from generous tax incentives aimed at promoting local manufacturing.

Electric vehicle assemblers are exempt from the 35 percent import duty charged on fully built vehicles and pay lower Import Declaration Fee and Railway Development Levy charges on completely knocked-down kits. They also benefit from a reduced excise duty of 10 percent and zero-rated value-added tax, helping lower final retail prices.

CFAO is one of the most aggressive players in Kenya’s emerging electric mobility market. Besides Toyota, the dealer also distributes Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, whose lineup includes the Shark 6 plug-in hybrid pickup truck and a range of electric SUVs.

The company also imports them fully built. The BYD Atto 3, which offers a driving range of up to 480 kilometres, retails for about Sh8.5 million.

CFAO is also the local dealer for Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen vehicles, although the two German brands have yet to introduce their electric cars to the Kenyan market.

Other dealers that have entered the local EV race include ECTA Kenya, which distributes Chinese automaker JAC Motors and recently introduced an all-electric double-cabin pickup truck.

Others like Rideence Africa, the dealer of Beijing Henrey’s small Xiaohu electric cars, Tad Motors, and Dongfeng have set up local electric car assembly lines to benefit from Kenya’s incentives.

A few years ago, conversations about employee well-being were often confined to HR meetings and wellness days. Today, they have moved into boardrooms. Why? Because organisations are beginning to realise that when employees are struggling, businesses struggle too.

Across Kenya, many employees are navigating rising living costs – did we mention high cost of fuel that trickles down to every purchase, family responsibilities that includes black tax, long commutes – fatigue upon reporting to the workplace, and increasing demands – the beating of deadlines and unrealistic targets despite the prevailing economic harsh conditions.

They show up every day, often carrying burdens that may not be immediately visible. The question facing employers is no longer whether employee well-being matters, but how seriously they are prepared to invest in it.

For years, success at work was measured largely by output. The expectation was simple: deliver results. Yet experience has shown that people are not machines. When employees are exhausted, stressed, or disengaged, productivity inevitably suffers. Research by Harter, Schmidt and Keyes (2003) found a strong relationship between employee well-being and positive business outcomes, including productivity and engagement.

What is encouraging is that many organisations are beginning to shift their perspective. Employee well-being is no longer viewed as a cost but as an investment. Increasingly, employers are introducing mental health support programmes, workplace wellness programmes, flexible working arrangements, wellness initiatives, and leadership training focused on empathy and people management.

Mental health, in particular, has become a critical workplace issue. The World Health Organization (2022) estimates that depression and anxiety result in the loss of approximately 12 billion working days globally each year. Behind these statistics are real people, employees who may be silently battling stress while trying to meet deadlines and performance targets.

Perhaps one of the most significant changes in today’s workplace is the growing appreciation of work-life integration. Yes, we no longer call it work-life balance, both words are an oxymoron in the same sentence with balance – hence the integration element in place.

Employees are seeking workplaces that recognise they have lives beyond their job titles. They are parents, caregivers, spouses, students, and community members. According to Greenhaus and Allen (2011), employees who achieve a healthier balance between work and personal responsibilities experience greater job satisfaction and reduced stress.

Leadership also plays a central role. Employees may forget policies and get punished for it, but they rarely forget how a manager made them feel. Leaders who listen, show empathy, and create safe spaces for honest conversations contribute significantly to employee well-being.

Edmondson’s (1999) work on psychological safety demonstrated that employees perform better when they feel respected and free to express concerns without fear of judgment.

Closer to home, many Kenyan organisations are embracing this reality. We are seeing firms introduce wellness programmes, mental health awareness sessions, and flexible work options. While these efforts may vary in scale, they share a common message: people matter.

The organisations that will thrive in the future are not necessarily those with the biggest budgets or the latest technology. They will be those that understand a simple truth: when employees feel valued, supported, and hopeful, they bring more energy, creativity, and commitment to their work.

