Category: Business Daily

It is said that every generation inherits its defining challenge. For this one, that challenge is preparing for a world of work that is changing faster than any previous generation has gone through.

Artificial intelligence is transforming industries. Climate change is reshaping economies and livelihoods. Demographic shifts are redefining labour markets. Entirely new careers are emerging while others disappear.

In this environment, competitiveness of nations and businesses will increasingly depend not only on technology or capital, but on the quality of human capability they cultivate.

The priority issue, therefore, is no longer whether the world of work is changing; it is whether our education systems, employers, and public institutions are changing quickly enough to prepare young people for it.

As we reflect on World Youth Skills Day, we should ask ourselves a more fundamental question:

Are we preparing young people with yesterday’s skills merely to compete for jobs that may soon become obsolete, or are we equipping them to shape the future and meaning of work itself?

For decades, conversations about youth employment have centred on technical and vocational skills. These remain essential, but they are no longer sufficient. Increasingly, employers are looking beyond qualifications.

They need people who can navigate uncertainty, collaborate across differences, solve complex problems and create value in environments where the roadmap changes constantly-or where no roadmap exists at all. In other words, the future belongs to change makers.

This is especially true for Africa. Home to the world’s youngest population, the continent stands at an extraordinary crossroads. Millions of young people will enter the labour market over the coming decades, yet formal employment alone will not absorb them all.

Many will create enterprises, strengthen communities, pioneer new industries, and re-imagine systems that no longer serve society. Their success will depend as much on human capabilities as on technical expertise.

The first is cognitive empathy-the ability to understand the experiences, perspectives and aspirations of others. In an increasingly interconnected world, empathy is no longer simply a personal virtue; it is an economic and civic advantage.

It enables people to design products and services that genuinely meet people’s needs, build inclusive workplaces, bridge social divides, and strengthen trust within organisations and communities.

The second is collaborative leadership. The image of the lone heroic leader is rapidly giving way to something more powerful: leaders who convene, connect, and enable others to contribute.

Today’s most pressing challenges, whether unemployment, food insecurity, public health, or climate resilience, cannot be solved by any single institution.

They require governments, businesses, civil society, and communities to work together. Young people must, therefore, learn not only how to lead, but how to lead with others. Third is creative problem-solving. The pace of change means that many of tomorrow’s opportunities have not yet been imagined.

Young people who can identify unmet needs, experiment with solutions, and adapt continuously will be better positioned than those waiting for predefined career paths. Creativity is becoming an economic necessity rather than a luxury.

Finally, there is sophisticated teamwork. Work increasingly happens across cultures, disciplines, geographies, and digital platforms.

The ability to collaborate with people who think differently, live differently, and possess different expertise is becoming one of the defining characteristics of high-performing individuals and resilient organisations.

These capabilities reinforce one another. Empathy helps us understand the problem worth solving. Creative problem-solving generates new possibilities. Collaborative leadership mobilises others around those possibilities. Sophisticated teamwork enables solutions to grow beyond individuals and create lasting impact.

Ultimately, this conversation is not simply about employability. It is about Africa’s future competitiveness, resilience, and prosperity.

Africa does not simply need a generation prepared to fit into existing systems.

It needs one equipped to improve those systems, creating inclusive economies, more innovative firms, stronger institutions, and more resilient communities.

The High Court ordered the government to produce key records underpinning the privatisation of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) before a petition challenging the sale proceeds is heard.

Justice Patricia Nyaundi ordered the National Executive, the Attorney-General, the Privatisation Commission and the Privatisation Authority to produce valuation reports, Cabinet memoranda, procurement records, International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreements and other transaction papers within 21 days.

The court issued the order after declining the Attorney-General’s bid to dismiss the constitutional petition challenging the transaction. The court also declined to refer the dispute to a multi-judge bench, allowing it to continue before a single judge.

From the cohort of emerging artists last showcased at One Off Art Contemporary Gallery last year, it is Yusuf Mirumbe that the deities of art seem to have been kindest to.

From his journey at Alfajiri Street Kids Art where he learnt and taught painting with street children, there has hardly been a dim to his shine in as far as the progress and evolution of his craft is concerned.

Now, a body of his works is being showcased at the PhotoGallery on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis in a solo show dubbed Mothers of Mathare which explores his traditional style of figure painting that plays form and posture while maintaining a classical renaissance look on his female subjects

The Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (Rerec) is set to integrate solar into 20 of its diesel power plants to cut its current annual Sh1.16 billion fuel bill and lower consumer prices.

