Category: Business Daily

In a brightly lit, air-conditioned godown in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, rows of workers in blue coats and hair nets sit along a moving conveyor belt. Every few seconds, another smartphone inches forward to a new station, where it receives a new component.

By the end of the day, more than 7,500 of these devices will roll off the line, boxed, sealed and ready for sale across Kenya and Uganda.

This is the assembly plant of asset financing company M-Kopa, one of Kenya’s most heavily funded startups, now at the centre of a shift towards local smartphone manufacturing.

Founded in 2011 by Jesse Moore, Nick Hughes and Chad Larson, M-Kopa built its business on pay-as-you-go solar financing before expanding into smartphones and other devices.

The company has raised more than $590 million (Sh76.3 billion) in funding to date, according to Crunchbase, a business database.

Factory floor

The firm began smartphone assembly in January 2023, targeting low-income Kenyans. This came months after the Kenyan government introduced a 10 percent excise duty on imported phones, on top of an existing 25 percent import duty.

‘This meant that device prices were going up by around 37 percent, and we thought, how do we start doing this?’ M-Kopa Kenya general manager Martin King’ori told the Business Daily in an interview.

The company partnered with HMD Global, the Finnish maker of Nokia-branded phones, to set up the Nairobi facility. While it initially assembled both M-Kopa and Nokia devices, the factory has since shifted focus to M-Kopa-branded smartphones, with more than four models now on the market.

The operation runs on three assembly lines, each capable of producing 2,500 devices per day.

‘Every line does 2,500 devices, which means per day, 7,500. Monthly, we can comfortably do 150,000,’ Mr King’ori said.

Each phone begins as a skeletal unit – just the display mounted on a plastic chassis. As it moves along the conveyor, more than 55 components, including storage chips, cameras, connectors and ports, are added in sequence by operators stationed along the line.

At one station, a robotic arm fastens 18 screws in just 11 seconds. Further down, devices undergo charging and discharging tests, connectivity checks for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and are assigned unique IMEI numbers.

At this stage, the phones are still running engineering firmware and have not yet been loaded with the Android operating system.

Assembly push

M-Kopa works with original design manufacturers (ODMs) in China to specify components and features, a process that takes four to six months from concept to first assembly. The company then installs Android software using licensed keys from US tech giant Google.

Mr King’ori said the plant’s output grew from an initial 100,000 units to cross the one-million mark within a year.

He cited a June 2023 policy that zero-rated locally manufactured phones as a key catalyst. ‘Today, we have done 3.2 million devices,’ he said.

In late 2024, M-Kopa began exporting about 15,000 phones monthly to Uganda, roughly 10 percent of its total production. The company is targeting 10 million locally produced smartphones by 2027.

M-Kopa sells its phones through a hire-purchase model. Customers pay a deposit and repay the balance in daily, weekly or monthly instalments. Devices are remotely locked if a customer defaults on payments.

Alongside its own devices, M-Kopa also finances phones from brands such as Samsung.

Refurbishment drive

In a separate section of the factory, another operation is underway – refurbishment. Here, traded-in phones are assessed, repaired and reintroduced into the market at a lower retail price.

The firm also takes in devices returned by buyers who could not complete their instalments.

Some are cleaned and updated with new firmware, while others are opened up and faulty components replaced. If a handset requires more than three parts, it is dismantled and salvaged for components used in assembling ‘second-life’ devices.

‘Refurbishing capacity currently stands at about 500 units per day, with the ability to scale to 800 depending on demand,’ said the company’s head of manufacturing, Ismael Abisai.

Mr Abisai said that, to date, more than 300,000 phones have been refurbished. The devices are sold at prices roughly 30 percent lower than new models, targeting customers transitioning from basic feature phones.

‘It’s a big opportunity,’ he said. ‘These refurbished devices help a lot of people acquire their first smartphone.’

Tax bottlenecks

M-Kopa’s investment is part of a broader shift triggered by the government’s zero-rating of locally assembled phones.

Last year, solar products financing company Sun King set up a manufacturing facility in Tatu City, Kiambu County, to assemble smartphones and solar-powered television sets. The company’s first smartphone model hit the market in February.

Similarly, East Africa Device Assembly Kenya Limited (EADAK), a joint venture between Safaricom, Jamii Telecom and Chinese firm Shenzhen TeleOne Technology, has also been producing low-cost 4G smartphones at its plant in Athi River, Machakos County. In 2024, the company announced it had made 360,000 phones in its first year of operation.

