Category: Business Daily

The Africa Forward Summit, co-hosted in Kenya by President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron last month, highlighted a growing recognition among African leaders, investors, and institutions that Africa’s economic transformation will depend on whether Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can scale sustainably.

Africa can no longer afford to remain a supplier of raw materials while importing finished products at a higher value. The continent’s industrial future will depend on building enterprises that are competitive, investment-ready, and capable of scaling across regional and global markets.

This is critical because the treatment of MSMEs in the country reveals a historical paradox. Despite being widely recognised for their significant economic contribution, MSMEs have long faced systemic challenges, including high taxation, regulatory hurdles, and limited access to affordable credit.

They continue to bump into obstacles such as fragmented logistics systems, weak market linkages, compliance burdens, and difficulties meeting international standards, particularly within European markets. At the same time, many entrepreneurs struggle to understand investor expectations and position their businesses for sustainable growth and scale.

The challenge facing MSMEs today is not innovation, but access to the systems that turn readiness into investment. Too often, investors struggle to find businesses with the governance structures, financial documentation, compliance readiness, and operational maturity required for investment.

Despite all these challenges, a report by the State Department MSMEs Development reveals that the sector is the backbone of Kenya’s economy, contributing 34 percent to the national GDP and 83.5 percent of total employment.

This challenge came into sharp focus during the Investor Matchmaking Session on connecting MSMEs, to access to capital, held at Strathmore Business School, where more than 80 MSMEs engaged directly with investors, innovators, and ecosystem actors.

Unlike traditional networking forums, the session created practical conversations around what African enterprises need to compete globally.

The Curated Investor Matchmaking event was not just about networking or symbolic engagement with business realities. It created a space where entrepreneurs building businesses across agriculture, climate innovation, manufacturing, logistics, fintech, and digital trade could engage directly with pre-screened investors, ecosystem actors, and innovators in practical conversations about what Africa’s economic transformation truly requires on the ground.

It is about the poultry farmer in Makueni County struggling to get products to Nairobi while they are still fresh and safe for consumers. It is about the macadamia farmer trying to access European export markets but facing complex certification requirements.

It is about the raisin producer in Mandera wondering how products can reach international markets through reliable trade and logistics systems. These are the everyday realities that will determine whether African enterprises remain small local businesses or grow into globally competitive industries.

What distinguished the matchmaking session was its focus on investment readiness. Participating enterprises underwent structured preparation processes that included refining pitch decks, strengthening governance systems, organising financial documentation, and improving investor readiness.

Since Africa is entering a new economic era, this calls for all stakeholders, including academia, to start re-thinking on how the continent can establish ecosystem actors who can work together to build systems that support enterprises from idea stage to global competitiveness.

But unlocking its full potential will require African enterprises that are competitive, technologically adaptive, compliant with international standards, and capable of scaling across borders.

Africa’s transformation will not be measured only by the size of investment commitments announced at summits.

It will be measured by whether ordinary entrepreneurs, farmers, innovators, and MSMEs are meaningfully integrated into those opportunities.

Because real transformation begins when African enterprises are not only able to survive, but to scale, compete globally, and create jobs across the continent.

By convening investors, innovators, ecosystem actors, and enterprises in one room, Strathmore University Business School demonstrated the increasingly vital role universities must play in shaping Africa’s economic future, not only through research and teaching, but through ecosystem building, enterprise support, innovation leadership, and policy-to-practice engagement.

Kenya’s public debt rose by Sh533 billion in the three months to March, underscoring the mounting financing needs facing the Treasury amid loan buybacks and refinancing deals.

Latest official data shows total public debt rose to Sh12.83 trillion at the end of March up from Sh12.29 trillion in December, adding more than half a trillion shillings within a single quarter.

The government has recently restructured its debt through buy back of bonds and lengthening the maturity of some debt to reduce refinancing risks and smoothen future repayments.

Domestic debt accounted for the bulk of the increase, rising to Sh7.15 trillion from Sh6.81 trillion in December, while external debt climbed to Sh5.68 trillion from Sh5.46 trillion.

The latest debt figures indicate the government’s continued heavy reliance on domestic lenders, extending a trend that has increasingly shifted the burden of financing public expenditure towards local banks, pension funds and institutional investors.

Treasury’s growing appetite for domestic borrowing has previously raised concerns among economists over the potential crowding out of private sector borrowers as lenders channel more resources into government securities.

The rise in debt comes even as the government has accelerated a series of liability management operations designed to smoothen repayment schedules and reduce refinancing risks associated with large debt maturities.

National Treasury has increasingly turned to debt buybacks, bond switches and swaps to replace maturing obligations with longer-term instruments carrying more manageable repayment profiles.

In February, for instance, Treasury announced plans to publish in advance the size of debt it intends to restructure through buybacks, switches and swaps in a move aimed at improving transparency around its debt management strategy.

‘The National Treasury shall budget for liability management operations within the national budget and fiscal framework,’ Treasury said when outlining the new disclosure framework.

