Category: Business Daily

Dealmaker Belgrad Kenne has been revealed as the majority owner of the investment firm that recently acquired a controlling 60 percent stake in fund manager Nabo Capital from Centum Investment Company for an estimated Sh271 million.

Company records show that Dr Kenne holds a 70 percent stake in Rock Investment Bank, equivalent to 1.75 million shares, with the remaining 30 per cent, or 750,000 shares, held by an entity known as Glamour City Limited.

Rock Investment Bank acquired the 60 percent stake in Nabo Capital at the end of June, ending Centum’s majority ownership after more than a decade. The value of the transaction was not disclosed, but Nabo Capital had a fair value of Sh452.3 million as of March 2025, when Centum owned it outright, according to the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm’s annual report.

Dr Kenne, who also serves as Rock Investment Bank’s managing director, recently led advisory work on the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) initial public offering in March, in which the government raised Sh106 billion through the sale of a 35 percent stake to the public.

The company records list four other directors of Rock Investment Bank – Ivy Jepchumba Cherwon, Wanjiru Waithaka, Gregory Ochieng Manyala and Clifford Otieno – but only Dr Kenne is listed as a beneficial owner.

Rock Investment Bank was initially licensed as an investment adviser by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in July 2025, authorising it to offer investment planning and portfolio management services. It traded as Rock Advisors Limited after obtaining the licence.

In February 2026, the CMA upgraded the firm’s licence to operate as an investment bank, prompting its rebranding to Rock Investment Bank.

Investment banks offer a broader suite of services, including market research, corporate advisory, wealth management and proprietary trading.

Rock has built its reputation by advising companies on mergers, acquisitions, capital raising and corporate restructuring, while also offering stockbroking and wealth management services.

The acquisition of Nabo Capital gives Dr Kenne’s firm immediate control of one of Kenya’s established fund managers, allowing it to broaden its offerings as competition for institutional and retail savings intensifies.

Nabo Capital was established by Centum in 2013 to tap growing demand for professional fund management from pension schemes, corporates and high-net-worth individuals.

The firm manages investments across government securities, listed equities, corporate bonds and money market instruments for both institutional and retail investors.

Kenya’s asset management industry has expanded rapidly over the past decade as pension assets have grown and more retail investors have shifted their savings into professionally managed investment products.

A growing middle class has also fuelled demand for such products as households increasingly diversify their savings beyond property.

Assets under management (AuM) by collective investment schemes rose to Sh851.7 billion in March 2026, from Sh111 billion five years earlier, according to the latest CMA data.

Money market funds (MMFs) remain the largest segment of the unit trust industry, with assets under management of Sh442.2 billion, accounting for 51.9 percent of the industry’s total AuM.

The dominance of MMFs is, however, being challenged by special funds, which typically offer higher returns because they face fewer investment restrictions.

By the end of March 2026, special funds had increased their assets under management to Sh203.57 billion, representing 23.9 percent of the industry’s total, up from Sh86.7 billion, or 17 percent, in March 2025.

After a second viewing, I can confirm the suspicions I had the first time around. This movie is overhyped, however, that doesn’t mean The Odyssey (2026) is not a cinematic event. It is easily one of the most entertaining, fast-paced big-screen experiences of the year. However, it’s not flawless, and it definitely does not sit at the top tier of Nolan’s filmography.

I need you to keep in mind that we live in a world where 300, Ben-Hur, Gladiator, Jason and the Argonauts(1963) , and Troy exist. We have a clear understanding of what an epic looks and feels like.

While Nolan clearly wanted to deliver his own definitive, grounded version of Homer’s classic poem, I think his own movie Interstellar remains a far superior modern adaptation of an odyssey than what he has given us with this movie.

Don’t get me wrong, this is an enjoyable, detailed blockbuster, but it lacks the spark that can inspire the next generation of filmmakers.

Because of the grounded approach, the film lacks the wonder that comes with an epic. But before we get ahead of ourselves

Story

The Odyssey is a 2026 epic fantasy action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

An adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, it chronicles his long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War and his encounters with mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway.

The ensemble cast includes Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya and Charlise Theron amongs other familiar faces. Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas produced the film through their production company.

From a pure filmmaking perspective, the technical execution is obviously perfect and the results here are surprisingly realistic and effective. While the promotional material heavily marketed the towering Giants, the smaller, quieter choices display his directorial mastery.

The picture framing and composition throughout the film are beautiful. In the final act, when Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar, the deliberate use of deep shadows to obscure his face against a stark white cloth makes for a good-looking picture.

The sequence where the crew is transformed into animals is unsettling. The scene uses close-ups and good editing to make for a believably terrifying moulding ordeal.

Some moments are unsettling to the point of bordering on horror, some that feel lifted directly from a painting, when you see them, you will know.

There is a distinct tactility to the costumes. The standout is Agamemnon’s armour, which looks both cool and terrifying. The visual language of the costumes helps differentiate the groups, especially when they enter Troy.