But while finished devices are zero-rated, imported components attract 16 percent value-added tax (VAT), which manufacturers must later reclaim – a process Mr King’ori said can take months and tie up working capital.

‘We pay VAT on the components, but the finished good is zero-rated. So, we need to do claims to get it back,’ he said. ‘There is a delay in terms of our working capital.’

The company is pushing for zero-rating of inputs to match outputs, as well as more predictable policy timelines to support long-term investments.

‘We want a situation where, when the government comes up with a policy, they say within five years this policy will not change,’ he said. ‘In a year, we have not recouped anything.’

Beyond assembly, M-Kopa, which says 10 percent of its components are sourced locally, sees potential for a broader manufacturing ecosystem, from charging cables and earphones to packaging.

‘We employ 450 workers, 40 percent of whom are women, and support a distribution network of 15,000 agents. But we see potential in this nascent sector to grow not only in phone assembly but also in the knock-on value chain,’ the manager said.

At the same time, Kenya’s local smartphone assembly industry faces competition from imported devices that sometimes bypass official tax channels.

Last September, for instance, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) intercepted a range of undeclared goods at Eldoret International Airport, including 21,600 smartphones valued at Sh6.4 million.

‘If these loopholes are tightened, you’ll see another acceleration in factories being set up in Kenya,’ said Mr King’ori.

The local assembly boom comes at a time when Kenya has begun phasing out older phones by requiring USB Type-C charging ports for all devices sold in the country, in a bid to reduce electronic waste and standardise technology.

The policy, announced last month, mainly affects importers of popular low-cost feature phones, which largely use Micro USB.

‘It is a growth opportunity for us, especially our refurbishing,’ Mr King’ori said, ‘because there is a population that cannot afford an entry-level smart device.’

Back on the assembly floor, about 220 finished devices emerge from each line every hour, ready for packaging.

A new kind of manufacturing line is taking shape, one that could turn Kenya into a regional hub for affordable smartphones, if investment, policy and demand align.

Safaricom has developed a system aimed at tightening enforcement of local marine insurance rules on imports, supporting the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) after previous false starts.

In February last year, IRA and KRA announced strict enforcement of the 2017 rules requiring all importers to buy marine cover from local insurers.

However, this was scuttled by system failures, condemning premiums from marine and transit insurance to their slowest growth pace in four years at 2.9 percent to Sh4.8 billion in 2025.

Now IRA and KRA have tapped Safaricom to develop a system that will be used in issuing digital certificates, with the rollout expected this month. This will mark the latest attempt to seal implementation gaps that have allowed importers to bypass local insurers.

‘We had a problem with the system last year. The system did not work as expected. It failed us but now everything has been finalised and we are ready for a fresh roll-out,’ said Godfrey Kiptum, chief executive at IRA.

‘We should be starting this May. We will issue a formal notice once we agree with the KRA on the exact date. The new system has been developed by Safaricom and it will be issuing digital marine certificates.’

Marine insurance policy protects goods from the risk of loss, damage and theft during transit by sea, land, and air from the port of origin.

The cover protects importers from loss, giving financiers the comfort to lend to such businesses ordering for the goods. The new system will see all importers digitally procure marine cargo insurance for their goods from locally licensed insurers prior to obtaining custom clearance.

A processed digital marine certificate will be electronically submitted to the KRA’s Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICMS), which supports import and export processes.

Last year’s teaming up of KRA with IRA on enforcement had promised to boost the compliance with the changes that were made to the Marine Insurance Act CAP 390 and Insurance Act, outlawing the sourcing of marine cargo insurance policies from insurers not locally licensed.

The changes set in on January 1, 2017 but compliance has been low given that KRA has been clearing imports whether their marine cover is from a local or foreign insurer.

Kenya’s value of principal imports hit Sh2.772 trillion last year, a growth from Sh2.706 trillion a year earlier and 30.8 percent rise from Sh2.119 trillion five years earlier, convincing insurers that they have barely scratched the surface when it comes to marine insurance.

Marine insurance premiums jumped the fastest in 2017 at 34.4 percent to SSh3.63 billion when the law on compulsory sourcing of the cover locally kicked off. However, the business dropped for three consecutive years before setting on a recovery in 2021, according to IRA data.

When we talk about empowering the communities in which we operate, one of the key areas that stands out is financial inclusion and literacy.