In the end, employee well-being is not about creating comfortable workplaces. It is about creating sustainable workplaces where both people and businesses can flourish. And perhaps that is where the real return on investment lies-not just in profits, but in people. Because indeed , people are our most valued asset.

Pay-television provider DStv lost 22,450 customers in the three months ended March this year, piling pressure on the broadcaster amid stiff competition from streaming services and free-to-air TV.

Fresh data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows DStv had 248,053 customers at the end of March 2026, an 8.3 percent drop from 270,017 in December last year.

A combination of economic hardships and changing viewer habits has shaken pay-television providers, notably DStv and the Wananchi-owned Zuku, eating into their once-dominant market shares.

The CA data further shows that Zuku lost 17,161 customers in the three months ended March, reducing its customer base to 173,396 from 190,557 in December last year.

‘There was a general decline in subscriptions across DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television), DTH (Direct-to-Home) and cable TV services,” the CA said in its latest industry report.

DTH refers to television programming delivered via satellite, while DTT uses land-based digital transmitters to distribute signals.

There are currently four licensed DTH firms in Kenya – DStv, Zuku, StarTimes and Azam TV. StarTimes and Azam TV, however, gained a combined 3,798 customers in the three months to March.

Overall, subscribers across the four television service providers fell 5.3 percent to 645,763 in March from 681,576 in December last year.

A rising cost of living has forced many households to cut spending on non-essential items as incomes fail to keep pace. The cuts have hit services such as pay television.

DStv has borne the biggest hit among the four providers, with its active subscriber base shrinking significantly since 2024, largely due to pricey packages and the growing availability of streaming alternatives.

The company had 1.19 million active subscribers as at June 2024. DStv revenues in Kenya, expressed as a share of revenues across all markets where it operates, fell to seven percent in the year ended March 2025 from eight percent a year earlier.

Online streaming sites, some of which are illegally accessed via mobile phones or cast on television, have significantly eroded some of DStv’s traditional mainstays, including live sports and entertainment.

Price increases

DStv increased the cost of its packages in the Kenyan market at least five times in three years in a bid to arrest declining revenues and customer losses.

The latest increase was in August last year, with the Premium package rising by Sh700 to Sh11,700 a month, while Compact Plus increased to Sh7,300 from Sh6,800.

DStv’s Compact, Family and Access packages were also affected by the price review. DStv Lite, the cheapest package, was the only one whose price remained unchanged at Sh750.

The pay-TV provider is now part of French media conglomerate CANAL+, following the completion of its 35 billion rand (Sh280.7 billion) acquisition of parent company MultiChoice Africa.

The deal was completed on September 22, 2025, with attention now turning to how the French group will seek to arrest DStv’s dwindling fortunes in markets such as Kenya.

The National Treasury has been pressured to cut the top tax rate for pay-as- you- earn (PAYE) to 30 percent from the current 35 percent to lift the burden on low-income earners.

A review of public submissions to the National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning showed that the Treasury has also been asked to overhaul the PAYE tax bands and raise the personal relief offered from Sh2,400 per month to Sh3,000.

The review of the bands is, however, unlikely to be carried out in this year’s Finance Bill based on the tasking analysis required before the overhaul.

‘The Committee recommends that the National Treasury relooks at overhauling all the tax bands. With the increased contributions to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and the affordable housing levy, this has increased the burden on salaried employees,’ said Kuria Kimani, the chairperson of the National Assembly Finance and National Planning Committee.

‘We tried to do that in our report but realised that the data we need to analyse would be immense, so we are asking the National Treasury, which has the tools to do the analysis, to do the overhaul on all PAYE bands.’

Records revealed that the demand to overhaul PAYE tax bands dominated submissions to the Finance committee by stakeholders including the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ICPAK), the Kenya Bankers Association, Deloitte, the Law Society of Kenya and the Grant Thornton Taxation Services Limited.