Like in another Nolan movie, Tenet, the sound design single-handedly saves the film’s weaker moments. In his quest for realism, the choreography here is deliberately scrappy, rough and unflashy.

Real fights are messy and unpredictable, which unfortunately makes for dull action set pieces on screen.

However, the incredible soundscape and the booming musical score elevate these mediocre action sequences, injecting a sense of tension into scenes like the initial infiltration of Troy that would otherwise fall flat. There are also small sound details, like one in a cave, that prove the sheer amount of thought put into this story.

The final confrontation inside the palace is narratively satisfying because of the foundation set in place by the source material, and the chemistry between Damon and Holland is great, but the actual swordplay is too clumsy, we will get to that.

All I am saying is that the fundamental aspects of the original story are here and well put together using Nolan’s signature time-jump style.

The cost of star power

If you are wondering, Lupita is okay in this, but she doesn’t have a lot of screen time.

Where the film loses me is the casting. I completely understand this is how the filmmaking business is supposed to work, get big superstars, sell more tickets, and possibly win a few awards.

But Nolan is traditionally a film purist who strives for immersion, yet the ensemble cast picked for this film shatters the illusion.

Instead of casting unknown Greek actors with distinct Mediterranean features to ground and immerse us in the ancient world, the studio populated the film with the most recognisable superstars of our generation.

Every time the narrative starts to draw you in, a famous face yanks you right back out. It is impossible to stay immersed in ancient Greece when you are looking at Matt Damon playing Odysseus.

He is a fantastic actor, but he is fundamentally Jason Bourne. The same for Tom Holland as Telemachus, or Zendaya as Athena.

Everytime they pop up on screen you can help but think about Spider- Man: Brand new day which is coming out in the coming week.

Hathaway delivers a dramatic, emotionally charged performance as Penelope, she is great especially in the first act, which is a drama and performance-driven segment.

Pattinson is brilliant as a detestable bad guy, though just in terms of pure villainy, Hawkins steals the show.

The sheer volume of star power feels highly manufactured. The studio clearly constructed this diverse, star-studded lineup, which even features Travis Scott and Zendaya, in a move that feels like a simple play to draw young crowds, international markets, and specific demographics into theatres.

It feels like a corporate studio note forced onto a director who usually prioritises artistic purity. For the casual film fan, these performances are great and highly entertaining.

For a cinephile, the constant parade of A-listers creates a distracting sense of star fatigue. Oppenheimer was star studded too? I hear you ask. The Odyssey is explicit in it’s setting and time period that it locks it’s character to a particular time, race and region.

The trade-off of realism

My frustration extends to the character of Agamemnon, who looks spectacular in his promotional posters and trailers. His armour design is cool, yet his actual role in the film amounts to nothing more than “aura farming” (posing dramatically to look stoic and cool) without fighting. He is built up as a brutal, terrifying figure, but we never see him unleash that savagery in battle.

With a look like that, it felt like a wasted opportunity.

The action sequences as a whole suffer from this rigid commitment to realism. The sequence involving the Giants feels entirely unnecessary to the narrative, seemingly added solely to justify the studio’s marketing push for the 70mm IMAX format.

Nolan’s decision to downplay the mythological presence of the Greek gods is a double-edged sword. He provides logical, grounded explanations for most of the supernatural elements, framing the narrative around the conflicting, subjective recollections of the Trojan War participants.

While this psychological approach to the consequences of war is clever, the relentless pursuit of realism strips away the fantastical elements that make Homer’s story so entertaining.

The Odyssey is supposed to be a fantastical, highly imaginative journey. By muting the divine interventions and, for example, leaving the mythical sirens obscurred in the background or changing an important age-related trick in the third act, the film loses its whimsical chore. We are left with a technically well-put-together, dramatic shell of a grand story.

This is a good cinematic experience, but I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece. While the first watch is incredible, the rewatchability value here is low.

Performance excellence is what separates good organisations from truly outstanding ones. It is an organisation’s proven ability to deliver consistent, superior results through clear goals, disciplined execution, skilled and motivated people, streamlined operations and an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement.

At its core, it turns ambitious visions into real, measurable outcomes, reliable achievement of objectives, exceptional service that delights stakeholders, higher productivity with smarter use of resources, decisions grounded in solid evidence and constant enhancement of systems, capabilities, and workflows.

Old performance management approaches no longer fit today’s fast-changing digital world.

Technology is evolving rapidly, customer expectations are rising and uncertainty is constant, forcing leaders to rethink how organisations operate and define success.

Digital transformation is also about aligning strategy, people, processes, and technology into one coherent system. Speed, data-driven decisions, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) are now essential for staying relevant and competitive.

According to McKinsey’s State of AI 2025 report, released in November 2025 following a major global survey, the use of AI in at least one business function jumped dramatically, from 55 percent in 2023 to 78 percent in 2024 and 88 percent in 2025.

At the same time, the number of people connected to the internet has grown from about 4.9 billion in 2020 to over 6 billion today, reaching roughly 74 percent of the world’s population.