‘A specific LMO (Liability Management Operations) vote line in the annual budget estimates under the public debt management shall be provisioned with adequate estimates every year.’

Kenya has already deployed several of the tools over the past two years, including buybacks targeting Eurobonds maturing in 2024, 2027 and 2028 as well as a currency swap linked to debt incurred for construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

The arrangements have helped the government avoid large repayment spikes that previously unsettled investors and raised concerns about Kenya’s ability to meet its external obligations.

The country’s debt management strategy came under intense scrutiny ahead of the June 2024 Eurobond maturity, when investors questioned whether Kenya could raise sufficient foreign currency resources to settle the bond.

Treasury subsequently returned to international markets, raising fresh Eurobond financing and using part of the proceeds to retire portions of outstanding debt before maturity, effectively spreading repayment obligations over a longer period.

Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o has previously cautioned that rising debt service obligations risk consuming a growing share of government revenues, reducing resources available for development spending.

Ms Nyakang’o has also warned against excessive reliance on new borrowing to repay existing debt, arguing that such practices could deepen fiscal vulnerabilities over the long term.

The Public Relations discipline ironically has public relations problem. Few professions suffer such an ironic contradiction. PR exists to help organisations manage trust, reputation, and relationships, yet the term itself increasingly evokes suspicion.

Mention PR in ordinary conversation, and what often comes to mind is spin, propaganda, damage control, whitewashing, and manufactured optics.

‘That is just PR’ has become shorthand for insincerity. The profession that manages image has, somehow, failed to manage its own.

Part of this problem lies in history. Public Relations was born in the age of industrial expansion, when large corporations and political actors began to realise the power of mass communication.

Early PR was less about dialogue and more about persuasion. The objective was often simple; shape public opinion, protect institutional interests, and maintain a favourable perception.

Even Edward Bernays, widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern PR, described the practice as the ‘engineering of consent”. It was sophisticated communication, yes, but communication rooted heavily in influence and behavioural manipulation. Over time, this became embedded in how society understood PR itself.

And perhaps unfairly, the profession has never fully escaped that shadow.

The irony is that modern PR has evolved far beyond those origins. Today’s communication professionals are not merely publicity agents chasing newspaper headlines and television coverage.

They are increasingly involved in trust management, stakeholder engagement, crisis navigation, internal communication, corporate governance, employee culture, sustainability conversations, and institutional legitimacy.

In truth, the profession quietly transformed while the public perception remained frozen in time.

This is why I believe the industry has outgrown its own name.

The term ‘Public Relations’ is no longer adequate for describing what the profession actually does.

At first glance, the phrase sounds harmless enough. But hidden within it is a conceptual problem that has followed the profession for decades. The term suggests that organisations primarily manage relationships with ‘the public.’ Yet modern institutions do not deal with one singular public. They operate within a complex ecosystem of stakeholders, each with different expectations, interests, and levels of influence.

The profession has evolved intellectually and strategically, but its terminology remains trapped in its earliest and most manipulative associations. It continues carrying a name that reflects what it once was more than what it has become.

And perhaps the greatest irony of all is this: while PR has spent decades helping organisations rebrand themselves for changing times, it has resisted rebranding itself.

Yet if the profession truly seeks to reclaim legitimacy, restore trust, and align with the realities of the networked age, then maybe the first step is not another campaign. Maybe the first step is a new name.

Public Relations belongs to the age of mass publicity.

These are not one public. These are multiple publics, or more accurately, multiple stakeholders. Yet somehow, all this complexity became compressed into the singular phrase ‘Public Relations.’

That linguistic simplification may appear minor, but it fundamentally shaped how the profession came to be understood. Because the ordinary meaning of ‘the public’ refers largely to the masses, PR became associated almost entirely with publicity and optics.

The profession became socially interpreted as the business of making organisations look good before the public, often regardless of reality.

This is why PR constantly finds itself accused of spin even when engaged in ethical work.

The name itself carries historical baggage.

But beyond semantics lies an even deeper issue. The world that gave birth to traditional PR no longer exists.

We no longer live in an era where institutions simply broadcast messages outward while audiences passively consume them. The digital revolution changed everything. Information became decentralised. Stakeholders gained voices. Employees now shape brand reputation online. Consumers organise movements overnight. Communities can challenge corporations in real time.

A single internal memo can become global news within hours.

Reputation today is no longer built merely through messaging. It is built through relationships.

An organisation cannot sustainably communicate itself into legitimacy while simultaneously mistreating its workers, frustrating regulators, alienating communities, or deceiving customers. Eventually, lived reality catches up with carefully crafted narratives.

That is why the role of communication professionals has fundamentally changed. The modern practitioner is no longer simply a media manager. Increasingly, they are trust architects, legitimacy managers, and relationship strategists.

In many ways, the profession already functions as Stakeholder Relations. It simply continues operating under an outdated industrial-age label.