Rerec Chief Executive Officer, Rose Mkalama, said that the Treasury has already approved the project, which will see the power plants primarily run on clean energy, relegating diesel to a back-up fuel.

Besides cutting fuel bills, the hybridisation will ease power bills for customers relying on these plants, given that thermal power is the most expensive and has saddled consumers with steep bills. Solar is currently the fourth-cheapest source of power in the national grid.

‘The hybridisation of these plants is a win-win for the customers and us. It will free up money to connect more customers and even bigger to help lower the cost of electricity,’ Dr Mkalama said.

‘The cost of fuel is going up, and this significantly impacts the economics of these stations. The change will help bring down our fuel costs and lower the cost of electricity to the customers.’

A document from the Treasury shows that Rerec estimates the monthly fuel bill for the 20 stations at Sh96.9 million or Sh1.162 billion a year. Rising prices of diesel in the wake of the Iran war have further added to the operational costs, eating into the revenues that the 20 plants book from the electricity sold.

Thermal power is the most expensive, with a kilowatt-hour (kWh) priced at an average of Sh26.9 in June 2025, ahead of solar at Sh11.13 per kWh, wind at Sh9.53 per kWh.

Locally generated hydropower remains the cheapest, with a kWh costing an average of Sh2.51 as at June last year, ahead of imported hydro and geothermal at Sh6.85 and Sh7.29 per kWh, respectively.

Rerec is battling high fuel bills that continue to eat into the revenues made from the sale of electricity to the customers relying on the 20 diesel-powered power plants.

‘The diesel costs for the twenty diesel stations (plants) are approximately Sh96.9 million per month. The overall operations and maintenance costs of the hybridised diesel stations will reduce significantly as the diesel component will only be a backup while the renewable energy will provide the base load,’ Rerec says in a document on this project.

Rerec owns the 50 Megawatt peak (MWp) Garissa solar plant in addition to 26 standalone solar mini-grid power stations primarily serving the counties of Wajir, Marsabit, Turkana, Garissa and Mandera.

Dr Mkalama added that the hybridisation would also help increase the capacity of these off-grid stations to meet the rising power demand.

Most of these plants were built more than 10 years ago, and their capacities have remained unchanged despite the growing demand for electricity in these areas.

The hybridisation of the diesel plants will increase Rerec’s contribution of clean energy from 60.498 MWp to 78.870MWp by 2027.

There is a familiar pattern to conversations about climate adaptation in Africa. They usually begin with the billions of dollars needed to help the continent respond to increasingly frequent droughts, floods and other climate-related shocks. Before long, attention shifts to the widening financing gap and the urgent need for more public and private investment.

These are necessary discussions. Yet after participating in the Adaptation Investment Summit for Africa (AISA) 2026, I found myself asking a different question: What exactly are we asking capital to invest in?

For years, climate adaptation has largely been framed as a financing challenge. But investors rarely allocate capital simply because a problem is urgent.

They invest where opportunities are commercially viable, risks are understood and investments can generate sustainable returns.

If Africa is to attract significantly more private capital into adaptation, then adaptation itself must increasingly be presented as an investment opportunity rather than simply a funding need.

That perspective shaped many of the conversations at AISA 2026. A climate-resilient transport corridor is more than a road built to withstand floods. It is an economic asset that lowers transport costs, connects producers to markets and strengthens regional trade.

A climate-smart warehouse does more than protect agricultural produce; it reduces post-harvest losses, improves productivity and increases the value of agricultural supply chains.

Modern irrigation systems, cold chains and digital trade platforms help communities adapt to climate change while creating commercial value, generating revenue and supporting jobs.

One discussion challenged participants to view trade itself as a climate adaptation strategy. When farmers can sell to regional markets instead of relying on a single drought-affected market, they become less vulnerable to local shocks.

Efficient border systems that keep perishable goods moving protect incomes and strengthen food security. Resilient transport networks ensure that food, inputs and businesses continue moving during disruption. In this sense, trade is not simply about moving goods across borders; it is about helping people and economies adapt.

The summit also reinforced another lesson. Climate-resilient trade corridors are not built through infrastructure alone. Roads and border posts must be supported by finance that enables businesses to grow, technology that improves efficiency, policies that reduce barriers to trade and institutions that give investors confidence. Investors ultimately back systems, not isolated projects.