These shifts are reshaping daily realities for organisations everywhere and creating an urgent need for better data practices, deeper skills, stronger automation, and more enlightened leadership.

The old performance playbooks are simply no longer enough. As leaders, we must now build performance excellence that is fit for this digital age by intentionally aligning our core organisational pillars.

Strategy gives us the north star as it defines where we are going, what matters most, and how we will measure progress while staying flexible enough to seize emerging opportunities.

People are the heart and soul of everything; no matter how brilliant the plan, it is their expertise, leadership, teamwork, creativity and ability to adapt that ultimately determine whether we succeed.

In the digital era, this means we must continuously invest in building data literacy, comfort with AI, and the resilience to embrace change.

Processes are the pathways that make work flow smoothly – well-designed ones cut out waste, reduce mistakes, and allow us to scale with agility.

Technology, when used wisely, becomes a powerful partner that brings speed, real-time visibility, predictive insights, and automation to support and amplify human effort rather than replace it.

When these four elements are in congruence, it becomes easier for organisations to achieve higher efficiency, stronger accountability, quicker and better decisions, outstanding customer experiences, and results that last even when the environment gets tough.

Look at Toyota for example, where a deep culture of continuous improvement, empowered people, disciplined processes and smart technology has created decades of excellence.

Or Netflix, which successfully transformed from a DVD rental business into a global streaming giant by aligning visionary talent, flexible ways of working, and powerful cloud technology.

Of course, the journey is rarely smooth. Many organisations struggle with unclear priorities that scatter energy, weak accountability that slows progress, and an over-reliance on technology without properly preparing their people and processes, a trap often called the digital fallacy.

Additionally, cultural resistance, patchy data quality, and stubborn silos between departments continue to hold many back. These are human challenges that demand human solutions rooted in wise, courageous leadership.

This is why the role of today’s manager is both challenging and deeply meaningful.

We must act as orchestrators, translating big strategy into everyday action, nurturing teams that are adaptable and ready for the future, guiding change with empathy and clarity, keeping performance on track with meaningful metrics and smart tools, constantly improving how work gets done, and building a culture where accountability and excellence feel natural.

When we do this, consistently measuring ourselves against proven standards, alignment stops being a nice idea and becomes the way we actually work.

Should you take out an education insurance policy for your child, or would you be better off investing that same money and drawing on it when fees are due?

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, but there are useful ways to think about the trade-offs.

Most education insurance policies in the Kenyan market combine two things: a savings element that grows over the years, and a set of additional protection features that allows parents to build a fund for future school fees while ensuring that the child’s education can continue if the insured parent dies or suffers a covered disability.

That protection side is what differentiates the education policy plans from the purely savings plans.

A common protection aspect in an education policy is the waiver of premium on death. This means that if the parent paying premiums passes away, the insurer steps in and keeps paying the premium. So, when the plan matures, the insurer pays out in full when your child needs the school fees money.

A related version extends this to total and permanent disability (TPD). If the parent becomes permanently unable to work, premiums are waived the same way, since disability can wipe out income. Some education policy plans add a critical illness benefit too, triggering an early pay-out or premium waiver on diagnosis of conditions like cancer or stroke.

All these riders protect the education goal against three separate ways a family’s income can be interrupted. That’s a meaningfully different promise from a plain investment account, which has no mechanism to notice a parent has died, become disabled, or fallen critically ill. The pure investment account simply stops growing unless someone else steps in.

Now consider the investing route on its own. Put the same monthly amount into a unit trust, a money market fund, or a mix of equities and bonds, and you’re likely to have more flexibility.

You can adjust contributions as your income changes, and you’re not locked into surrender penalties if you stop paying early. The trade-off is that none of this protects the goal itself if the person funding it can no longer do so.

So, how might a parent think this through? First, who else depends on your income, and what happens to this savings goal if that income disappears tomorrow? If you already have a solid life, disability and critical illness cover elsewhere, structured to fund your child’s education specifically, the riders in an education policy may add less value, and a pure investment vehicle might do the job with more flexibility. If you don’t have that cover, the built-in protection could be filling a real gap.

Second, how disciplined are you as a saver? An education policy’s fixed premium and long-term contract work in some parents’ favour, removing the temptation to dip into the pot. Others find that rigidity frustrating, especially with an uneven income, and prefer an investment they can top up or pause as life demands.

Third, what does the fee structure look like? Education policies bundle charges for the riders and administration, making it harder to see what you’re paying for each piece. A standalone investment usually has clearer fees, but you’d need to separately price life, disability, and critical illness cover to match the protection.

There’s also a middle path some families choose: a term life policy sized specifically to cover the remaining school fees liability, paired with a separate investment account for the actual savings. This can sometimes work out cheaper than a bundled education policy, though it requires a bit more hands-on management, since you’re running two or three products instead of one.

Ultimately, this comes down to your own risk appetite, existing cover, discipline as a saver and how much you value the simplicity of a single product versus managing the pieces yourself. It is a genuinely personal decision.

If you’re weighing this up for your own household, it’s worth sitting with a certified financial or insurance advisor who can look at your full picture and help you map out which combination actually serves your child’s education best.

