Category: Business Daily

Kenya is eyeing an additional Sh64.6 billion from a Japan-backed Samurai bond in the current financial year, as the government looks to broaden its sources of credit offered on terms more favourable than market rates.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi says that after securing Sh22.1 billion from Japan in the just-ended fiscal year, the government is keen to further tap the East Asian market owing to the low interest rates on the loans.

Nairobi has long floated the idea of a Samurai bond to diversify its external borrowing from dollar-denominated facilities and commercial debt from Eurobonds and syndicated loans. It has also mulled issuing other facility types such as Shariah bonds, green bonds and Chinese yuan-denominated Panda bonds.

Samurai financing refers to debt denominated in Japanese yen and subject to Japanese regulations.

‘In this financial year, we are targeting $500 million (Sh64.6 billion) from the Samurai bond. That is because we are diversifying our sources of debt and looking for more concessional rates, and if you look at Samurai bonds, the interest rate is around 4 percent or even less,’ Mr Mbadi said last week.

The government has targeted to borrow Sh116.2 billion from external lenders in the current fiscal year, down from the target of Sh2544.8 billion.

Overall, the government’s fiscal deficit for 2026/27 stands at Sh1.146 trillion, with the domestic market expected to lend out Sh1.03 trillion to plug the deficit.

In addition to the expected Samurai financing, the government has this month taken up a $750 million (Sh97 billion) tranche from the World Bank’s Development Policy Operations funding programme.

Last month, Kenya drew down its first Samurai financing of $171.31 million (Sh22.1 billion), earmarking the funds for the manufacturing and energy sectors.

This disbursement was, however, not a Samurai bond, because it was not raised from the market, but was instead a yen-denominated loan from the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, Japan’s official export credit agency.

Mr Mbadi did not disclose whether the new financing for this year will come from the same agency, or from the Japanese bonds market.

Under the June financing, Sh13.1 billion was channelled towards promoting local motor vehicle assembly as part of Kenya’s automotive policy and efforts to create jobs.

The funding has been made available to local assemblers and spare parts manufacturers in the form of soft loans that will be administered by a bank appointed by the government. The financing also covers technical training, legal and regulatory reforms in the automotive sector.

Another Sh5 billion is earmarked for the energy sector under a programme aimed at reducing energy losses and improving affordability of electricity. Cutting energy losses is expected to reduce the cost of power for industries and make Kenya’s manufactured goods more competitive in the export market.

The remaining Sh4 billion will support Kenya’s reform and development agenda by reinforcing essential public services, protecting key social investments and institutions.

Japan remains one of Kenya’s biggest bilateral lenders, with outstanding loans of Sh77.23 billion at the end of April 2026. Only China at Sh611.4 billion and France at Sh102.75 billion account for larger outstanding bilateral loans to Kenya.

You walk to your bank and take a Sh30 million mortgage. The repayment period is 20 years, giving you monthly instalments that comfortably fit your income.

Life takes an unexpected turn two years later. Perhaps your business flourishes, you receive a substantial inheritance or you sell another property at a handsome profit, making you enough money to clear the mortgage balance.

Will the bank still demand the interest that would have accumulated over the remaining 18 years? Remember, you had already committed to paying decades of interest since you signed a long-term mortgage agreement.

It is a concern shared by many aspiring homeowners that discourages some from taking mortgages.

Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) Chief Executive Johnstone Oltetia says the fear is largely unfounded.

‘Interest on a home loan is based on the outstanding balance and calculated on a reducing balance. The borrower can fully settle the loan early. The borrower pays the amount initially taken, plus the interest due for the period the loan was outstanding,’ Mr Oltetia says.

‘For instance, if a 10-year home loan is cleared after two or three years, the borrower only pays the outstanding principal balance plus interest for those two or three years. This leads to savings compared to keeping the loan for the full 10 years.’

It means borrowers who can clear their loans earlier than the planned frame stand to reduce the cost of borrowing.

‘Early repayment does not attract any fees or penalties. Borrowers may, therefore, choose a longer repayment period for lower and more manageable monthly repayments, and settle early when they can,’ Mr Oltetia says.

This challenges the other common assumption that selecting a long repayment period automatically means unnecessary interest.

Mr Oltetia says a longer tenure can provide flexibility by lowering monthly instalments while allowing borrowers to make additional payments whenever they have surplus income.

Some potential borrowers also worry that banks penalise customers who repay mortgages ahead of schedule because lenders lose expected interest income.

Mr Oltetia, however, says consumer protection rules demand lenders to be transparent and fair.

‘Under the CBK Prudential Guidelines on consumer protections, lenders are required to treat consumers fairly and reasonably, avoid unreasonable contract terms and disclose all fees, repayment schedules and total cost of credit upfront,’ he says.