And perhaps this matters more than the industry realises.

Names shape identity. They influence perception. They frame expectations.

When people hear ‘Public Relations,’ many instinctively think of spin doctors and press conferences. But when one hears ‘Stakeholder Relations,’ the emphasis immediately shifts toward engagement, accountability, and relationship management. The difference is subtle, yet profound.

Stakeholder Relations better reflects the realities of modern governance and business. Today, organisations are increasingly evaluated not merely by profitability, but by how they relate to employees, communities, regulators, investors, and society at large. ESG frameworks, sustainability standards, and stakeholder capitalism all point toward the same truth: trust has become a strategic asset.

And trust cannot be sustained through publicity alone. It must be earned relationally.

This is why renaming the profession matters. Not because a new title magically solves ethical failures, but because language can either imprison a profession within outdated perceptions or liberate it into its evolved identity.

History is filled with professions and industries that changed terminology as they matured. ‘Personnel Management’ became ‘Human Resource Management,’ and later ‘People and Culture,’ because organisations recognised that language influences philosophy.

Even the term ‘propaganda’ gradually became unusable after acquiring toxic associations.

Public Relations now is at a similar crossroads.

Stakeholder Relations belongs to the age of trust.

Bolt has dismissed claims it plans to exit the Kenyan market next week amid ongoing tension between the ride-hailing firm and its motorcycle riders over fares and earnings.

The Estonian firm’s senior general manager for East Africa, Dimmy Kanyankole, said the company remains fully operational, and a letter circulating on social media claiming they will exit Kenya on June 8 is fake.

Motorcycle riders on Bolt recently staged demonstrations in Nairobi, demanding higher fares and harmonisation of pricing between petrol-powered and electric motorbikes.

The letter, dated June 1 and purportedly signed by a senior Bolt official, claimed the company had decided to shut down its Kenyan operations after failing to address the drivers’ concerns while maintaining a sustainable business model. Bolt has partners in the car and motorcycle public transport business.

‘This document is fake and did not originate from Bolt Kenya or any of its authorised representatives,’ Mr Kanyakole said in a statement.

‘Bolt Kenya remains fully operational and committed to serving our driver partners and customers across the country.’

The letter advised drivers and client to make arrangements ahead of the closure date. ‘Despite our efforts, we have been unable to satisfactorily address the concerns and demands raised by our driver-partners while maintaining a sustainable business model,’ the notice stated.

There have been tension between ride-hailing platforms and Kenyan drivers over fares, commissions, and earnings. Last week, Bolt’s motorcycle riders, commonly known as boda bodas, staged a protest in Nairobi over the company’s recent move to lower the price of electric bike rides, which they said has significantly squeezed their earnings.

Until last year, Bolt’s boda boda trips would cost more on an e-bike than a petrol-powered equivalent.

But the company revised the pricing downward to incentivise the electric motorcycles, which promise higher driver profits due to their lower fuel and maintenance costs. E-bike riders say the new structure has sharply cut take-home earnings.

‘For a 32-kilometre trip to Kitengela, I can get Sh600. After deductions, I remain with about Sh450. Swapping the battery costs Sh265, and at the end of the day, I still have to repay my motorbike loan of Sh500 daily,’ one rider told the Business Daily in an interview last week.

‘My earnings do not make sense. Am I working, or is this a charity? It is not sustainable.’

At the same time, there is disgruntlement among Bolt’s petrol bike operators after the company in May raised fares for car rides by six percent over higher fuel prices, but excluded motorcycle riders from the adjustments.

The Middle East conflict has pushed the price of a litre of petrol in Kenya up by 20.2 percent in the past three months. With a litre of petrol now retailing at Sh214, the riders argue that their costs have jumped.

Riders want fare increases of up to 80 percent, which ride-hailing firms are adamant about, as it would negatively affect ride demand.

Kenya is pushing for minimum fare regulations for ride-hailing services to resolve long-running disputes between digital taxi platforms and drivers.

The State wants a national pricing model for both traditional taxis and digital ride-hailing operators, including reviews of fuel costs, maintenance expenses, insurance, and commissions.

Currently, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) caps commissions on digital ride-hailing platforms at 18 percent per trip, including the digital service tax.

Patients on company-sponsored insurance covers are bearing a higher cost of their hospital bills through co-payment after medical bills jumped 13 percent last year, surpassing the global average.

The workers are also being asked to shoulder an additional part of the insurance premiums as employers race to curb a rise in medical costs.

Findings from Aon’s Global Medical Trend Rates Report 2026 forecast that medical costs in Kenya will be stiffest this year at 13.5 percent, outpacing the global average of 9.8 percent.

The rising costs are now forcing employers to rethink the structure of medical cover.

Aon says many firms in countries experiencing double-digit medical inflation are shifting part of the burden to employees through higher deductibles, co-payments and caps on benefits, effectively reducing the value of health insurance packages.