Every few months in Nairobi’s upscale neighbourhoods of Kilimani, Kileleshwa and Lavington, an old bungalow disappears behind corrugated iron sheets as construction cranes move in to build yet another apartment block.

Today, balconies overlook neighbouring balconies, while some windows stare directly into living rooms across only a few metres of separation. Yet many of these developments are still marketed as offering “exclusive living”.

Traditionally, exclusivity had little to do with price. It meant low-density neighbourhoods, larger homes, mature gardens, fewer neighbours and enough space to provide privacy and quiet.

Today, developers increasingly define exclusivity through rooftop swimming pools, gyms, co-working spaces, concierge services and smart-home technology. While these amenities undoubtedly add value, they do not necessarily recreate the neighbourhood qualities that once defined Nairobi’s premier suburbs.

Real estate expert Johnson Denge says the meaning of exclusivity has gradually shifted.

“Exclusivity has become more of a marketing term,” he says. “It could refer to amenities exclusively provided for residents, the level of security or simply a way for developers to differentiate themselves in a competitive market.”

Developers argue that the apartment boom reflects the economics of Nairobi’s land market rather than competition for prestige.

“It is not necessarily competition on location. It is more about developers wanting to maximise returns because land is very expensive. For you to achieve the returns you are looking for, you have to intensify development,” Mr Denge says.

Land in neighbourhoods such as Kilimani and Kileleshwa now commands hundreds of millions of shillings, making low-density developments increasingly difficult to justify.

“You realise that land in places like Kileleshwa, Kilimani and similar areas can cost up to around Sh400 million. For developers to undertake projects that deliver meaningful returns, they are forced to maximise the number of units they can build,” he says.

A parcel that previously accommodated a single home now host dozens of apartments, allowing developers to spread land acquisition and construction costs across many buyers.

The result has been an unprecedented wave of densification across neighbourhoods once synonymous with spacious living.

The same economic forces driving higher-density developments are now contributing to falling apartment prices.

“They densify by putting up more apartments so that they can balance affordability for buyers while generating enough sales to recover their investment. The lower prices are mainly driven by high supply and weakening effective demand,” Mr Denge says.

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data supports that trend. Apartment prices in Nairobi’s high-end estates fell 4.8 per cent in the year to March, while prices in middle-income estates declined 3.2 per cent as new developments continued to enter the market.

Many residential developers are now relying on discounts, flexible payment plans and other incentives to attract buyers for completed units.

The changing market has also altered the profile of apartment buyers. Although owner-occupiers remain active, Mr Denge says demand is increasingly being driven by investors with varying objectives, including landlords, speculators betting on capital appreciation and diaspora buyers seeking to invest back home.

Another major driver has been the rapid growth of short-term accommodation.

Short stay business has transformed apartments into income-generating assets, encouraging investors to purchase units specifically for holidaymakers and business travellers. However, as more investors entered the segment, returns have come under pressure.

“Many people who purchase these apartments convert them into Airbnb units, and that market is also beginning to experience price reductions because supply has increased,” Mr Denge says.

While many residents blame zoning changes for the rapid densification of Nairobi’s traditionally exclusive suburbs, Mr Denge argues that the regulations themselves are not the problem.

“The zoning regulations are very clear. They provide for plot ratios, plot coverage, setbacks and buffers. The challenge is enforcement,” he says.

He adds that exclusivity cannot exist in isolation.

“When you find that residents are living only a few metres apart, the lifestyle promised by the developer is sometimes not achieved, not necessarily because the developer failed, but because the development does not exist in a vacuum.”

Planning, he says, needs to extend beyond individual developments.

“There should be proper planning where developers are required to leave adequate space between apartment blocks and sufficient open spaces. Our planning rules tend to focus on setbacks from the main road, with very little consideration given to spacing between neighbouring developments.”

Despite the changing character of these neighbourhoods, Nairobi’s traditional uptown markets continue to attract investors.

Knight Frank’s Wealth and Investment Trends 2026 report notes that affluent Kenyans continue to view residential property as an important store of wealth.

Mr Denge expects future residential growth to shift beyond Nairobi’s traditional apartment hotspots.

“As infrastructure improves, we will see more development moving into satellite towns because land is relatively affordable, there is more room for expansion and infrastructure continues to improve within a 10 to 30-kilometre radius of Nairobi,” he says.

Areas such as Ruaka, Ruiru, Syokimau, Athi River and Kitengela are already attracting developers seeking lower land costs while remaining well connected to the city.

Mr Denge believes the current slowdown reflects a market correction rather than a long-term decline.

“Real estate markets have a way of regulating themselves because developers respond to demand,” he says.

He points to Nairobi’s office market, where years of oversupply eventually prompted developers to slow new projects in response to changing market conditions.

Esther Masese Waititu has resigned as Safaricom Plc’s Chief Financial Services Officer, nearly three years after she took the job.

The Business Daily has established that Ms Waititu will leave Safaricom on July 31, 2026, ending a tenure that began in 2023.