‘Borrowers are not charged any fees or penalties for settling their mortgage early. They may make extra or one-off payments at any time, which reduces what they still owe and lowers the total interest cost of the home loan.’

Understanding how mortgage interest is calculated can help borrowers make smart financial decisions throughout the life of the loan.

‘Mortgage interest is calculated on the amount you still owe. As you continue making repayments, the loan amount reduces, and future interest is charged only on the amount that is still unpaid,’ Mr Oltetia says.

This also explains why financial advisers often encourage homeowners to pay slightly more than the required monthly instalment whenever possible.

‘Paying more than the required monthly amount reduces the amount you still owe faster, which lowers the interest charged over time. Even small extra payments can help save money because interest is calculated on the remaining loan amount,’ Mr Oltetia says.

For borrowers who occasionally receive bonuses, business profits or other windfalls, Mr Oltetia says making lumpsum repayments could prove even more beneficial.

‘Borrowers who make extra payments from time to time, in addition to their regular monthly instalments, reduce the amount they still owe the bank, pay less interest overall and build ownership in their homes faster,’ he adds.

However, Mr Oltetia cautions against choosing an unrealistically short repayment period simply to finish the loan quickly.

‘A practical approach is to choose a longer repayment period for manageable monthly instalments, then make extra payments whenever possible,’ he says.

Despite the growing awareness of home financing, there are misconceptions about mortgages.

‘A common misconception is that once you take a home loan, you must pay all the interest shown for the whole loan period,’ Mr Oltetia says.

‘The interest is charged only on the amount you still owe.’

He disputes the notion that mortgage is reserved for wealthy Kenyans.

‘Through KMRC, borrowers can now access affordable home loans through participating banks and savings and credit cooperative societies (saccos). These loans are offered at fixed, single-digit interest rates, with long repayment periods and loan-to-value ratios of up to 105 per cent, which can reduce or remove the need for a large deposit upfront,’ he says.

Another fear among potential borrowers is that missing a few mortgage repayments automatically results in losing their homes.

Mr Oltetia says that is not necessarily the case.

‘Borrowers should talk to their banks or saccos early and honestly if they are struggling to repay. The lender may then agree on a practical solution, such as restructuring the loan, extending the repayment period or adjusting the plan to fit the borrower’s situation,’ he says.

He encourages borrowers not to underestimate the cumulative impact of small additional repayments over time.

‘Even small additional payments can reduce the loan balance faster, lower total interest paid, shorten the mortgage period and make owning a home cheaper in the long run,’ he says.

Mr Oltetia says a mortgage should not be viewed as debt but a pathway to building wealth.

‘Prospective homeowners should borrow within their means, repay consistently and make extra payments whenever possible. Choosing a home loan with affordable rates, predictable monthly repayments and a suitable repayment period can reduce borrowing costs and make homeownership more manageable,’ he adds.

Hesitating, he adds, comes with a cost.

‘Delaying the decision to buy can make homeownership more expensive since property prices rise over time. For many prospective homeowners, the best time to plan, decide and take action is now.’

Kenya’s request for an estimated Sh77.5billion ($600million) emergency loan from the World Bank has been delayed due to the lack of detailed spending plans, the multilateral lender has revealed.

The World Bank was expected to disburse financial support through its Rapid Response Option (RRO) by the end of June 2026, to help Kenya manage the economic shocks triggered by the US-Israel war with Iran, including shortages of essential commodities such as petrol and fertiliser.

The funding, however, remains uncertain amid concerns by the World Bank on Kenya’s expenditure plans.

‘Yes, the government did request the RRO and has gone through the process of signing up for the option. We are currently in the process of figuring out exactly what expenditures the government would like to support during the time of crisis,’ said Anne Bakilana, an operations manager at World Bank Kenya.

The RRO is part of the World Bank’s crisis preparedness and response system and offers access to financing for emergency responses.

‘The vehicle created (to support emergency expenditures) can last up to a year and can finance any emergency that would happen during that period, including health sector emergencies, pandemics and flood emergencies,’ Ms Bakilana said.

The RRO allows countries to quickly repurpose a portion of their unused World Bank financing across their portfolio to address emergency needs when a crisis occurs. The RRO support facility allows countries to quickly reallocate and use up to 10 percent of their undisbursed bank financing.

A country seeking to access resources from the window must first sign up to the option before identifying the key expenditures to be covered by the emergency funding. The National Treasury previously estimated resources accessible through the RRO at between Sh74.9 billion ($580 million) and Sh77.5 billion ($600 million).

A country seeking to access resources from the window must first sign up to the option before identifying the key expenditures to be covered by the emergency funding.

Kenya requested the financing in April to help it manage economic shocks triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran, which exploded at the end of February.