The stakeholders put out a unified pitch for new tax bands starting at 10 percent for the first Sh30,000 monthly income and 15 percent for the next Sh30,000 in monthly income and ending with a top tax rate of 30 percent for income above Sh500,000 per month.

Currently, the Income Tax Act has five tax bands which end with a top tax rate of 35 percent for all monthly income above Sh800,000 per month.

ICPAK noted that the current PAYE bands are narrow, subjecting low-income earners to higher rates.

‘The current PAYE bands are narrow, meaning that the higher rates apply at relatively lower incomes. This imposes an unfair burden on low-income earners and makes our system more regressive than progressive,’ ICPAK said.

The recommendation to increase the personal relief from the current Sh2,400 per month to Sh3,000 per month is expected to align with the lowest proposed monthly tax income band of Sh30,000.

The National Treasury has stayed cautious about PAYE cuts as it assesses the impact of recent external shocks to domestic revenue mobilisation, including the US-Israel war on Iran.

The Treasury, for instance, snubbed proposed measures to relieve low-income earners, including raising the threshold of tax-free earnings from Sh24,000 to Sh30,000 and reducing the PAYE rate for earners of up to Sh50,000 by five percentage points.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi warned that the reduction of PAYE on low-income earners would result in a Sh35 billion revenue hole annually following an analysis conducted by a technical working committee at the exchequer.

President William Ruto had, however, overruled the Treasury experts, insisting on the adoption of cuts to payroll taxes ahead of the 2026 budget statement, which nevertheless omitted the provision.

‘Some people in the National Treasury came back and said that it’s going to be costly for us in the budget, but I told them, Let’s Do it!’ President Ruto said at the end of May.

PAYE collections, which form part of income taxes, are the government’s largest revenue category and made up Sh1.09 trillion of Sh2.92 trillion in total revenue collected in the financial year ended June 2025.

A consumer lobby has moved to court seeking to stop the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) from enforcing enhanced pension contributions, escalating a legal dispute surrounding the Sh715 billion retirement scheme.

The Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) argues that the Fund’s latest directive has deepened uncertainty over mandatory payroll deductions affecting millions of workers and employers.

Cofek has filed a constitutional petition in Nairobi accusing NSSF of issuing directives that could expose workers and employers to financial liability despite confusion arising from a recent Court of Appeal ruling.

The case adds a fresh twist to the legal battle over the NSSF Act, 2013, which raised monthly pension contributions from a flat Sh200 to as much as Sh4,320, matched by employers.

At the centre of the dispute is a public notice issued by NSSF on June 5 directing employers and workers to continue remitting enhanced contributions under the current framework.

The fund advised employers and stakeholders to ‘disregard the misleading opinions alluding to reverting contributions to Sh200’ and maintain existing deductions, saying pending proceedings before the Court of Appeal did not affect the enhanced rates.

‘Monumental error’

The directive followed a May 29 Court of Appeal ruling dismissing NSSF’s application seeking to suspend a 2022 Labour Court judgment that had declared the NSSF Act, 2013 unconstitutional.

That ruling triggered confusion after NSSF and the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) argued that the appellate judges had determined an application that was no longer before the court.

In a June 2 letter to the Court of Appeal Registrar, Senior Counsel Fred Ngatia, acting for NSSF, described the decision as a ‘monumental error’.

‘We write to express our client’s profound disbelief and bewilderment arising from the monumental error therein and which has caused confusion in the pension sector,’ Mr Ngatia wrote.

According to the letter, the application seeking a stay of the Labour Court judgment had ceased to exist as a live issue after the Court of Appeal delivered its substantive judgment in February 2023.

NSSF argued that the matter argued before judges in January 2025 concerned an application by a union seeking joinder as an interested party, not the 2022 stay application.

‘In plain terms, the court purported to determine a motion which was neither before them nor was a live issue at all,’ Mr Ngatia wrote. ‘A monumental error by any account.’

Cotu secretary-general Francis Atwoli backed that position.