‘To mitigate rising costs and the risks they bring, employers are focusing primarily on hard negotiations with insurance carriers and other vendors. About three-quarters of companies plan to negotiate with existing vendors, and about two-thirds plan to go to RFP (request for proposals).

Firms use RFP to solicit competitive bids from potential vendors or contractors, especially when they feel the current service providers are expensive or not delivering quality services.

Companies in Kenya spend millions of shillings on employee medical schemes annually, making it a key component of staff costs.

For instance, KCB Group medical costs rose to Sh2.37 billion last year from Sh1.94 billion in 2024.

That of NCBA went up to Sh727.76 million from Sh632.36 million while that of Co-operative Bank of Kenya hit Sh962.12 million from Sh849.92 million amid medical inflation and increased staff size. Insurers usually revise premiums upwards on higher claims from employees as well as pressure from hospitals seeking higher fees on medical services.

Last year, Nairobi Hospital proposed a new pricing structure that would have pushed patient charges up by as much as 61.3 percent. However, insurers pushed back saying the increase had not been anticipated in their renewed cover terms with clients.

Aon says other cost containment measures being looked at by local firms as well as multinationals include implementing well-being initiatives, offering flexible benefits, introducing or increasing employee cost-sharing, reducing high-cost benefits and tightening benefit eligibility rules.

‘As with multinationals, local companies are looking to mitigate increased costs and are using a similar set of strategies that are unchanged from last year. While these strategies to contain costs haven’t changed much year over year, the number of companies employing these strategies has gone up,’ said Aon.

Kenya’s situation is better than that of several African countries such as Nigeria where the rise is projected at 43 percent this year, Ethiopia (42 percent), Angola (30 percent), Malawi (27.1 percent), Zimbabwe (22.5 percent) and Ghana (21.6 percent).

By comparison, Europe is expects to record about 8.2 percent, while Latin America and the Caribbean averages 10.3 percent, showing that emerging markets like Africa are experiencing steeper cost escalations.

Aon says the medical trend is used as a tool to forecast rising healthcare expenses by considering factors like inflation, service utilisation, prescription drug costs, and advancements in medical technology.

‘We asked Aon professionals for their insights on how they expect medical rates to change, based on their consultations with clients and the carriers represented in their medical plan portfolio,’ says Aon in the report.

Aon, a London-headquartered professional services firm, says the estimates in the report are based on interviews with its team of brokers, administrators and advisors of employer-sponsored medical plans across more than 100 countries and locations around the world.

The projections on Kenya’s medical inflation were based on an assumed general inflation rate of 4.9 percent this year.

The widening gap between medical inflation and general inflation is particularly concerning for employers, as it directly impacts the affordability of comprehensive health cover. For many firms, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, sustaining medical benefits is becoming increasingly untenable.

Many workers are bearing the brunt of these adjustments, with the reduced inpatient and outpatient limits and narrower provider networks increasing their out-of-pocket expenses.

Globally, firms are becoming proactive in controlling medical costs by investing in preventive care programmes and promoting wellness initiatives.

‘These initiatives help to control costs in a couple of ways. First, by encouraging utilization of preventative care, they can avoid more expensive care down the road,’ said Aon.

‘Second, by keeping employees engaged in their wellbeing, they can reduce the stress that can exacerbate other health conditions. Eighty-six percent of countries report this as the most prevalent cost mitigation measure.’

Aon expects cost-containment measures, including higher deductibles, co-payments and tighter referral requirements to remain widely used this year.

‘More significant plan design changes such as the use of flexible benefit plans to cap overall benefit costs and access and delivery restrictions are all measures designed to incentivise plan members to seek care in a cost-effective manner,’ said Aon.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) will use part of the money contributed by telecommunication operators to the Universal Service Fund (USF) to refurbish and repurpose some of Posta’s unviable branches, keeping them from closure.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Information, Communication, and Technology last week, representatives from CA said funds from the kitty are already being used to refurbish some 17 Posta branches.

Posta CEO John Tonui confirmed that the 17 branches are among the 125 commercially unviable branches the State-owned corporation had planned to shut down, and the USF funds will help keep them open and repurpose them for a more digital use.

‘The 125 are currently rented offices we will convert to smart post offices using the money,’ Mr Tonui told Business Daily, but did not confirm how much exactly is ring-fenced for Posta.

Posta had targeted to close down 20 percent of its branch network by end of this year, to cut on costs amounting to Sh1 billion annually, spent on rent and staffing them.

With the CA injection, Mr Tonui says the branches will now be kept open and will be converted to smart post offices, with virtual postal addresses using the corporation’s M-Post platform.

The USF has historically been used to build mobile network masts and lay fibre optic cables to improve connectivity, but the regulator last year announced a plan to expand the fund’s mandate to include legacy broadcasting and postal and courier systems.

The fund was established to support ICT infrastructure in areas considered commercially unviable by private companies. It is financed through mandatory contributions from licensed operators in the sector.