The funding was seen as critical as the country scrambled to stave off shortages of essential commodities such as petrol and diesel, while keeping inflation under control.

The request for additional funding beyond the DPO exposed growing concerns over the effects of the Iran war on the Kenyan economy, which is sensitive to higher fuel prices, and disruptions to forex inflows from remittances, agricultural exports and tourism.

‘We have had very good discussions with the World Bank on the Development Policy Operations (DPO) and also getting additional financing, given the kind of shocks that we are facing…our hope and expectations are that this money will come in this financial year (2025/26),’ Kamau Thugge, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor, said in April.

Fuel accounts for about one quarter of Kenya’s import bill, underlining the impact of the sharp rises in crude prices. The government was forced to halve the rate of value added tax (VAT) on fuel to 8 percent from 16 percent to cushion consumers from higher pump prices.

The National Treasury bets on emergency funding from the World Bank to help plug the resulting revenue deficit, which is estimated at Sh16 billion across three months to mid-July 2026.

Beyond the direct impact of the war on fuel, imports and the market, Kenya is also facing a slowdown in overall GDP growth this year.

Last week, the World Bank cut its growth projection for Kenya in 2026 to 4.3 percent, revealing a 0.6 percentage point reduction from its estimate of 4.9 percent in October 2025.

The projected slowdown is expected to stem from reduced productivity as firms grapple with rising input costs, including fuel and fertiliser.

Higher inflation is also set to erode household purchasing power, weakening demand in the economy.

The World Bank in June approved the disbursement of Sh97 billion ($750 million) to Kenya, under the Development Policy Operations (DPO) facility, which anchors socio-economic reforms, but the multilateral left out its assessment of Kenya’s request for additional resources under the emergency funding window.

World Bank DPOs are a type of financing aimed directly at fostering sustainable economic growth and reducing poverty. Because DPOs deliver unearmarked money straight to the borrower’s national Treasury, they are highly useful for managing fiscal pressures and bridging budget deficits.

US-based digital payments company Hurupay has stopped processing cross-border money transfers and cryptocurrencies in the Kenyan market amid increased anti-money-laundering checks.

The tech company has notified Kenyan users that its US dollar-backed services are no longer available in the country, denying local freelancers and businesses access to overseas client payments, as well as payments from friends and family members abroad.

Hurupay provides individuals and businesses with virtual US dollar, euro and sterling bank accounts that can be used to receive payments easily, send money globally, or convert funds into cryptocurrencies such as stablecoins.

The withdrawal of services in Kenya comes months after global payments giant PayPal froze funds belonging to an unknown number of Kenyans and permanently banned other users for failing to prove their employment and residence.

Kenya remains on the list of countries at high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placing the country on its “grey list.”

“We would like to inform you that Hurupay no longer supports USD banking services for customers in Kenya,” an email from the firm to a Kenyan user seen by the Business Daily reads.

“As a result, any payments sent to your SSB bank account will be rejected and automatically refunded to the sender.”

Hurupay did not disclose the reasons for the decision. The Business Daily reached out to the Delaware-incorporated fintech firm for comment.

Besides Kenya, the firm has also removed Nigeria from the list of African countries it serves.

It remains active in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, Zambia, Seychelles, Malawi and Senegal.

Founded in 2023 by Kenyans Philip Mburu, Allan Okoth and James Mugambi, Hurupay is incorporated in the US state of Delaware.

The platform has gained popularity among Kenyan freelancers, consultants and businesses because it allows them to receive payments from overseas clients and transfer the funds to local bank accounts or M-Pesa wallets.

These users prefer internet-based money transfer platforms over traditional bank transfers mainly because they offer multi-currency accounts that bypass interbank networks such as SWIFT, which can be slow and carry high intermediary bank fees.

Hurupay allows local workers and traders to receive stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency backed by assets considered reliable, such as the US dollar.

Those who receive stablecoins can have the tech firm convert them into cash deposited into their bank accounts or mobile money accounts.

They can also keep the stablecoins in Hurupay vaults and earn an annual return of eight percent.

Although Hurupay does not disclose its transaction volumes in Kenya, it said in March that it had processed more than $50 million (Sh6.5 billion) in payments across Africa since January 2025.

However, cryptocurrencies and digital payments have been exploited for criminal activities due to features such as pseudonymity and borderless transfers, which make them harder for traditional financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to detect.

This has prompted global financial institutions to subject transactions originating from the country to heightened scrutiny.

The global payments giant PayPal recently froze funds in an unknown number of Kenyan accounts and permanently shut others after demanding additional documentation, including employment contracts, bank statements and proof of residence, as part of enhanced anti-money-laundering checks.