At its core, financial inclusion is about making financial services accessible and usable for everyone. When individuals have access, they are better equipped to navigate changing economic conditions and take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Unfortunately, the reality remains sobering, with a significant number of people still excluded. Globally, about 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked, lacking access to formal financial services or mobile money.

The reasons are clear. For many, financial services remain out of reach, whether due to physical access, limited understanding of the value of banking, or lack of informal sectors.

In some cases, the barriers are structural, with stringent requirements for opening accounts or accessing credit making it difficult for many to even get started.

Across Africa, the savings culture remains relatively weak, influenced by low income, limited financial management skills, and broader cultural and socio-economic factors. This is where financial literacy becomes critical. Without a clear understanding of financial tools, even those with access may struggle to use them effectively, ultimately limiting the impact of financial inclusion.

Closer home, the picture reflects this reality. Kenya, for instance, continues to lag behind its regional peers.

As of 2021, the country’s savings rate stood at about 13 per cent, compared to over 20 per cent in Uganda and Tanzania, despite having a higher per capita income. This gap is closely linked to financial literacy levels and everyday realities facing household, including constrained incomes, declining savings, and increasing difficulty in meeting financial obligations.

This is where financial inclusion becomes critical, ensuring that people can access essential financial tools, savings and payment solutions without unnecessary barriers. When effectively implemented, this becomes a powerful driver of economic growth, supporting job creation, empowering vulnerable groups, and contributing meaningfully to poverty reduction.

Technology, particularly artificial intelligence, is now beginning to reshape this landscape. Traditional banking models have often excluded underserved communities, but AI is helping to break down these barriers.

Case in point, in credit scoring, many individuals, especially small business owners and those in the informal sector, are often locked out due to lack of formal credit histories.

AI addresses this by leveraging alternative data, such as mobile money activity, transaction patterns, and cash flow behavior, to build a more complete picture of a person’s financial life.

This shift also presents a significant opportunity for women. In Kenya, many women are starting businesses out of both ambition and necessity, yet still face challenges in accessing credit.

Traditional systems often fail to capture how they earn and manage money. AI, through the use of alternative credit scoring methods such mobile transaction histories, can help bridge this gap and unlock growth opportunities.

Beyond credit, AI is enhancing how financial services are delivered. From personalised product development and improved fraud detection, institutions are becoming more efficient and customer centric. Importantly, technology is reducing reliance on physical infrastructure, making services more accessible to individuals in remote and underserved areas.

That said, this progress must be approached responsibly.

Concerns around data privacy, algorithmic bias, and transparency are valid, particularly in a sector as sensitive as finance. If not properly managed, these risks can deepen the existing inequalities. This underscores the need for responsible AI deployment, guided by fairness, security and transparency, alongside clear regulatory frameworks that protect consumers while enabling innovation.

At National Bank, we recognize that while AI presents a powerful opportunity to accelerate financial inclusion, technology alone is not enough.

Sustainable progress will require the right policies and a clear focus on the people we aim to serve. Ultimately, this is what will define the future of inclusive banking.

Kenya’s private sector activity contracted for the second month in a row in April on costly fuel following the Iran war that hit consumer demand, forcing firms to tap more casual workers to contain wage bills.

The latest Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) shows the index rose marginally to 49.4 last month up from 47.7 in March, staying below the 50-point threshold that signals growth.

The reading points to a continued deterioration in operating conditions, even as the pace of decline eased compared to March. The March figure was the first time since August 2025 that the index went below 50.

Firms increased hiring, the survey says, but increasingly favoured short-term and flexible hiring arrangements over permanent employment to manage expenses and preserve cash flows.

Kenya like many other African countries is heavily reliant on energy imports from the Gulf region, engulfed in war. The Iran conflict has left it scrambling to stave off shortages of essential commodities like fuel, and the war’s ripple effects are expected to spur inflationary pressures that could dampen Kenya’s growth prospects.

‘Businesses in Kenya suffered a further decline in operating conditions in April, as increasing fuel prices lifted average cost burdens and dampened customer demand,’ noted Stanbic in the report.

‘Monitored companies often reported hiring casual workers to support current projects and growth plans.’

In mid-April, Kenya raised its retail fuel prices by as much as 24.2 percent amid a spike in crude prices and a squeeze in petroleum supplies caused by the Middle East conflict, triggering a surge in costs across sectors.

Inflation rose to 5.6 percent year-on-year in April from 4.4 percent a month earlier, data from the statistics office showed.