In its strategy running up to 2027, CA had earmarked Sh3.1 billion to improve postal and courier services in the country, part of which will now go to help sustain the commercially unviable branches.

The funds come at a time when the Postal Corporation of Kenya is undergoing a major restructuring, aimed at improving its commercial viability after years of loss-making due to dying core businesses.

In the year to June 2025, Posta made a rare profit of Sh488 million, up from a loss of Sh1.08 billion the previous year, supported by recovery of Sh1.5 billion rent arrears it was owed by Huduma Kenya.

To shore up revenue and sustain its operations, Posta has been forced to cut back on spending and increase its revenue streams. This year, it plans to raise letter box rental fees by up to 12.4 percent to increase income.

It is also seeking a strategic e-commerce partner to invest up to Sh2.5 billion, in exchange for stake in its courier business EMS.

Global payments giant PayPal has frozen money in an unknown number of Kenyans’ accounts and permanently banned other users over failure to prove their employment and residential details.

The company has been demanding that Kenyan users receiving money from overseas give details of their contracts for the work being paid for, bank statements and proof of their physical addresses to access their money.

Users who do not provide these details have been blocked from transferring their cash to other users or withdrawing the funds for at least six months.

The affected PayPal users range from individual sellers to start-up companies, creative artists and impromptu philanthropists.

‘We are no longer offering PayPal services for this account. Sometimes we can’t process account activity for a variety of reasons, including local laws, our policies, or the policies of our partner banks and card networks,’ reads a notice displayed in one of the deactivated Kenya accounts.

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

When it was founded in 1998, PayPal was among the first companies that allowed people to easily transmit funds to one another over the internet.

Now, the firm has tightened its anti-money laundering rules and put in place aggressive anti-fraud measures.

The firm earlier said one potential sign of fraud is an unusually large transaction.

Another warning sign is a spike in activity, like a sudden burst of transactions in a formerly quiet account.

In Kenya, the affected users can still access account information, including the transaction details and account balance but are unable to send or receive payments.

The American firm told the affected users that the remaining balances may be held for up to 180 days before being cleared for withdrawal.

‘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,’ the company informed the frozen users in a notice seen by the Business Daily.

PayPal has demanded documentation like proof of physical addresses from some Kenyans despite providing evidence of legitimate business activity.

Lack of home address labelling has made it difficult for some users to comply with the tough PayPal conditions.

A Kenyan freelance writer whose account the Business Daily saw cannot access $190 (Sh24,500) paid by a UK-based client after PayPal flagged the transaction for review.

‘You can no longer use PayPal as we’ve decided to permanently limit your account after a review,’ reads a notice sent by the company.

PayPal requested copies of the contract related to the work performed, as well as identity documents whose names exactly matched the details registered on the PayPal account.

He uploaded the documents, but after attempting to transfer the funds to his Kenyan bank account, PayPal permanently limited the account. The firm said it had detected suspicious activity.

‘We noticed activity in your account that’s inconsistent with our user agreement, and we no longer offer you PayPal services,’ reads another notice.

On its website, PayPal says it screens customer accounts against government watch lists.

Under PayPal’s policies, bank accounts or payment cards linked to a restricted account cannot be removed or used to create another PayPal account.

The user was also informed that future payments may be subject to holds of up to 21 days.

Another Kenyan user whose funds have been frozen for more than two months said PayPal asked for proof of physical address through utility bills, such as electricity, water, gas or internet statements.

‘It is frustrating because we do not use a formal residential addressing system like the US or Europe; we rely on landmarks and unstructured street names. Does that mean I cannot receive money?’ he told the Business Daily.

Paypal is one of the largest digital payments firms globally, handling payments worth $464 billion (Sh60 trillion) between January and March 2026 alone.

The firm has over 439 million accounts globally, although it does not disclose its Kenya or Africa numbers.

In Kenya, the platform is mostly preferred by freelancers and online workers who receive payments from clients abroad, as well as users who shop online and do not want to share credit card or bank details.

The company has been criticised for freezing users’ money for years, especially in African markets like Nigeria, which have been under global watch for money laundering.

PayPal did not respond to Business Daily’s queries on the frozen and blocked accounts.

Under PayPal’s customer identification process, users are required to scan government-issued identification documents and verify their identity through facial recognition technology.

PayPal does not have offices in Africa and instead operates through partnerships with financial institutions and telcos across the continent.

In Kenya, Equity Bank is the only lender with a direct withdrawal partnership with PayPal, allowing customers to transfer funds from their PayPal balances directly into bank accounts.

Safaricom’s M-Pesa also operates a similar integration with PayPal.

For other banks, customers link Visa and Mastercard payment cards issued by the lenders to fund purchases and receive withdrawals.

For decades, office work has revolved around drafting routine emails, searching for misplaced files, scheduling endless meetings, and formatting spreadsheets.

Entire workdays have been consumed by repetitive administrative tasks that drain energy, limit creativity, and leave little space for strategic thinking.