Users who fail to provide the documents have been blocked from transferring their funds to other users or withdrawing them for up to 180 days, while accounts that remain non-compliant beyond that period risk permanent closure.

PayPal is one of the world’s largest digital payments firms, handling payments worth $464 billion (Sh59.9 trillion) between January and March 2026 alone. In Kenya, the platform is also common among freelancers and online workers who receive payments from clients abroad, as well as users who shop online and do not want to share their credit card or bank details.

PayPal has said potential signs of fraud include unusually large transactions and a spike in activity, such as a sudden burst of transactions in a previously quiet account.

The affected Kenyan users can still access account information, including transaction details and balances, but are unable to send or receive payments.

“Before you can withdraw or transfer any remaining funds from your account, we need to hold them for 180 days to cover things like chargebacks or other financial liabilities,” PayPal informed the affected users in an email.

Similarly, the UK-based money transfer platform Wise has also barred some Kenyan users from sending and receiving money. Wise has notified them that it will shut their accounts in the coming months without giving specific reasons for the move.

The company is currently under investigation in Europe over allegations that it failed to adequately identify customers and verify their activities amid suspicions that criminals used the platform for money laundering.

Three numbers tell you everything about where Kenya’s capital market stands today.

One is 204.3-the amount of money, in billions of shillings, that changed hands on our Block Trade Platform this year as Vodacom increased its stake in Safaricom to 55 percent.

The second is one-the number of shares you need today to become a shareholder in any listed company on this exchange.

The third is 27.8 percent-the return delivered by NSE equities in the first half of 2026, outperforming Treasury bonds, Treasury bills, fixed deposits, money market funds, property and land.

A market that can carry a Sh204.3 billion strategic transaction, welcome an investor with a single share, and deliver the strongest half-year return across major asset classes has truly grown up.

The Safaricom transaction is worth dwelling on because it tested every part of our system. It needed sign-off from the public through its representatives in Parliament, from the Capital Markets Authority, the Communications Authority of Kenya, the Central Bank, and competition regulators across the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the East African Community.

After the debate in Parliament, petitioners took their concerns to court, and it took the Court of Appeal to lift the orders allowing the transaction to proceed while the constitutional questions continue to be argued.

Still, the block trade at the NSE on June 30 was a seismic moment. It showed that Nairobi can host transactions of regional and global significance, not as a spectator market but as the arena where serious capital takes its seat.

We saw the same discipline, albeit at a different scale, in March. The Kenya Pipeline Company IPO was Kenya’s first in 17 years, and it succeeded through our own institutions, not through foreign rescue.

The National Social Security Fund became KPC’s largest shareholder. Uganda’s state oil company backed the offer as a regional partner. More than 70,000 ordinary Kenyans applied for shares, many for the first time. That is a distinctly East African success story, and we should say so plainly and proudly.

The performance record now tells the same story. According to MSCI data, the Nairobi Securities Exchange was Africa’s best-performing stock market in 2024 in US-dollar terms, with a 65.3 percent gain.

In 2025, the NSE followed that with another exceptional year, ranking second on the continent behind only Egypt, with a 52.2 percent US-dollar return. These rankings matter because global capital measures performance in dollars. They show that Kenya is no longer merely a frontier market with promise. It is a market delivering globally competitive returns.

That momentum has carried into 2026. In the first half of this year, NSE equities delivered a remarkable 27.8 percent return, outperforming every major traditional investment category by a wide margin. Special funds returned up to 10.69 percent, Treasury bonds returned 12 percent to 14.18 percent, Treasury bills returned 7.4 percent to 9.2 percent, fixed deposits returned 6.8 percent, money market funds returned 7.03 percent, property returned 5.2 percent to 14 percent, and land returned 1.1 percent to 1.3 percent.

The scoreboard is not whispering. It is ringing the bell.

Not every deal on our boards, however, is finished business. Asahi’s agreement to acquire Diageo’s stake in East African Breweries is still working through regulatory approval amid a series of challenges in court. South Africa’s Nedbank’s proposed acquisition of part of the NCBA Group is also in progress.

Here is the truth worth sitting with. Vodacom committed Sh204.3 billion to take its seat at Safaricom’s table. Asahi is committing $2.3 billion to take its seat at EABL’s.

A matatu sacco depositing its Friday collections, a teachers’ sacco topping up monthly savings, or a chama built around three siblings and their parents-none of them needs billions to sit at that same table. With a mobile phone and a registered SIM card, anybody can start small, own a piece of Kenya’s best companies, and participate in the same market that multinationals are spending a fortune to enter.

To our regulators and courts: the rigour you bring is why this table is trusted at all. But thorough and slow are not the same thing.

A transaction that has met every disclosure requirement and sits before a regulator for months, hearing nothing back, is not being handled with diligence. It is drifting, and drift is a risk markets price just as readily as bad news.