‘The application for stay of execution filed in October 2022 was conclusively overtaken by events upon delivery of that judgment and was no longer a live controversy capable of determination,’ Mr Atwoli said.

Fresh challenge

Against that backdrop, Cofek argues that NSSF’s directive has compounded uncertainty rather than resolved it.

‘The impugned notice has the effect of influencing and directing the conduct of employers, employees and payroll administrators throughout the Republic in relation to mandatory statutory deductions from wages and salaries,’ the petition states.

The federation says the notice affects ‘millions of Kenyan workers and contributors on a recurring monthly basis’ because employers continue processing payroll while employees continue to have deductions made from their earnings every month.

Cofek argues that workers, employers and consumers are entitled to ‘accurate, reliable and consistent information concerning statutory deductions affecting wages, salaries and employment earnings.’

Cofek is seeking conservatory orders restraining the Fund from imposing penalties, surcharges, sanctions or other enforcement measures arising from the disputed advisories.

It also wants the High Court to compel NSSF and the Labour ministry to publish a fresh public notice informing employers and contributors that the dispute remains before the courts and that no adverse action should be taken against those relying on existing guidance.

The federation says the NSSF notice raises constitutional questions about whether public authorities can issue advisories and directives capable of achieving outcomes they did not secure through judicial proceedings.

‘The petition therefore raises substantial constitutional questions as to whether the first respondent may, through administrative notices, directives and public advisories, procure or take actions’ contrary to constitutional principles, the court documents state.

The respondents had not filed responses to the latest allegations by the time the petition was filed.

For most entrepreneurs, the decision to close a business comes after losses begin piling up. Two weeks ago, Alex Ndung’u chose to exit while his venture was still raking in profits.

The closure of Kentwood Address Runda, one of the most popular clubs along Kiambu Road, rattled the nightlife sector. Blogs went wild with speculations.

When BDLife finally tracks Alex, the entrepreneur appears at peace with his decision. The club, he says, was still making money, but not enough to justify what he sees as a changing market.

After six years in the nightlife business, Alex believes Nairobi’s entertainment scene has become an increasingly expensive contest driven by celebrity DJs, influencers and paid seat-fillers. Rather than wait for margins to disappear, he chose to exit and place a new bet on what he considers a faster-growing industry: fitness and wellness.

When we meet him at his office in Runda Mall, the 39-year-old steps away from the window overlooking the busy shopping complex, straightens the collar of his grey overcoat and settles into his seat.

Despite building a business portfolio that spans real estate, distribution and entertainment, this is his first-ever media interview.

He says he agreed to speak because of growing speculation surrounding Kentwood’s closure.

‘I’ve seen several blogs publish inaccurate reports about why we closed Kentwood. I felt it was only fair to set the record straight,’ he says.

Strategic exit

For Alex, the decision was neither emotional nor forced by financial distress. It was a strategic exit.

Born into a family of serial entrepreneurs, he says he was raised to build rather than inherit. ‘I was taught how to fish, not handed a fish,’ he says.

That philosophy has shaped how he approaches business opportunities. In his view, entrepreneurship is not about holding on indefinitely to a venture simply because it is profitable. It is about recognising when a market is changing and deciding whether the effort required to sustain growth still justifies the return.

‘Not every business is meant to last forever. Kentwood served its purpose. We had six memorable years, and it felt like the right time to close that chapter and pursue something new.’

The club was not struggling. Customers still walked through its doors. Revenues continued to flow. Yet Alex says the economics that once made the business attractive had shifted.

‘Kentwood had become an okay business. It wasn’t making losses, but it wasn’t delivering meaningful margins either. Sometimes you don’t have to wait until a business starts losing money before making the decision to move on.’

He says he learnt that lesson after watching businesses fail, not because they were unprofitable, but because owners remain emotionally attached long after growth has plateaued. He says that the most difficult business decisions are not always about starting ventures but knowing when to exit them.

The battle for attention

When Kentwood opened its doors six years ago, the nightlife landscape looked very different.