Africa will continue to need substantial public and development finance to respond to climate change.

But if adaptation is to move beyond pilot projects and reach the scale the continent requires, equal attention must be given to building investment-ready markets. After all, capital does not flow simply towards need. It flows towards opportunity.

In the early 2000s, the Oakland Athletics transformed one of baseball’s smallest budgets into sustained success through the now-famous “Moneyball” strategy.

Rather than chasing more resources, the club focused on using what it already had more efficiently through data, measurement and disciplined decision-making.

That lesson extends well beyond sport. Often, the greatest gains come not from acquiring more assets, but from making existing systems work better. It is a lesson Kenya could apply as it pursues faster economic growth.

Economic discussions often revolve around attracting more investment, building new infrastructure or increasing public spending.

While these remain important, Kenya already possesses many of the ingredients needed for growth: a strategic location, a sophisticated financial sector, strong digital infrastructure and an entrepreneurial population. The bigger opportunity may lie in improving the efficiency of the systems that support investment.

Singapore provides a compelling example. Despite limited natural resources, it built prosperity through efficient institutions, well-integrated infrastructure and disciplined execution. Housing projects were linked to transport, utilities, finance and commercial centres, creating not only homes but also an engine for investment, productivity and job creation.

Kenya’s Affordable Housing Programme offers similar potential. But its success depends not only on construction, but also on the efficiency of the processes that support investment.

Land registration, development approvals, valuations and charge registration all determine how quickly capital moves through the economy.

Even small administrative delays can have significant consequences. I recently observed a lease transaction worth about Sh100 million delayed for months because of an incorrect entry on Ardhisasa.

The error was relatively simple to fix, yet the absence of a fast resolution mechanism delayed investment and postponed about Sh3 million in government revenue from stamp duty and registration fees. The delay also affected related transactions tied to the same development.

This illustrates a broader point. Every delay in approvals, permits or registrations keeps capital idle, slows business expansion and postpones job creation.

Kenya’s next economic breakthrough may therefore come less from finding new resources than from improving execution.

By measuring performance, removing bottlenecks and strengthening coordination across government, the country can unlock significant economic value. Like Moneyball, success may depend not on having more resources, but on using existing ones far more effectively.

The findings emerged from a tax dispute that started after KRA conducted a physical stock verification at Almasi Bottlers’ Nyeri and Eldoret plants in March 2025 before issuing an additional excise duty assessment.

The beverage manufacturer challenged the decision after KRA confirmed the assessment through an objection decision issued in August 2025.

Almasi, an affiliate of the Coca-Cola group, argued that KRA wrongly relied on inflation-adjusted excise duty rates introduced through Legal Notice No. 217 of 2021 despite High Court conservatory orders preserving the previous rates during ongoing litigation.

The company also disputed KRA’s reliance on records relating to accidental breakages and DEFCO sales dating back to 2018 and 2019, arguing those periods had become statute-barred.

The tribunal rejected Almasi’s challenge to the excise rates, finding KRA lawfully applied the revised rates after the High Court lifted the conservatory orders on August 26, 2024.

“It is thus clear that the said assessment was issued after the orders of stay had been lifted. Accordingly, the Respondent did not disregard or disobey the stay orders,’ the tribunal said.

However, the judges agreed that KRA exceeded its statutory powers by relying on records older than five years without alleging fraud or deliberate tax evasion.

“The law is thus clear that assessment can only go back five years, and a taxpayer is also only required to keep records for a period of five years,” the tribunal said.

It added, ‘Any assessments or records demanded for the years 2018 and 2019 related to adjustments and sales were unlawful and statute-barred unless fraud, wilful neglect, or tax evasion was pleaded and proved.’

The tribunal found none of those grounds had been pleaded or established. It therefore ordered KRA to set aside assessments dependent on records predating March 2020, uphold assessments covering March 2020 to April 2025, and issue a fresh objection decision within 30 days.

The case stemmed from a stock variance identified during KRA’s audit, after Almasi manually adjusted production volumes in its excise returns to offset higher inflation-adjusted rates already configured in the iTax system, while the court challenge remained pending.

The company argued it had acted to ensure the correct duty remained payable while the conservatory orders remained in force.

KRA countered that the manual adjustments created a discrepancy of more than 3.9 million litres between declared stock and physical inventories, justifying the additional assessment.