Four institutions reviewing a deal one after another does not multiply the rigour. It multiplies the wait. If Kenya wants to be trusted with the next transaction of this size-and there will be a next one-the standard must be higher: a published timeline and institutions willing to be held to it.

As Kenya and East Africa attract the attention of companies from across the world, including Europe and the Far East, it does no good to our competitiveness if transactions are held up by parochial interests. Capital is patient when rules are clear. It is far less forgiving when the process becomes fog.

Nairobi is the third-oldest continuously operating stock exchange in sub-Saharan Africa, after Johannesburg and Zimbabwe, and Kenyans have owned a stake in it since 1963. Sixty years on, that market is attracting global strategic investors, delivering some of the strongest investment returns on the continent, and opening its doors wider than ever before through technology that allows anyone to start with a single share. The invitation has never been wider or more compelling.

This is your table. Come and take your place.

The prices of detached houses in Nairobi’s middle-income neighbourhoods such as Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Kileleshwa, Kilimani and their surrounding areas recorded the strongest growth over the past year, pointing to a shift in Kenya’s residential property market as buyers increasingly favour larger homes over high-end urban apartments.

New data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Residential Property Price Index shows that the standalone house index in Nairobi’s middle-income segment rose by 20.4 percent between the first quarter of 2025 and a similar period in 2026, marking the highest annual increase among all residential property categories.

Standalone houses in other regions such as the coast also posted strong gains, with prices rising by 12.5 percent, while detached homes in Nairobi’s upper-income neighbourhoods such as Runda and Karen increased by 7.1 percent.

Houses in Nairobi’s other areas, including Nairobi East and Mavoko, also appreciated, recording a 2.9 percent increase over the period under review.

The index growth measures how much house prices in a specific market segment have changed over the period under review. A higher index indicates that property prices in that category have increased, while a decline signals falling prices.

‘With respect to standalone houses, the index for all strata increased during the review period, indicating an increase in prices of standalone houses between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026,’ said KNBS.

Standalone houses have been a key driver of both the property and land markets as demand for new units continues to outpace supply, buoyed by a growing middle class and improving economic activity.

The growth in standalone house prices has been attributed to demand from wealthy local buyers, expatriates and investors seeking larger homes in gated communities.

This suggests that buyers are increasingly prioritising space, affordability and long-term ownership, reshaping demand in Kenya’s residential property market.

‘The supply of standalones has been very low, and that is because it is very capital-intensive as they need huge tracts of land-there is demand but low supply, which is driving the prices,’ said HassConsult Co-CEO and Creative Director Sakina Hassanali.

The rise in standalone house prices contrasted with the performance of high-end apartments in Nairobi, where values declined over the same period.

Apartment prices in Nairobi’s upper-income segment fell by 4.8 percent, while those in the middle-income segment declined by 3.3 percent. The index for apartments in Nairobi’s Upper region fell to 90.1 in the first quarter of 2026 from 94.1 a year earlier, while Nairobi’s Middle apartments declined to 85.3 from 88.2.

However, apartment markets outside Nairobi’s prime neighbourhoods continued to register growth. Apartment prices in Nairobi’s other areas increased by 4.2 percent, while those in other regions rose by 7.5 percent, suggesting demand is gradually shifting towards more affordable locations.

Analysts say improved road networks linking Nairobi to satellite towns have also boosted demand for larger suburban homes.

‘Expansion of infrastructure and road projects in satellite towns is easing pressure for Nairobi land property development,’ said Ms Hassanali.

Developers have increasingly shifted focus to gated communities targeting affluent buyers seeking privacy, security and larger living spaces, while the luxury segment has remained attractive to diaspora investors seeking long-term capital appreciation in prime residential neighbourhoods.

The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) has been ordered to hear afresh a case where a firm has challenged its disqualification from Kenya Electricity Generating Company’s (KenGen) Sh2.5 billion sale of carbon credits.

The Court of Appeal issued the orders last week adding that PPARB should set up a new panel to hear the petition where Sintmond Group disputed KenGen’s decision to disqualify it from the tender.

Sintmond Group has challenged KenGen’s decision to disqualify it from a tender for the sale of 6.38 million carbon credits. KenGen awarded the deal to a joint venture of Munja Trading Limited and Marwil Energy Holding.

A fresh hearing of Sintmond’s petition before the PPARB looks set to further delay KenGen’s quest to unlock the sale of the 6.38 million carbon credits as part of revenue diversification.

A carbon credit refers to a certificate that allows an organization to buy and sell the rights to emit greenhouse gases such that entities that reduce their emissions can sell their carbon credits to those that have exceeded their prescribed limits.