This marks the latest of C-suite exits from the telecommunications firm, with Chief Strategy Officer Michael Mutiga exiting to join Stanbic Bank Kenya and South Sudan as Chief Executive Officer effective August 1st, 2026.

“Among Esther’s defining achievements is her modernisation of M-Pesa’s technological infrastructure. She spearheaded the migration to Fintech 2.0, a cloud native architecture that future-proofed the platform’s reliability and sealed the Daraja developer ecosystem,” Ndegwa said in his email.

Before joining Safaricom Plc, Waititu had been in Africa’s banking sector for 13 years, where she served as KCB Group’s Director in charge of Corporate Banking in the period between September 2021 and February 2023 and in various roles at Africa’s largest bank by asset base, Standard Bank.

Safaricom Plc has, in the interim, tapped its Director, Public Sector Digital Transformation, Boniface Mungania, to serve as Chief Financial Services Officer.

A court has refused to enforce a 438 percent annual interest charge imposed on a digital loan, signalling closer judicial scrutiny of punitive mobile loan terms even if borrowers voluntarily accept them before receiving credit.

The Small Claims Court in Nairobi ruled that Zenka Digital Limited could not enforce contractual loan terms requiring 36 percent monthly interest, equivalent to 438 percent annually, and a further 1.5 percent daily default charge, translating to approximately 45 per cent monthly. It said the rates were punitive and unconscionable.

The dispute arose from a Sh76,000 loan that Zenka advanced to borrower Benson Njeru in September 2024 and was repayable within one month. The total payable was Sh103,360. Njeru defaulted, prompting Zenka to sue, demanding a Sh152,000 payment.

The Magistrate’s Court ruled that Zenka could only recover the Sh76,000 it lent the borrower and declined to enforce contractual interest and default charges that had raised its claim to Sh152,000.

“The interest rate charged is unconscionable,” the magistrate said in the judgment dated July 10, 2026. It noted the agreed 36 percent monthly interest translated to about 438 percent annually.

“The rationale underlying the in duplum rule is to guard against the excessive accumulation of interest and charges and to prevent a lender from recovering amounts that are grossly disproportionate to the principal debt,” the court said.

She added that the lender also imposed “a daily default rate of 1.5 per cent, translating to approximately 45 per cent monthly.”

Digital lenders are a major source of quick unsecured credit for thousands of Kenyans who increasingly rely on mobile phones to borrow small and medium-sized amounts, making disputes over loan pricing and recovery an important consumer finance issue.

The court found that the lender had proved it disbursed the money through the respondent’s M-Pesa account after reviewing the loan application and payment records.

However, the court held that the agreed interest terms produced an excessive financial burden that the court could not enforce.

The court said combining the monthly interest with the daily default charge would cause the debt to grow rapidly beyond the original amount borrowed.

“Such rates are capable of producing a debt that bears no reasonable relationship to the amount borrowed and would result in an oppressive burden upon the borrower,” the court said.

The magistrate added that enforcing those provisions “would offend the principles of fairness, equity and good conscience that guide the court in the enforcement of contractual obligations.”

While recognising that contracting parties are generally bound by agreements they freely sign, the court said it retained discretion to refuse terms producing unjust or unconscionable outcomes.

The court instead entered judgment for the principal sum of Sh76,000, awarded interest at 18 percent annually for two months from September 23, 2024, granted court-rate interest from the filing of the suit until payment in full, and awarded Zenka Sh10,000 in costs.

Mr Njeru had argued that the amount claimed was exaggerated because the interest exceeded what the law allowed. He also said he had made repayments that were omitted from the claim.

The court rejected that argument because no evidence was produced to support the alleged repayments.

“I do note that though the respondent claimed it had made some payments, the same was not supported by evidence,” the magistrate said.

Sustainability should never be treated as a standalone corporate exercise. The decision to adopt sustainability, the reasons behind it and the approach taken should all support an organisation’s business growth strategy. This means sustainability initiatives and the trade-offs they involve must strengthen long-term competitiveness rather than exist simply to enhance corporate image.

Measuring the success of these initiatives without considering the broader business context offers little value. Organisations should evaluate whether sustainability actions have contributed to short-, medium- and long-term business growth.

For instance, a tree-planting programme should be assessed against clearly defined business objectives and measurable targets.

Likewise, a decision to invest in renewable energy can only be fully evaluated by examining the investment required, the savings generated and the impact on the organisation’s overall performance. Sustainability results viewed in isolation provide limited insight and do little to support informed stakeholder decision-making.

Embedding business context into sustainability performance measurement also helps organisations align their purpose with their sustainability agenda. Rather than remaining a peripheral corporate responsibility activity, sustainability becomes an integral part of strategy, supported by a unified set of key performance indicators that matter to stakeholders.

This integrated approach gives management a more comprehensive understanding of organisational performance and enables better strategic decisions.

Equally important, linking sustainability performance to business outcomes reduces the risk of greenwashing. A siloed approach often results in ambitious sustainability claims that are disconnected from operational realities. Such gaps can damage credibility, undermine transparency and erode stakeholder trust.