Before the hearing, both sides settled part of the dispute through alternative dispute resolution, leaving only the Sh25 million assessment arising from the inflation-related stock variance to be determined.

The tribunal also faulted Almasi for failing to place key supporting documents before KRA during the objection stage, saying taxpayers cannot rely on evidence first introduced during an appeal.

“The appellant has engaged in mere assertions in this appeal without providing evidence,” the tribunal said, adding that, “a mere statement in pleadings is not evidence.”

If you walk through almost any market in Kenya on a weekday morning, you will see who is feeding this country. Women arranging dry beans and maize before sunrise, loading sukuma wiki onto handcarts, and haggling over tomato prices with traders. They are not a footnote to Kenya’s agricultural economy.

They are, for the most part, the agricultural economy. And they have systematically been underserved by the very systems meant to support them.

Kenya is a signatory to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, known as CAADP, which is the African Union’s framework for agricultural investment and growth. Under the programme, Kenya has committed to achieving six percent annual agricultural growth.

World Bank data shows the sector has averaged three to four percent in most years, reaching six percent only when the rains arrive on time.

That gap is not simply a matter of weather or funding. It points to something more specific: a significant share of Kenya’s farming capacity is not producing at the optimal level due to myriad reasons.

The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey found that 75 percent of women in Kenya own no agricultural land, whether solely or jointly, and only three percent hold an individual title deed. In 2014 the equivalent figure was 61 percent. By 2022 it had risen to 75 percent. That is not progress.

The National Land Commission made women’s land rights a centerpiece of its 2024 strategic direction, a signal that the issue has institutional attention at the highest level.

In most instances, land is the collateral that determines whether a bank will talk to you or not. Without it, a farmer makes decisions shaped more by what she cannot afford to lose than by what she might be able to produce, and that difference shows up in her yields, in how much seed she buys, and in whether she plants for the market or just to get through to the next harvest.

Agriculture is not a small part of Kenya’s economy. It contributes 21.3 percent of GDP directly, closer to 30 percent when you count the industries that depend on it, and it employs roughly 32 percent of the workforce according to the World Bank and KNBS, 2023.

And yet Kenya spent close to Sh80.2 billion importing food in the first quarter of 2023 alone, nearly matching what it earned from food exports in the same period (KNBS).

The FAO’s State of Food and Agriculture 2010-11 put a number to what that something is: if women farmers had equal access to productive resources, yields on their farms could rise by 20 to 30 percent, with total agricultural output across developing countries lifting by 2.5 to four percent.

The question is why that potential has not translated into output, and the answer is not simply a lack of investment. The government committed roughly Sh54.3 billion to the National Fertiliser Subsidy Programme in 2022-23 alone, specifically to get affordable inputs to smallholders.

A 2024 Tegemeo Institute evaluation found that 46 percent of eligible households registered for the programme, but only 19 to 21 percent actually received the input, well below the government’s own 40 percent coverage target.

The gap between signing up and collecting was widest among farmers on small untitled plots. This is not an argument against the programme. It is an argument for designing its next phase with that gap in view. The intent was right; the resources were committed; what remains is ensuring that target farmers are reached.

Across credit, extension services and climate adaptation, the farmers least likely to be reached in Kenya are small scale farmers, and women specifically. When drought arrives or a season fails, adapting means buying better seed, investing in water harvesting, or accessing insurance before the loss becomes unrecoverable.

In Kenya, Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy sets out clear goals.

The work being done by development organisations, State agencies and farmer groups across is real and it is building something worth building on.

The next step is making sure that momentum reaches farmers who have so far been hardest to reach, not through a separate programme for women, but by treating equitable reach as a design requirement in every investment that touches smallholder agriculture, whether that is a credit facility, a land documentation drive, or an extension service measuring yield change rather than workshop attendance.

Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd is facing resistance from workers after spouses of unionised employees were removed from the company’s medical scheme for failing to produce marriage certificates.

The dispute has sparked questions over whether proof of marriage should be required before extending workplace benefits, and whether consultation with unions is mandatory before such changes take effect.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has declined to order Coca-Cola to immediately restore the medical insurance. The court ruled that granting the order would effectively determine the ongoing dispute before a full trial, where key questions over the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), consultation and proof of marriage remain unresolved.

At the centre of the lawsuit filed by the Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers is whether employers require marriage certificates before extending workplace medical benefits to employees’ spouses.