According to Alex, customers primarily sought a place to relax after work, enjoy a meal, listen to music and socialise with friends. Success depended largely on creating a welcoming atmosphere and delivering a consistent customer experience.

‘When we opened Kentwood, it was a genuine hangout spot. People came to unwind after work, enjoy good food, soak in the ambience and spend time with friends. The business felt very organic.’

Then, over time, however, customer expectations evolved.

As more establishments entered the market, clubs increasingly found themselves competing not only on service and ambience, but also on spectacle. Entertainment, Alex says, became the product.

‘Today, nightlife in Nairobi and its environs is less about the hangout experience and more about entertainment. Clubs are constantly competing for attention. Hiring big-name DJs has become the norm, with some charging between Sh75,000 and Sh100,000 a night. That’s what customers seem drawn to now.’

The economics of nightlife

Alex says the pressure to remain visible has transformed the economics of nightlife. For many operators, attracting customers now requires a steady calendar of headline-grabbing events, celebrity appearances, and expensive entertainment packages.

‘You have to keep creating big moments. Bring in a popular artiste, pay them a premium fee and give people something to talk about. But eventually the numbers stop making sense. If you’re spending between Sh80,000 and Sh100,000 on a DJ for a single Friday night, then you need another attraction on Saturday and something else on Sunday, how long can you sustain that?” Alex poses.

DJs, he says, represent only part of the cost structure.

From organic to ‘plastic business’

Alex points to another increasingly common industry practice: the use of seat-fillers.

The strategy is designed to create the impression of a busy venue, particularly during slower days of the week. Clubs provide incentives ranging from complimentary food and drinks to stipends for individuals who help create an atmosphere that attracts paying customers.

‘Most nightclubs, especially along Kiambu Road, are not making any meaningful margins. The business has become plastic. Instead of simply opening your doors and waiting for customers, club owners now constantly think about how to keep the club looking full throughout the week.’

The seat-fillers are often attractive and outgoing young women whose presence helps create the perception of popularity.

‘We give them free cocktails, food and a stipend just to be there and create an atmosphere. Naturally, high-spending customers are drawn to places that look lively and have attractive people. Most people prefer going where there are already crowds. That’s another cost that eats into your profit margin.’

Combined with entertainment expenses, Alex says the monthly cost of maintaining visibility can run into hundreds of thousands of shillings.

‘The cost of hiring DJs and maintaining seat-fillers can range between Sh500,000 and Sh1 million every month,’ he says.

Extremely lucrative

In an industry where perception often drives customer behaviour, many club owners have little choice but to participate. ‘If you don’t hire them, the club next door will.’

For clubs that master this marketing strategy, the returns are worth it.

‘The nightclub business can be extremely lucrative. On a good weekend, a club can make more than Sh9 million, and about Sh1.5 million on weekdays. But location is everything.’

Alex believes the physical characteristics of Kiambu Road further intensify competition. The area offers abundant land for large entertainment establishments, making it relatively easy for new entrants to establish themselves.

‘Kiambu Road is attractive because there is plenty of land for large entertainment venues. But that’s also its biggest weakness. The moment a club succeeds, competitors can easily find space nearby and set up shop.’

By contrast, neighbourhoods such as Kilimani benefit from natural barriers to entry.

‘It’s very different from areas such as Kilimani, where suitable spaces are scarce. That naturally limits competition.’

Yet despite the challenges, he remains candid about the allure of the nightlife business. He still operates another club, which he says continues to perform well.

‘There is something about running a nightclub. It has a hold on you. It is an endless cycle of anticipation. You’re always planning for the next weekend, the next holiday, the next big event. There’s always something around the corner. That adrenaline is addictive.’ Reinventing a prime asset

Closing Kentwood did not mean abandoning the property. The location remains one of the most valuable assets in Alex’s portfolio, forcing him to confront a critical entrepreneurial question: what should come next?