Demonstrating how sustainability initiatives contribute to business objectives helps organisations back their commitments with measurable evidence.

Finally, business context enables organisations to identify and prioritise sustainability risks and opportunities that could affect long-term financial performance. This aligns with the financial materiality approach embedded in the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.

Jared Kangwana has a problem. People call him when they want his father, Jared Kangwana, a former influential Moi-era businessman. The meritocracy police want to make him their first arrest, saying he is where he is because of his father. ‘There’s always an assumption that he’s really the force behind what we’re doing here, which is frustrating.’

As the managing partner at Clyde and Co., he knows a famous name can be a crown on your head and a millstone around your neck. His father made his name. (His father is associated with the Monarch Group and a raft of real estate properties including Chester House.) Now Kangwana Jr is trying to separate his.

Not that it bothers him anymore. These days, he has bigger fish-or rather, lamb-to fry. He cautions that once you’ve had his triple-fried shoulder of lamb, he’s ruined all your other lamb experiences. ‘You’re done. Over with,’ and you can take that to the bank and use it as collateral. He doesn’t necessarily call himself an expert on lamb, but he won’t stop you if you do. That’s one way to make your name. Or separate it.

What is it like to be the son of someone with such big shoes to fill? It’s inspiring to see what he and my mum have achieved over the years. I’m not filling his shoes; I’m following a similar path while doing things differently because we are in a different world. But one critical thing I have learnt from them is to never give up. Two, education is critical. That said, I do get calls and emails asking for Jared in meetings; I am like, ‘Wrong person.’ I have not received any of his love letters. Nor has he received any of my love letters, as far as I’m aware [chuckles].

How are you your own man? Taking chances. Growing up, you tend to be boxed into a particular journey, especially in certain careers, and law is one of those. I’ve taken risks, most of which have failed. But by not giving up, seeking out opportunities and being brave, you chart your own path.

Which dreams have you let go? By choice or? Haha! Outside the legal profession, my biggest dream was to fly. I got my licence in 2016. I have not flown for a very long time, so that’s something I feel like I have let go of.

What does flying mean to you? One, I’m always fascinated by the ability of this huge piece of metal to glide through the skies. Two, I’m a bush person. It is my happy place. And I found out the quickest way to get to the most remote places in this country is by air. Three, it is peaceful. My day-to-day life is hectic, including weekends. Being up there by yourself, and it’s just you, the sound of the engine – it’s complete and utter peace. It clears my mind, but it’s risky. I’ve got a young family, so I need to balance that out. And it’s also very expensive.

Flying or the family? That’s a good question. Both haha! I need to align my priorities.

What is one place you’ve flown to that has really stuck with you? I flew my mum to the border of Tanzania and then into Magadi. We had breakfast there and then flew back to Nairobi and continued with her birthday party. And the second was when I was probably showing off a bit when courting my now-wife. We flew to Chyulu Hills, but it’s more about the journey and who’s part of that journey and not so much the destination.

Did that help you win your wife? I think I’m a nice person [chuckles]. Well, I don’t know because she’s refused to fly with me since then.

What kind of husband did you set out to be? Did I have a plan? Not really. I think I’ve simply tried to follow in the footsteps of my parents and the kind of family they created for us. My wife is Ethiopian, and when we met, she had been in Kenya for about three years. She didn’t have any other family members here, so one of my biggest priorities was making sure she felt at home and that we built the kind of warm, wholesome family that my siblings and I were fortunate to grow up in. For me, being a good husband means listening to your partner, allowing her perspective to guide me, and supporting her wherever she needs me. That’s the kind of marriage I’ve always wanted us to have.

How did you make your marriage unique from your parents’? I don’t know if I’ve done anything different. I think they did more when they were my age than I’ve been able to do now in terms of building the family, building their businesses, and supporting the wider family and community in Kisii.

Is that a challenge or a burden to outdo your parents? It’s an inspiration, without a doubt. And really, the question is, what does success look like to me? You fall short if you pitch your success against someone else. Your success should ultimately be your success. What makes you happy.

What did success look like for you when you were younger? I’m still young haha! This is cliché, but financial independence. The second is building something I hope will outlive my partners and me and create an institution for the benefit of whoever is in it and for our clients. From a family perspective, it is being able to put the children through good schools and watching them succeed.

You went to boarding school at six years old. That’s your whole life… How was that like? I’m the youngest of four children, so I was quite young when I first went to boarding school. At the time, I had no idea what was going on. It just felt exciting to be away from home. As I got older, though, it became more challenging. This was before the internet and mobile phones. The only way to keep in touch was by writing letters, so homesickness could be quite real. Even so, I’m a big advocate of boarding school, depending on the nature of the child.

Would you parent your children the same way? Yeah, but you’re asking the wrong person. I definitely would.

How did fatherhood reconstitute success, if at all? It has put a different perspective and more drive to pursue success. It has given me a lot more purpose in terms of what I’m doing, to get out of bed on those grey Monday mornings when you’re tired, you’re stressed, you’re broke.