Grant principal relief

The court said the union’s request could not be granted because it was asking for the same outcome that will only be decided after the full case is heard.

‘The court is equally mindful that the order sought would effectively grant the principal relief pleaded in the main claim. The court is not persuaded that the applicant has established exceptional circumstances,’ said the court.

The judge said key questions were still unresolved and would need witnesses and interpretation of the CBA, past practice, and the Marriage Act before a final decision could be made.

In the case filed in February 2026, the union says the company breached the CBA by introducing a policy requiring marriage certificates without consultation and removing spouses from the medical scheme.

It argues employees had long nominated spouses using alternative records including next-of-kin information and biodata recognised by the Social Health Authority (SHA) before the change.

But the company removed from its medical scheme all spouses of employees who had not produced marriage certificates.

The union says the firm initially agreed to suspend implementation and consider alternative evidence but later removed affected spouses in April 2025.

‘The abrupt introduction of the marriage certificate requirement was implemented without considering the adverse medical and welfare consequences for affected spouses,’ says the union.

It claims that Coca Cola breached the CBA by failing to consult the union, denying employee participation, and collaborating with the medical insurer to remove numerous spouses from the company medical scheme.

Voluntary benefit

However, Coca-Cola says spousal cover is a voluntary benefit under company policy rather than a contractual entitlement under the CBA.

It says the insurer introduced the marriage certificate requirement for compliance with the Marriage Act and to prevent abuse of the scheme.

The company said it negotiated a one-year grace period during 2024 and later extended the deadline while helping employees obtain certificates.

According to the response, more than 100 employees complied, and their spouses retained medical cover before implementation began.

The company rejected a conciliator’s recommendation to accept sworn affidavits instead of marriage certificates, maintaining they were not legally sufficient.

‘Marriage certificates are the only legally recognised conclusive proof of marriage under the Marriage Act,’ says the company.

Ruling on the union’s application, the court noted workers were notified in January 2024, attended sensitisation meetings, received reminders and were offered assistance obtaining certificates before suspensions took effect.

It also observed that the prejudice facing employees and their spouses, though significant, had to be balanced against compelling the employer to provide insurance contrary to insurer eligibility conditions before trial.

The dispute is expected to determine whether spousal medical cover forms part of negotiated employment terms or remains a discretionary workplace benefit, and whether consultation was mandatory before the policy changed.

The case is scheduled for mention on November 18, 2026.

The Ministry of Health’s decision to halt unregulated parallel importation of medicines and health technologies marks an important step in strengthening Kenya’s pharmaceutical regulatory system.

More than a policy shift, it is a reaffirmation that improving access to medicines should never come at the expense of patient safety, quality or public confidence.

Parallel importation has long divided opinion. Supporters argue it can improve access and lower costs by allowing medicines to be sourced from alternative markets.

Critics, however, caution that medicines are not ordinary consumer goods.

They require strict oversight of manufacturing, storage, transportation, labelling, traceability and post-market surveillance. A cheaper medicine that cannot be verified, traced or monitored may ultimately impose far greater costs on patients and the healthcare system.

The real issue, therefore, is not whether parallel importation should exist, but whether it can operate within a robust regulatory framework. Every product entering the Kenyan market should be authorised, quality-assured, traceable and compliant with local regulatory requirements. Affordability should never be pursued independently of safety, quality and efficacy.

Weak oversight creates opportunities for substandard or falsified medicines to enter legitimate supply chains, undermining public trust and fragmenting accountability. This makes strong regulation indispensable.

Kenya has made significant progress in strengthening pharmaceutical oversight, including the Pharmacy and Poisons Board’s pursuit of the World Health Organization’s Maturity Level 3 benchmark.

The planned rollout of medicine serialisation and track-and-trace systems will further enhance transparency by enabling regulators to monitor products throughout the supply chain and respond quickly to quality or safety concerns.

The next challenge is implementation. Regulators, manufacturers, importers, distributors and healthcare professionals must consistently apply the 2019 parallel importation framework.

Greater transparency is equally important. The public should be able to identify which products have been authorised for parallel importation, who is responsible for them and how compliance will be monitored.

Ultimately, the success of the policy will not be measured by the volume of medicines imported or the prices achieved. It will be judged by whether Kenyan patients receive safe, effective and quality-assured medicines through a regulatory system they can trust.