The survey said drops in business activity were most pronounced in wholesale and retail, agriculture and service sector companies.

“Concerns about rising costs, tied to higher transport costs and the ability to secure supplies, especially from the Middle East and Asia, weighed on output and new orders,” Christopher Legilisho, economist at Stanbic Bank, said.

Kenya’s statistics office said in late April it forecasts the economy will expand 4.9 percent in 2026, but it said Sub-Saharan Africa remained highly vulnerable to shocks triggered by the US-Israeli war with Iran.

The economy grew 4.6 percent last year, little changed from 2024’s 4.7 percent growth and below the Treasury’s estimate of 5.0 percent for 2025.

Last month, businesses reported a drop in output and new orders, marking the second consecutive month of contraction as households and firms cut back spending in response to rising prices and broader economic uncertainty.

Stanbic reckons that the slowdown in private sector activity has largely been driven by demand-side pressures, with companies citing reduced customer spending power amid persistent inflation and tighter financial conditions across the economy.

‘The overall rate of cost inflation soared to its highest level since December 2023, with around 18 percent of survey respondents reporting a month-on-month rise in expenses,’ said the lender.

These cost pressures have compounded an already fragile demand environment, leaving businesses caught between rising input costs and limited ability to pass those costs on to consumers.

In response, the report notes, companies raised their selling prices at the fastest pace in nearly two-and-a-half years, marking a shift from the pricing restraint seen in March when firms had absorbed costs to remain competitive.

The ability to fully transfer these costs to customers, however, remained constrained by weak demand, signalling continued pressure on profit margins in the near term.

Sector data shows that the contraction was most pronounced in wholesale and retail trade, agriculture as well as in services, reflecting the sensitivity of the segments to shifts in consumer spending and cost dynamics. Business confidence continued to soften for the third consecutive month, reflecting ongoing concerns about the economic outlook and cost environment.

According to the survey, only about 18 percent of surveyed firms expect output to increase over the next 12 months, with executives looking to development plans, diversification and marketing spending as drivers of optimism.

In today’s rapidly changing and volatile business environment, companies that want to remain ahead must rethink their value creation model. Beyond innovation, creativity and marketing, sustainable business growth now requires a shared prosperity approach-one that incorporates both internal and external stakeholders.

Gone are the days when corporate success was measured only by profitability and shareholder returns. Increasingly, businesses are being called upon to contribute to a broader vision of growth that is inclusive, sustainable and beneficial across multiple stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, customers, partners, collaborators, financiers and society at large.

Shared prosperity is not charity. It is not traditional Corporate Social Responsibility. It is a deliberate business strategy that ensures the value created by an organisation strengthens the wider ecosystem that makes its success possible.

A shared prosperity model entails both an internal and external approach to value creation. Internally, it focuses on how organisations empower their people. It also focuses on the organisation’s productivity assets: the systems, structures, tools, techniques, and leadership practices that enable performance.

Too often, these are viewed primarily as cost lines. Yet they are central to value creation. This is why organisations that focus only on the bottom line and shareholder returns often continue to experience critical gaps in their long-term sustainability.

At this point, it is important to place emphasis on one of the most overlooked areas within internal value creation-the approach to employee training and empowerment.

For years, employee empowerment has largely been approached through conventional methods-team building sessions, technical workshops and business-oriented training programmes.

While these are important, they often overlook a fundamental reality: employees are not just professionals. They are individuals navigating real-life pressures, with financial wellbeing being one of the most significant. In many organisations, financial empowerment is treated as a peripheral benefit.

They tend to focus on products or general advice, without addressing the deeper patterns, behaviours, and decisions that shape how individuals relate to and manage money.

As a result, a quiet contradiction persists-high-performing and experienced employees who are professionally successful, yet financially strained and exposed.

Financial wellbeing should not be treated as an afterthought. It should be recognised as a core pillar of productivity, performance, and sustainability, and incorporated as an internal process for shared prosperity.

Externally, shared prosperity looks at how value flows into the broader business ecosystem. Businesses rely on interconnected networks-suppliers, customers, partners, collaborators, financiers, and communities. Strengthening these relationships is not optional; it is strategic.

Ultimately, the future of corporate success will not be defined only by profitability, but by the quality and reach of the value created through the shared prosperity of its stakeholders. The question for every business is no longer just: How much did we make?