Many workplaces have confined professionals to endless cycles of coordination, approvals, and digital paperwork rather than unlocking human potential for innovation and problem-solving.

Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to change that reality. AI is entering the workplace as a transformative tool capable of handling repetitive tasks by organising information in seconds.

It automates workflows, freeing employees to focus on higher-value work. At an organisation’s core, an exceptional employee experience is the foundation of business success, and today, AI is fundamentally changing how that experience is shaped.

As AI transforms the global economy, the key is using it to support your team rather than just automate them.

According to a 2025 global survey by McKinsey, nearly 2,000 respondents across 105 countries found that 88 percent of organisations regularly use AI in at least one business function.

The report further indicates that most commonly using AI are IT, marketing and sales, and knowledge management departments, which has risen sharply as a deployment area thanks to use cases like internal search and research summation.

When implemented correctly to enhance the employee journey, AI naturally drives lower burnout, higher job satisfaction, and stronger business outcomes.

Too many leaders make the mistake of treating AI as an isolated technology investment, expecting software alone to fix an organisation. But true effectiveness depends on strategic alignment.

The most successful companies are not using AI to replace human effort; instead, they are using it to remove ‘friction’. They are shifting from a culture of tracking hours logged to measuring value created.

Think about how much friction exists just trying to access internal data that is locked away in separate department systems. AI tools instantly bridge those gaps, letting employees find what they need right away without waiting on email chains between IT, HR, or operations.

Rather than shrinking headcounts, this technology gives rise to the ‘super worker’, a hybrid employee whose capability, speed, and creative focus are amplified exponentially by an AI.

The future doesn’t belong to the smartest software. It belongs to the companies that realise AI’s best feature is not its data, it is its ability to give us our time back.

We see this shift clearly in how we communicate. Employees waste hours every week sitting in alignment meetings or catching up on missed calls. AI tools are transforming these long hours of back-and-forth discussion into valuable, searchable assets.

Tools like Zoom AI Companion, Microsoft Copilot, or Otter.ai now auto-generate transcripts, bulleted action items, and flag specific mentions of an employee’s name.

Consequently, employees can safely skip non-essential meetings, review a two-minute summary later, and stay completely in the loop without losing an hour of deep-work time.

When employees see AI as an adaptive assistant that takes away the exhausting, administrative parts of their job, adoption skyrockets, morale goes up, and productivity follows naturally.

There is a lot of fear that AI will be used to fire half the office. But companies that use AI just to cut headcounts are playing a short-sighted, losing game.

A smaller company doing the same old boring things slightly faster will eventually lose to a competitor that keeps its people and gives them AI tools to make them ten times smarter.

According to a 2025 PwC executive survey, 88 percent of business leaders are actively increasing their budgets specifically to fund AI tools that redraft the lines between people and technology with an expectation to deliver a significant competitive edge.

Consumers will miss out on the benefits of the fall in global fuel costs during the June 15 review of diesel, petrol and kerosene pricing after Kenya revised the formula for calculating imported petroleum.

Imported cargo shipped in the country between May 10 and May 31 will be based on the average global prices of diesel, petrol and kerosene in April, the new formula indicates.

Shipments that arrive between June 1 and June 9 will be based on the average prices for May.

The review of formula indicates that consumers will not enjoy fully the drop in the cost of refined fuel in May, notably in the second half of the month.

This signals that the government will have to deploy a larger subsidy to meet President William Ruto’s promise of cutting the cost of diesel by Sh10 per litre in the June-July pricing cycle to provide additional relief to consumers.

Global diesel prices fell to $1,132.04 (Sh146,576.53) per tonne in May from $1,409.28 (Sh182,473.57) in April, according to Platts-a global provider of energy and commodities information and benchmark prices.

Jet fuel dipped 23.4 percent to $1,167.92 (Sh151,222.28) per tonne from $1,526.69 (Sh197,675.82) in the same period.

Industry executives reckon that consumers will miss out on last month’s drop in the global prices in the hope of a deal between the US and Iran.

Oil prices recorded their biggest monthly fall since 2020 in May on hopes that a deal between the US and Iran will lead to the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

The price of the international oil benchmark Brent crude fell almost 20 percent in May, declining steadily in the second half of the month as signs emerged that the two sides could be close to a deal.

‘Had they used the May Platts, prices should have come down in the June 15 review, even without the subsidy. But now this [drop in prices] won’t happen due to the change in the months used to price fuel cargoes,’ said an oil executive who sought anonymity.

Two cargoes of diesel and one of jet fuel were imported May 16 and May 30, with industry simulations showing that importers will pocket Sh6.079 billion on diesel and Sh3.702 billion on dual-purpose kerosene.

The energy regulator says that the changes are critical and will align the local pricing of fuel with the prevailing global trends, ensuring that consumers are not denied the benefits of a drop in global fuel prices in the long run.