Initially, he considered a complete rebrand. ‘The only way to revive the location and bring it back to full strength would be to relaunch it as a totally different brand.’

The idea, he says, was tempting.

‘We debated a lot. Should we reinvent Kentwood? Should we create something completely different from what everyone else on Kiambu Road is doing?’

But the more he analysed the option, the less convinced he became. A rebrand, he concluded, would merely postpone the same challenges.

‘I realised a rebrand would only buy a few more years before the same cycle repeated itself. You reinvent, you get another four or five years, and then you’re back to the drawing board.’

Instead, he began paying closer attention to shifts in consumer behaviour. What he observed convinced him that another industry was quietly gathering momentum.

Betting on wellness

For years, nightlife represented one of Nairobi’s most visible lifestyle sectors. Today, Alex believes a different trend is emerging.

‘One of the biggest shifts I’ve observed is that people are becoming increasingly health-conscious. They’re drinking less, exercising more and paying closer attention to their overall wellbeing,’ he says.

Across Nairobi, gyms are expanding, running clubs are attracting growing participation, padel courts are multiplying and wellness-focused communities are becoming more mainstream.

‘More people are joining gyms, attending spin classes, doing yoga and tracking their fitness. In my view, wellness is the next frontier.’

That conviction has informed his next major investment.

Rather than replacing Kentwood with another entertainment venue, he plans to transform the property into a comprehensive fitness and wellness centre.

‘I want to build something that serves people every day, not just on weekends.’

The project will include a gym, fitness studios, spin classes, yoga facilities, physiotherapy services, recovery spaces, swimming pools and padel courts.

‘We plan to add another level on the rooftop for padel courts and create a walking track around the building. It is an expensive venture.’

Unlike nightlife, where revenues can fluctuate dramatically depending on events, trends and customer sentiment, he believes wellness businesses offer a more predictable growth trajectory.

‘A fitness centre grows differently. Membership starts small, then gradually builds over time. It is a steady upward curve.’

Sustainable long-term growth

He also sees a strong demographic fit between the concept and the surrounding neighbourhood.

‘There are thousands of residents in this area who fit the profile. They’re professionals, families and health-conscious individuals looking for quality facilities close to home.’

The investment, he says, reflects a broader entrepreneurial principle that has guided his career: follow emerging consumer behaviour rather than past success.

Nightclubs may still generate impressive revenues, he says, but wellness appears better positioned for sustained long-term growth.

‘People will always want to be healthier, and that’s a trend I don’t see slowing down.’

Hostels developer, Acorn Holdings Limited has launched a scheme to fund students’ rent payments and start-up capital for businesses.

The scheme, known as Zinduka Graduate Enterprise Programme, is a partnership with Absa Bank Kenya Plc and Co-operative Bank Group and will enable students to gain access to affordable accommodation via unsecured housing loans and start-up capital.

The programme is expected to support between 5,000 and 10,000 new enterprises annually, with eligible graduates accessing business loans ranging from Sh200,000 to Sh500,000.

Kenya has approximately 500,000 students enrolled in universities, but fewer than 40,000 university-provided beds, leaving 460,000 students in informal, unregulated makeshift accommodation that is unsafe, poorly serviced, and more expensive than they appear.

In addition, only an estimated 15 percent of graduates secure formal employment, leaving the majority to create their own livelihoods, often without business skills, a financial track record, or access to startup capital.

‘The formal job market is only able to absorb about one in 10 graduates. This means the vast majority must create their own opportunities through entrepreneurship rather than rely on formal employment,’ Edward Kirathe, chief executive, Acorn Holdings Ltd, said.

‘Zinduka bridges a critical gap by connecting a student’s journey from securing their first home away from home to accessing the capital needed to launch their first business. It is a pioneering model that no housing company in Kenya, and arguably across the continent, has implemented before.’

In the first stage, the student and parents are listed on the unsecured loan as co-borrowers, enabling the students to generate a credit record that banks can use to assess their creditworthiness.