What frightened you most about being a father? The unknown. You can read books, or other parents will speak to you and give you all the information you need, but once that baby comes, it’s like, I don’t know what to do with this thing. And then having to learn and adapt very quickly on how to look after the child. It’s terrifying.

This is a dicey question, but which of your father’s flaws are you actively not trying to pass down to your children? Let’s call it a character trait, which I have as well. Stubbornness. If we’ve set our minds on something, it’s going to happen. I can see it coming out in my five-year-old boy and two-year-old girl.

What used to make you happy that no longer makes you happy now? The streets haha! The nightlife. I used to love passing by the bar on Friday evenings. I used to be a very sociable person. Now, I just prefer more intimate gatherings.

When did this shift happen for you? I need to be careful about this. I might give you a timeline. If my wife reads this, she’ll be like, that’s a lie [chuckles]. But around the time we got married, 2018. The reason is that you have to be purposeful about what you’re doing. Your life changes once you get married. You need to give each other attention. You’re building something and still getting to know each other. Why have you married someone if you prefer to spend Friday nights out and Saturday mornings in bed, hungover?

How do you take care of yourself? I’ll show you [shows paper]. Eight hours of hard work, eight hours of good sleep, and eight hours spent on family, friends, health, and soul. I still struggle with sleep, but I enjoy spending time doing things that take me away from work. I love cooking. Most weekends I will cook. Gym, three days a week. And being in the bush.

What’s your signature meal? Triple-fried lamb shoulder. This weekend, I’m trying to perfect my pizza-making. It’s a good way to spend time with my children, especially my son. It is not so much about the food, but the process. I have to say I have no interest in sweets and cakes. I’m scared of the dentist. I have 12 fillings and four fake teeth.

Do you have an insecurity you are willing to share? I’m a very anxious person. I worry a lot about things I really shouldn’t be worrying about. I’m doing myself a disservice, I know.

What do you wish people understood about you more? That there is a distinction between what the team and I are doing here in this firm versus what my father has done. There’s always an assumption that he’s the force behind what we’re doing here, which is frustrating. He has nothing to do with it. But it’d be silly not to get guidance from him and other experienced people.

Does that make you want to keep on proving yourself to people? Yeah.

You didn’t grow up in lack, so where does your ambition come from? This is a delicate one. With one of my first firm jobs, I got some internal information that they were deciding who to let go of. And the information I got out of there was… ‘They don’t need to retain me. I’ll be fine anyway.’ Which really frustrated me, because you’ve made an assumption and taken away all the effort and hard work I put in. So I resigned. I left with one ambition. To grow something bigger and better.

Which part of success did not taste as good as you thought it would? Let’s call it growth. Putting my hand up and saying, ‘Oh, I’m successful,’ is quite arrogant. What it has not fixed is peace. It comes with more and more challenges.

When you think of the weekend, what comes to mind? Children first. We like going to the national park. We like seeing my siblings; they’ve got children as well. Anything but work.

What habit are you trying to break? Work. I can’t live without work emails on my phone. I’d be anxious. But it taught me something. We’re a service industry. You need to be responsive to clients because without people having problems, we have no work. But how to measure your response? Is it really that critical? Can I just say, I’ve understood. I’ll get back to you on Monday. I think it definitely annoys my wife.

How do you ensure you’re stopping to smell your roses? I have to be forced into it, to be honest. It’s difficult for me to just stop. Or that tomorrow I’m not doing anything. I’ll need to be pushed into that. But also appreciate the people around you. Whether it’s family, whether it’s colleagues. Spend time with them. Listen to them.

What is your most used emoji? Probably a thumbs up. Memes, I don’t use. It’s complicated. Those GIFs. You go through it, and you’re like, oh, let me find something that’s funny. I’m not a funny person. This is a thing. And I can’t even be bothered to change the colour [chuckles]. My emojis are all yellow. It’s quick.

Give us some pro bono lawyerly advice. Think outside the box. It’s absolutely okay to be selfish. In terms of making the decisions that are right for you, and ultimately the people around you. Take bold steps and be prepared for failure. But also, there’s too much noise and external influence. Too many people are in a rush to achieve certain things, which seldom works, so cut the noise and focus on what’s important-don’t expect that even your closest friend has your best interests at heart. Those are the people who can wipe you out. And it’s not always the case that the cheap one is going to give you the same quality of advice that you actually need. And when you look at your policy, always look at exclusions. What you’re sold and what you get at the end of the day can be two very different things.

The global smartphone market has slumped to its weakest second quarter in more than a decade as the artificial intelligence (AI) I infrastructure boom diverts memory chips away from consumer electronics, driving up handset prices and squeezing demand in sensitive markets like Kenya.

Global smartphone shipments fell by 11 percent year-on-year in the three months to June, marking the lowest second-quarter volumes since 2013, according to market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research.

The slowdown comes as soaring prices for memory chips, key components in smartphones, challenge phone-manufacturing after chip makers shifted production capacity towards high-margin AI data centres.