“Fourth, the dispute is remitted to the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board for fresh determination before a differently constituted panel in accordance with the legal guidance contained in this judgment,’ the three-judge bench of the appellate court said in a ruling dated July 10, 2026.

The Court of Appeal also set aside the High Court ruling issued on May 20, 2026 which had backed PPARB’s decision to uphold the disqualification of Sintmond.

KenGen disqualified Sintmond from the tender at the due diligence stage on grounds that the firm had failed to show proof of prior experience or capacity to manage the sale of carbon credits of such a magnitude like the Sh2.5 billion deal.

Court documents show that the dispute arose concerning the meaning and application of MR-16 -a requirement intended to establish bidder experience in handling Certified Emission Reduction (CERs) or Voluntary Emission Reduction (VER) transactions.

CERs are tradable carbon credits issued by the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

Each CER represents one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent reduced, avoided, or sequestered by verified climate projects in developing countries.

VERs refer to verified carbon offset credits generated by climate action projects outside of mandatory regulatory frameworks.

This will be the fourth time that the PPARB is handling the case between Sintmond and KenGen. The tribunal has in the past nullified the tender.

Read: KenGen ordered to respond to losing bidder in Sh2.5bn carbon credits tender

KenGen producer is banking on the sale of its CERs to diversify and boost its revenues, helping to keep the power producer on the profitability path.

The power producer recently disclosed that it has six projects registered under the CDM and had a total of 6,384,398 CER’s available for sale as at June last year.

The CERs are spread across the Olkaria II geothermal expansion project, redevelopment of the Tana hydro power station, optimisation of the Kiambere hydro plant, the Olkaria IV project, the Olkaria I Units 4 and 5 geothermal project and the 5.1Megawatt Ngong Wind project.

Sale of CERs is part of KenGen’s plan to grow its non-electricity generating revenues to account for at least 20 percent of the firm’s overall revenues. KenGen made Sh56.09 billion in revenues for the year ended June 2025.

‘The goal is to grow our non-electricity generating revenues to account for 20 percent of total revenues, strengthening resilience and positioning KenGen as a holistic energy solutions provider,’ KenGen says in the report.

The birth of my first child in 2018 revealed how unreliable electricity can undermine healthcare in rural Kenya. Frequent power outages disrupted vaccine storage, forcing families to travel long distances only to discover vaccines were unavailable.

While I could sometimes find alternatives, many mothers could not afford the extra transport costs or time away from caregiving.

My experience as a technical manager in a rural hospital had already exposed me to the challenges healthcare workers face in preserving vaccines and other temperature-sensitive medicines during blackouts.

Many clinics lack refrigeration, requiring health workers to transport vaccines over long distances, often in extreme heat that threatens their effectiveness. It became clear that this was not just an energy problem but a healthcare access challenge that disproportionately affects women and rural communities.

That realisation inspired us to establish Drop Access in 2021, a Kenyan company developing locally manufactured technologies for underserved and off-grid communities.

Our flagship innovation, VacciBox, is a portable solar-powered refrigerator that safely stores vaccines, blood, oxytocin and other temperature-sensitive medical supplies between 2°C and 8°C without relying on grid electricity. Its portability enables healthcare workers to take lifesaving services closer to remote communities.

Climate change is making these challenges even more urgent. Rising temperatures and extreme weather place additional strain on fragile healthcare systems, particularly in vulnerable settings such as Kakuma refugee camp, where reliable cooling is essential.

One lesson has shaped our journey: the best innovations come from the communities they are designed to serve. Healthcare workers and local residents continuously refined VacciBox, ensuring it addressed real-world needs rather than assumptions.

As governments seek cost-effective ways to strengthen healthcare systems, locally manufactured solutions offer a path to greater resilience. Africa has the talent and ingenuity to build technologies tailored to its own realities.

By investing in community-driven innovation and local manufacturing, the continent can expand healthcare access and ensure that quality care is no longer determined by geography or unreliable infrastructure.

Despite these barriers, momentum around African-led innovation continues to grow. Being selected as a finalist for the 2026 Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Health category became an especially meaningful moment after years of uncertainty and self-doubt.

Being recognised on such a global platform felt like validation that our work matters.

Beyond the visibility, the recognition also came with $100,000 in funding, providing critical support to help us continue scaling the technology and strengthening resilient healthcare access in underserved communities.

The Prize also strengthened our credibility and opened new opportunities.

As healthcare systems evolve, we have explored more flexible service models, including cooling-as-a-service systems that reduce the upfront cost burden for healthcare facilities that cannot afford expensive refrigeration infrastructure.

As the Financing Agri-food Systems Sustainably in Africa (FINAS) Summit concluded in Nairobi early this month, one recurring theme stood out: Africa’s agricultural challenge is often framed as a financing problem.