‘Government wanted to achieve consistency and greater transparency in pricing. Two instances, one in 2023 and the other in the recent past where pricing may have been switched between the two halves to the detriment of the consumer forced the government to act,’ Joseph Oketch, the acting director-general of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory (Epra), said.

Documents seen by this publication show that 176 oil marketers attended the meeting where the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum announced the changes.

‘The parties have agreed to amend Clauses 10.1.1.1 and 10.1.1.2 of the Agreement, regarding the pricing mechanism for delivered cargoes,’ a document from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum shows.

‘For cargoes whose first day of delivery date range is between 1st to the last day of the month, the applicable month of pricing shall be the immediate month prior to the month of delivery, i.e., the average of the published quotation during the month (M-1).’

Public transporters staged a two-day strike last month against the rise in fuel prices in the wake of the Iran war.

That brought economic activity in Nairobi to a standstill and degenerated into clashes between protesters and police that left ?four people dead and about 30 injured.

The government, which each month sets a maximum fuel retail price that marketing companies can charge customers, last month hiked diesel price by 23.5 percent to Sh242.92 a litre for the May-June pricing cycle, but reduced it by Sh10 on May 18 in response to the strike.

President Ruto said his government had spent at least Sh28.1 billion to reduce fuel prices between April and June, straining public finances.

Kenya’s inflation accelerated for the second month running in May, hitting its highest in more than two years, largely due to fuel price hikes linked to the Iran war, hurting workers’ disposable income.

Inflation surged to 6.7 percent in May ?from 5.6 percent in April, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in a report, with the rate being the highest since January 2024, when it stood at 6.9 percent.

The jump in inflation will hit workers hard amid reports that the cost-of-living measure has wiped out the marginal pay rises employers have offered staff in the past five years.

Inflation is ?now near the top of the government’s preferred 2.5 percent and 7.5 percent range.

The spike in energy costs is expected to reduce the Central Bank of Kenya’s room for further cuts on the benchmark rate, a prospect that will freeze the drop in lending rates.

The central bank is ?due to announce its next interest rate decision on June 9, after leaving its key rate unchanged at its last meeting in April.

Riddled with dependent parastatals, kneejerk preconceived supplementary budgets, and irrational taxation, it hobbles and bleeds a tiny fraction of the formal working population. How did Kenyans become the proverbial milk cows?

Incomplete reforms: For an overhaul, the Presidential Task Force on Parastatal Reforms (March 2013-November 2013) and the Parastatal Reforms Implementation Committee, November 2013-December 2014, reconfigured public finances and drains from parastatals.

Proposals identified, among others, the establishment of an Office of Management and Budget, a Government Investment Corporation to get rid of debt-ridden parastatals, and a world-class Sovereign Wealth Fund-vetted by the Committee on Implementation of the Constitution as a vehicle for Kenya’s incipient boom in natural resources worth trillions of shillings.

The proposals-had they been implemented then-could have helped rationalise government. Today, they are being ‘cherry picked’ in flawed rent-seeking vehicles against Article 206 of the Constitution.

The National Infrastructure Fund in particular is activated as a mongrel of the world-class and award-winning National Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill 2014. It aims to snare a pipeline of hidden public debt and corruption without accountability.

It is evident that no aspiring President of Kenya short of a relevant sound economic agenda, will have a leg to stand on hereafter, unless two cracks in macroeconomic policy are sealed: the fiscus and monetary policy.

Forays into infrastructure projects and Singaporean dreams are a hunt for funds that turn Kenya’s development potential on its head: for the reforms required to salvage the economy must start from existing economic sectors, with headline fiscal and monetary policy to drive investment and output mopping up mass unemployment, which can deliver results.

The late President Kibaki demonstrated how. The Finance Bill 2026 and proposed 2026-27 Budget signify deepening flaws. Expect the now familiar revenue underperformance.

To create hope and install a legitimate fiscus, a hierarchy of preparatory reforms are a prerequisite.

Today Kenya has the skilled Gen Z to hone capacities and capabilities needed to conceive, design, and implement the structural transformation envisaged by the Parastatal Reforms initiative of 2013-2014.

Until Kenya restructures, transforms, and aligns activities to investment, employment, and output priorities, and until the tax base is reframed to reflect productive opportunities for Kenyans, future governments will struggle, with taxation explosively misaligned to sources of gross domestic product (GDP). How can this be fixed to create hope and restore legitimacy?

Fiscal Policy: Cracks in the fiscus hibernated over decades to make taxation appear predatory, serving a thin band of compulsive elite spenders, while impoverishing the masses. Finance Bill 2026 works against leading sectors and suffocates private sector opportunities. As high as 82 percent of the population earn livelihoods in the informal sector. The formal sector hosts only 12 percent.

In the labour force of 23.8 million, only 3.1 million are formal sector workers; only less than 12.5 percent of those (387,418) earn Sh100,000 or more per month. With unemployment rampant, Finance Bill 2026 should endeavour to expand this narrow band, along with the formal corporate sector.