Or how profitable are we? It is also: Who in our ecosystem became stronger and better because we exist? That is the essence of shared prosperity. It is not wealth given away; it is wealth designed to multiply.

Debate rages over whether Kenya can achieve its dream of becoming the ‘Singapore of Africa’ within a generation, given the significant challenges it faces. The level of success achieved in realising the aspirations of Kenya Vision 2030 serves as a crucial gauge in this regard.

However, one thing is clear; our society is now more unequal than ever. A 2025 report by Oxfam shows that the top 125 richest individuals in Kenya now own more wealth than the bottom 42.6 million people combined. A large part of this wealth is concentrated in the top five counties.

The catch here is that countries are usually categorised as either high income, middle income or least developed, based on GDP per capita, a measure obtained by dividing a country’s total output by its population, rather than absolute GDP size. For instance, Kenya is a lower-middle-income country not because of its $ 136 billion economy, but because of its average income per person which stood at $ 2,132 in 2024.

This makes it a policy imperative to uplift the lives of the marginalised. Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), in particular, have remained economically and socially disadvantaged. Thanks to decades of neglect, these regions still lag in access to education, health care, electricity, and other social services.

They are also almost synonymous with drought and famine. This is reflected in their counties’ meagre relative contribution to the national output. Reversing this trend will take the combined effort of both levels of government.

Unless we bridge this gap, the odds will be stacked against us. The overall economy will continue to grow. Jobs will be created in other places, but a fraction of the people will continue to live on the sidelines of the economy.

A rich minority and poor majority condemn a country to low human capital development. This is especially visible in India which is the world’s fourth largest economy but remains a developing country due to a large population of rural poor in states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

There are only two ways of reducing inequality in any society: making the poor wealthier and making the wealthy less rich.

Why do managers often make bad choices? Do decision makers get caught up in the excitement of the moment? Why is it that industry ‘think different outsiders’ introduce innovations that shake up the Kenyan market? Can seeking agreement, alignment, congruence in decision making be counterproductive? In business, is what you see, all there is? What does it take to move towards becoming a cutting-edge organisation?

Default mode in our minds is to take the inside view. Our being smart, may be actually stupid.

‘What you see is all there is’ says our brain that is designed to focus on immediate information ‘inside view’ and ignore uncomfortable unknown, or unseen data – the ‘outside view’.

Helps to get uncomfortable and look at decisions from various perspectives. Taking an ‘inside view’ and ‘outside view’ is a framework for decision-making by recognising how we often misjudge scenarios, by focusing too narrowly on specific details – as discussed by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman.

This is the ‘planning fallacy’ the tendency to underestimate the time, costs and risks of future actions. Bent Flyvbjerg, a major projects expert ‘has shown that around 90 percent of major infrastructure projects worldwide go over budget (on average of 28 percent) in part, because managers focus on the details of their project and become overly optimistic.’

Ask: What happened in similar cases?

Sarah, the ambitious rising star finance director at Red Oak Bank wants to be the CEO, by pushing through a data centre infrastructure investment. Understandably, she makes insider view predictions based on specific, unique details of a project.

She relies on a ‘cohesive narrative’ — a compelling optimistic story of how events will unfold. The problem is her inside view ignores the facts on the ground, the hard reality of how similar projects have performed, taking into account power grid constraints, long lead times for specialised equipment and skilled labour shortages. ‘But this time is different’ says over-confident Sarah.

Board member Sam, an electrical engineer, pushes back taking an outside view, by looking at data and other base cases. Though it may be painful, Sam’s approach is non-causal and statistical, disregarding the specific emotional story of the project to focus on the average outcome of similar initiatives in Africa, and elsewhere.

Outside view asks ‘What happened in similar situations?’ Focusing narrowly on many fine details specific to a problem at hand feels like the exact right thing to do, when it is often exactly wrong. Taking an outside view helps correct the optimistic bias, providing a more realistic, often gloomier, but accurate forecast.

“Our natural inclination to take the inside view can be defeated by following analogies to the ‘outside view.’.. The outside view is deeply counter intuitive because it requires a decision maker to ignore unique surface features of the current project, on which they are the expert, and instead look outside for structurally similar analogies. It requires a mindset switch from narrow to broad’ writes David Epstein his fascinating book, Range.

Breakthroughs come from the unexpected

It’s a balancing act on whether to take an inside or outside view. Smart approach is to use both. Intelligence is often defined as the ability to hold two conflicting ideas in your mind, at the same time.