Yet the real question may be whether we are asking the wrong question. Africa does not simply need more capital flowing into agriculture. It needs stronger systems that allow capital to perform optimally. The continent’s financing gap is real.

Estimates place Africa’s annual agricultural financing shortfall at more than $100 billion, while the sector receives less than five percent of commercial bank lending despite underpinning livelihoods, food security and economic growth across the continent.

Encouragingly, policymakers are responding. Kenya recently launched its Sh1 trillion National Agri-Food Systems Investment Plan (Nasip), signalling growing recognition that agriculture must be financed at scale.

Yet the real test will not be how much capital is mobilised, but whether that investment translates into productivity, jobs, resilience and competitive enterprises.

But finance is only one piece of a much larger puzzle. The people at the heart of African agriculture are not large commercial producers.

They are the millions of smallholder farmers, traders, aggregators, processors, cooperatives and agri-SMEs that make up the continent’s largely informal food economy.

Smallholders alone produce an estimated 70-80 percent of Africa’s food. For these actors, access to finance is rarely the only constraint. A farmer may receive credit but lack access to extension services, climate information or reliable buyers.

An agri-SME may secure a loan but struggle with business management, food safety standards or market access. A youth-led enterprise may attract investment but lack the networks, technical skills or market intelligence needed to scale. In each case, money is necessary, but insufficient.

These examples illustrate a broader truth: finance rarely fails in isolation. Where markets are fragmented, information is scarce, capabilities are weak and risks remain high. Capital alone cannot deliver transformation.

The bigger challenge is building food systems that are productive, competitive and ultimately investable. This challenge is becoming more urgent as Africa enters a decisive demographic moment.

The continent is home to more than 500 million young people, with millions more entering the labour market each year. At the same time, agriculture is becoming increasingly knowledge- and information-intensive.

Competitive advantage is no longer determined solely by access to land and capital. It is increasingly shaped by access to data, technology and markets.

From weather forecasts and soil information to market intelligence, traceability systems and digital financial records, the ability to make informed decisions is becoming a critical driver of productivity, resilience and investment readiness. The lesson is not new.

The Netherlands built one of the world’s most productive agricultural sectors by linking research, skills, enterprise and markets. Germany and Switzerland institutionalised industry-led training. At Swisscontact, we have seen similar results through market-driven skills development approaches that connect training, enterprise needs and employment opportunities.

Rwanda and Ethiopia have likewise shown that farmer capability, extension services and market development must evolve alongside investment. The common denominator is clear: agricultural competitiveness emerges from functioning systems, not isolated interventions.

Encouragingly, the political ambition is clear, the African Union’s Kampala CAADP Declaration targets a 45 percent increase in agrifood output, stronger food systems resilience and a tripling of intra-African agricultural trade by 2035.

Achieving those ambitions, however, will require more than financial commitments. It will require stronger producer organisations, responsive extension systems, better market infrastructure, improved information flows and closer connections between enterprise development, skills and finance.

Africa’s agricultural challenge is not fundamentally a financing challenge. It is a systems challenge. The task before policymakers, investors and development actors is not simply to finance agriculture. It is to build the conditions that make finance effective.

When markets function, information flows, enterprises grow and risks are reduced, capital becomes more productive. Finance then stops being an end in itself and becomes a catalyst for competitiveness, resilience and growth.

Africa’s agricultural transformation will not be determined by how much money enters the sector. It will be determined by whether the systems receiving that investment are equipped to turn it into lasting value.

You are the most important part of the creative economy. Creative professionals show up every day to produce for the audience, not themselves.

The moment you stop showing up is the moment we end up with a creative economy where all we do is complain. Where all the news coming out only cover the negative, stuck in a loop of over-analysing the state rather than celebrating what we already have.

I want to start by letting you know when and where all the films I am going to be talking about will be showing, so nobody can claim it appeared as an afterthought at the end of the article and therefore it was missed.

Anam’s Wake comes out on July 31, 2026, you can get your tickets online. Tides hits the big screen during the first week of August, premiering at Century Cinemax on the August 8, 2026, followed by additional screenings across their locations in Nairobi.

Memory of Princess Mumbi will August to September 2026 with an special homecoming screening on August 7, 2026 after a strong run on the festival circuit. Now you know the exact dates, all tickets by the way are available online.

I am really looking forward to these particular films coming in August.

But why, I hear you ask, aren’t all Kenyan movies the same, drama or crime? Well, these are movies that are attempting to or are doing something different. Will they be perfect? I have no idea, but what is on offer looks promising, starting with

Anam’s Wake

This psychological thriller takes a much darker, more interesting approach. The trailer looks great, first of all the cinematography, then the concept.