The supply squeeze has been compounded by tensions in the Middle East, which have increased oil prices and shipping costs, further inflating smartphone prices amid slowing global economic growth and weak consumer spending.

‘The memory crisis has overtaken every other factor as the single biggest drag on the smartphone industry. What started as a components issue last year is now a full-blown demand issue,’ Counterpoint Senior Analyst Shilpi Jain said.

Entry-level and mid-tier smartphones, which account for the bulk of global sales, have become unfeasible at previous price points as makers grapple with higher material bills.

‘Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) responded differently. Some are increasing prices and accepting margin pressure, while others are extending the life cycle of older-generation models and using promotions to retain budget-conscious buyers. A few are pulling back on launches and production,’ Ms Jain said.

The impact is already being felt in Kenya, where handset distributors warn that years of steady smartphone adoption are slowing as higher manufacturing costs filter to consumers.

Brian Waweru, head of publicity in Kenya for Vivo Mobile, says smartphone shipments across the region are losing momentum.

‘In Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Somalia, shipments that had risen to nearly eight million units by the end of 2024 slowed to about 7.2 million in 2025,’ Mr Waweru told the Business Daily.

The cost pressures have translated into steeper retail price increases. The company expects the regional market to weaken further this year because of the memory shortage and logistics disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East.

‘Entry-level models have jumped 80 percent from Sh9,999 to Sh17,999, mid-range devices are up 28 percent from Sh35,000 to Sh45,000 and premium models have surged 80 percent from Sh100,000 to Sh180,000 in just two years,’ Mr Waweru said.

The AI boom has tightened supplies of memory chips used in smartphones, laptops and other electronics, threatening the low-tier models that have helped expand smartphone access among low-income families.

The price of Random Access Memory (RAM), once among the cheapest components in electronics manufacturing, has more than doubled since October 2025 and continues to rise as US technology giants such as OpenAI, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure.

Most smartphones rely on dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory chips.

However, AI data centres require more advanced – and more profitable – high-bandwidth memory (HBM), prompting leading chipmakers like South Korea’s Samsung, SK Hynix and US firm Micron Technology to prioritise supply to cloud computing firms over smartphone makers.

Estimates show that HBM chips used in data centres yield up to 80 percent profits.

M-Kopa, one of Kenya’s smartphone makers, recently said the cost of memory chips has risen three- to four-fold since October 2025 as suppliers divert production to AI applications.

‘Demand for AI memory is high, meaning manufacturers are dedicating most of their capacity to AI. That has pushed up the cost of memory significantly,’ M-Kopa head of manufacturing Ismael Abisai said in May.

‘The cost for memory has gone up three to four times. A memory type that went for $19 (Sh2,454) is now $65 (Sh8,394).’

The downturn has been concentrated among brands that have invested heavily in the budget smartphone segment. Chinese firms Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo recorded double-digit shipment declines.

‘Considering their greater exposure to these tiers, the brands were disproportionately affected as consumers delayed purchases, traded down to older-generation devices or extended replacement cycles,’ the Counterpoint report says.

Premium brands have been more resilient. Samsung increased its global shipment share to 24 percent from 20 a year earlier, helped by strong demand for the company’s most premium Galaxy S26 series.

US tech giant Apple expanded its market share to 20 from 17 percent and was the only major smartphone maker that avoided price increases during the quarter, buoyed by continued demand for the iPhone 17 series despite softer sales of older models.

Google and Huawei bucked the broader market trend, posting shipment growth of 16 percent and six percent respectively, driven by new flagship launches.

Analysts expect the pressure to persist well into 2027. Counterpoint forecasts a substantial fall in global smartphone shipments in 2026, saying manufacturers are prioritising profit over volumes.

‘OEMs are likely to keep prioritising value over volume, trimming low-margin models, pushing configuration and storage-tier adjustments and leaning further into refurbished and previous-generation devices to retain budget-conscious buyers,’ the research firm says.

Projections by the International Data Corporation (IDC) show that worldwide smartphone shipments will decline by 13.9 percent this year to 1.09 billion units, the steepest annual contraction on record.

‘The deepening memory shortage crisis remains the dominant force behind the record 14 percent drop this year, but it is no longer the only one,’ Nabila Popal, Senior Research Director at the US market intelligence firm, said.

‘The US-Iran war has added a fresh layer of cost pressure for smartphone OEMs, driven by rising oil prices and transport costs. These pressures are compelling vendors to reduce shipments, raise prices and concentrate on higher price tiers.’

IDC says average smartphone selling prices have climbed to a record $550 (Sh71,142) this year, up from $450 (Sh58,208) in 2025, signalling what analysts describe as the end of the era of ultra-cheap smartphones.

The biggest pain is expected in emerging markets. IDC projects smartphone shipments in the Middle East and Africa will decline by 23 percent this year, the steepest regional contraction globally, as the sub-$200 (Sh25,870) segment bears the brunt of rising costs.

Manufacturers are increasingly turning to financing options to cushion buyers from higher prices.