Efforts to overtax the band with regressive taxes worsen against ongoing corporate business closures. Revenue targets thus fail repeatedly while expenditures are as untamed in the national government as in the counties. The informal sector (MSMEs) must receive greater incentives to raise employment and the tax base.

Example: the Finance Bill 2026 and Budget 2026-27 raise tax on mobile transactions and gadgets, reversing world class gains Kenya has made in mobile financial innovations and associated employment. It depresses work for nascent highly skilled digital creatives.

By substitution, transactions will migrate to the underground and to cash. An IMF study in Cameroon, CAR, and Mali showed deadweight loss and efficiency costs reach 35 percent from similar policies. M-Pesa, Airtel Money, etc., should expect their electronic floats (aggregate balances in mobile accounts) to dwindle in favour of banks and mattresses? Who will energise digital creatives facing job cuts?

Obvious strategies to reset the tax base and tax fairness are to re-look sectors and their potential contributions to GDP. Economic activity follows from higher investment, employment, and growth of output. The tax base also rises, a key lesson and legacy from the late President Kibaki. Figure 1, based on KNBS Economic Survey 2026, ranks sectors based on contributions to GDP, 2025.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 23.2 percent tops the list and should be a priority in the fiscus. It is also the foundation of livelihoods for a majority of Kenyans. Yet Kenya consistently spends less than three percent of revenues on agriculture.

The assortment labelled ‘Other sectors’ contains segments with dynamic potential for growth and tax base, on condition a well-managed transition to higher investment, employment, and growth is planned.

A notable sector is mining and quarrying. Contributing 0.8 percent to GDP, it can deliver dramatic economic gains worth trillions of shillings from Kenya’s natural resource wealth (coltan, gold, titanium and manganese, among others) through investment, employment, and growth opportunities.

A government focused on endowments could trigger a revenue boom by embedding lucrative value chains domestically. It can propel the manufacturing sector, which at present contributes a measly 7.1 percent- half its contribution after years of decline; it now ranks sixth, despite ample tax exemptions and imported inputs.

Monetary Policy: In advanced economies, fiscal policies are coordinated with monetary policies to stabilize the economy and supervise the financial system. Kenya’s banking system and financial sector profits handsomely from a small unsophisticated financial market.

Banks dominate lending and focus on government as a lucrative cash-cow.

The milk consists of customer deposits on the Liabilities side of their balance sheets (including deposits of Counties, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and parastatals) on which banks pay low interest rates. Into this pool of deposits also go the electronic floats of Safaricom, Airtel, etc. So does large unutilized balances of the much-maligned Housing Levy.

Banks, from the Assets side of their balance sheets, then trade this milk, lending substantial sums to government in lucrative Treasury Bills and Bonds.

Private and foreign portfolio investors join the queue as do Pension Funds and unutilized Housing Levy balances parked in short-term government securities. Banks add a wide monopolistic interest margin called the spread and earn lucrative returns on equity (ROE) playing weekly and monthly auctions at CBK.

In 2024 ROEs reached 20 percent while US banks earned ROEs of 10 percent, half that figure. It explains why Kenyan banks consistently rank among the most profitable globally by ROE.

Problem: Government’s redemptions of securities using taxpayer funds to pay interest on its funds (as well as funds initially deposited by MDAs, Counties, and parastatals etc.) further raids taxpayers’ money to pay the banks. Government thus increases taxes to pay high rates of interest on securities lent to it partly from taxpayers money deposited in the banks.

The Parastatal Reforms team attempted to cure this impact by proposing a Treasury Single Account (TSA) at CBK for Government and MDAs, etc.

Redemptions using government revenue translate to public debt service factored in budgets. Interest Payments have risen to 40 percent of Revenues while Total Debt to GDP is over 90 percent.

Finally, the negative impacts on our financial sector defy CBK attempts to direct lending to the private sector and support capital formation as part of monetary policy. In February 2026, for the 10th consecutive rate cut, CBK cut the Central Bank Rate (CBR) by twenty-five basis points to 8.75 percent. Its decisions are highly compromised as shown in Fig 2.

Depositors in the banking system (who should be able to borrow for economic activity in financial intermediation) have little or no access to credit. Private sector access limps as credit to government ‘Crowds Out’ private sector credit.

Fig 2 shows the full impact. Worldwide, Private Sector Credit is the main driver of the GDP, investment, employment, and output. Fig 2 shows ratios topping over 190 percent for USA, China, and Japan.

Kenya shoots itself in the foot with a financial sector that fails the Real Economic Sectors by perpetually starving them of capital for investment, employment output, and capital accumulation. Kenya has a lower access to credit at 31.6 percent. than Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) average of 33.1 percent.

To paraphrase Hernando De Soto’s famous dictum on ‘Dead Capital’ Kenya is a leading Poster child for ‘Why Capital Accumulation succeeds in the West and Fails Everywhere Else’