The story follows Anam, a professional mourner in Kenya trained to summon Death and negotiate passage for the dead. But she has a secret: since her mother’s death sixteen years ago, she has been unable to feel true grief. Her first solo ritual with a wealthy family spirals out of control when Death arrives early.

What begins as a negotiation becomes an interrogation, forcing the family to confront hidden truths and compelling Anam to face her own past. Awesome, right?

Director and writer Likarion Wainaina was inspired by his personal experiences with loss in 2024, exploring the delayed waves of grief and the fear of unprocessed sorrow.

Through Anam, he examines grief as ritual, labour, and inheritance, making Death feel intimate rather than abstract. In his own words, set within the communal world of mourning and ritual, the film explores the uneasy relationship between death and grief, and the terrifying possibility that what we postpone emotionally never truly leaves us it waits.

The cast features a very interesting mix of familiar and fresh faces. You have younger people alongside established talent, including Marima Wanjiru as “Anam”, Sam Omondi as the “Negotiator”, Peter Kawa as Mason Ebale, Vanessa Okeyo as Amani Ebale, Ruth Apondi as Aunt Kavata, and Pras Jadi as Kwame Ebale.

Behind the camera, the professional crew includes Wanjiru Njoroge as producer, Enos Olik as cinematographer (which explains the striking look of the film), El Magondu as costume designer, Sheldon Mutei as art director, and Serah Wangui managing makeup and hair.

The look of the film feels authentically African, and the visual style accurately captures the tone. As mentioned in the opening, the movie comes out on the 31st of July 2026, and you can get your tickets online.

Tides

Can Sarah Hassan sing? Tides is a music romance drama written and directed by Reuben Odanga, known for his work on Mo-Faya and Nafsi.

Produced by Winnie Adisa under Multan Production, with Odanga and Jaqueline Kalekye serving as executive producers, the film tackles the realities of relationships between tourists and locals at the Kenyan coast, exploring the uncomfortable intersection of poverty, desire, power, and survival.

Odanga notes that in a world where poverty can strip people of dignity and opportunity, moral choices are rarely black and white, and he wanted the film to invite audiences to engage with uncomfortable truths. But what is the catch here? What is different? Well, this is a music-driven (not musical) film basically, you get to see and listen to Sarah Hassan sing.

The narrative follows Salma and Biko, a musician couple pushed to their limits as dwindling gig opportunities collide with mounting financial pressure brought on by their daughter’s serious medical condition.

As survival becomes increasingly uncertain, their choices threaten to change their relationship forever. It stars Sarah Hassan from Crime and Justice, Brian Kabugi from MTV Shuga Mashariki, Minne Kariuki in her feature film debut from Single Kiasi, and South African actor Dumisani Mbebe from Savage Beauty. Sikukuu Hamisi Jumaa, Zippy Okoth, Andrew Muthure, and Muthoni Gathecha.

What makes this project fascinating is how music drives the story as an absolute necessity rather than a passive addition. So much so that they got a music director: award-winning singer-songwriter Silayio serves as the music director and composer.

The director of photography is Jim Bishop and, unlike Anam’s Wake, this is a much brighter and more vibrant film. The film also has Nice Githinji as intimacy coordinator, Shiko Daisy as production designer, and Angela Ciruma on wardrobe.

Personally, I just can’t wait to see Sarah Hassan sing.

Memory of Princess Mumbi

The third film, which I have actually watched, is Damien Hauser’s Memory of Princess Mumbi, hitting the big screens first on August 7, 2026 before it’s cinema run.

When I mention festivals, then you have an idea of what kind of film it is and it’s exactly that but with a twist.

This is what I have been waiting to see Kenyan filmmakers do, but in relation to what we are talking about today, we have a sci-fi film that manages to remain grounded and has a completely different look and feel from the two movies mentioned before.

At its core, this is a sci-fi romance shot in a mockumentary style in a resurrected African kingdom in the year 2093.

Directed by 25-year-old Swiss-Kenyan filmmaker Damien Hauser, the story follows a filmmaker named Kuve who travels to Umata to document the aftermath of the War of the 2070s. There, he meets Mumbi, who challenges him to make his film without using artificial intelligence.

What did I love about this film? In a neat piece of real-world irony, the director embraces AI tools to digitally extend his physical sets and build spectacular futuristic backgrounds on a tight budget.

My review of the film is still in the kitchen, and there is a lot that I discuss there around the concept of filmmakers tapping into technology and allowing their imagination to just flow. I also question whether it’s technically a Keny film anyway that’s a story for another day.

With these three releases, we have a genuinely unique and different visual experience on our hands this coming August.

Now, am I asking you to show up to support the Kenyan film economy? Well, yes and no. I can’t even promise you that they are going to be good, but what we have here are stories that do something different, something that most of us have been asking for for a very long time.