In many industries, and innovations over the centuries, break throughs have often come from the think different ‘outsiders’. In Kenya, roughly 60 percent of GDP flows through M-Pesa created by a telecom, far outpacing the roughly 40 banks in high velocity transactions. Today it’s hard to find a bank or financial institution that does not offer insurance premium financing.

But when John Macharia originally tried to get support for introducing the new product, all the banks rejected the idea, except one. Macharia was an outsider in the risk averse Kenyan insurance sector, but he was one of the most innovative forming Triple A Capital to offer insurance premium financing and then he did it second time, in creating Directline Assurance, aiming to bring sanity and profitability to PSV insurers.

How do you provide affordable quality healthcare to hard working Kenyans? Quality health care exists for the affluent. Real question is: How do you make quality health services affordable? One smart solution has been created by a bank, applying systems, economies of scale and modularity. With 140 Equity Afya clinics across Kenya, Equity Bank has shown having an outsider perspective delivers.

Regress to the mean of what one knows best?

When managers are under pressure they try solutions that worked before. Rather than adapting to unfamiliar situations, organisation thinker, Karl Weick saw that experienced groups became rigid under pressure and ‘regress to what they know best’.

In an unfamiliar situation, manager regress to a familiar comfort zone — hoping it to become something they actually had experienced before. Research on aviation accidents, found that ‘a common pattern was the crew’s decision to continue with their original plan’ even when conditions changed dramatically.

If you are not aware of something does it exist? Awareness is everything in business. To avoid the pitfalls of having a narrow insider view it helps to realise what you see, may not be all there is. Congruence – alignment is treasured in management, but one has to be ready to listen to the uncomfortable divergent outside view.

It’s wicked decision-making world. Mark Twain nailed the paradox: “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions.”

World class research labs, NASA and companies with annual budgets in the billions of dollars, often have management meeting weekly, intentionally asking — What are we missing? Solutions come from the front line, helps to have monthly all staff Q and A town hall meetings.

WhatsApp like responsiveness should be the rule, in a Singapore like way, responding to all e mail and communications by close of business. Aim is to increase the velocity of the business, on a smart trajectory.

When the Narok county government increased entry fees for the Maasai Mara National Reserve by up to three times in 2024, it bit more than it could chew.

The results are in, and they show that tourist numbers have dipped for the second year in a row. Official statistics indicate that the number of tourists visiting the world-famous Mara was lower than that of the Amboseli National Park in 2025, the first time in years that the Kajiado-based reserve outperformed the Narok rival in visitor numbers.

According to the Economic Survey 2026 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), there has been a sharp fall in visitors to the Maasai Mara. From a high of 420,000 in 2023, the number shrank to 343,000 in 2024 and further fell to 213,000 last year.

In contrast, the Amboseli played host to 295,000 visitors in 2025. This was an increase from 266,000 in 2024. In 2023, some 222,000 tourists visited Amboseli, and data shows a steady rise in numbers for the past five years.

Both the Mara and Amboseli are run by their host county governments, with the latter getting the mandate from the national government in late 2025.

In the bigger picture, 2025 saw the number of visitors to national parks and game reserves grow by 5.7 percent to 3.95 million.

National parks and game reserves across the country include the Nairobi National Park, the Nairobi Safari Walk, Tsavo East and West, the Aberdare, the Nairobi Mini Orphanage, Lake Nakuru, and Lake Bogoria, Shimba Hills and Hells Gate, among others. The number of visitors to the establishments stood at 3.74 million in 2024 and 3.64 million in 2023.

Statistics also show that more Kenyans are visiting national parks, with the number increasing from 2.33 million in 2024 to 2.56 million last year. In 2023, that figure stood at 2.36 million.

‘Kenyan citizens remain the highest visitors to these attraction sites, followed by the non-resident foreigners. The number of Kenyans visiting the sites increased by 9.9 percent to [2.56 million]. However, the number of resident foreigner visitors to these sites declined by 16.7 per cent to 2.22 million in 2025,’ the Economic Survey 2026 says.

Narok County’s revision of entry charges for the Mara came into effect in January 2024. It saw entry fees for Kenyan adults from outside Narok County rise from Sh1,000 to Sh3,000. Narok County residents who seek to enter the park are charged Sh2,000 per adult.

For foreign nationals within the East African region, the adult’s fees shot up to Sh4,500 per person.

For visitors from other countries, the fees for adults rose to $100 (Sh12,290) in the low season of January to June. For the rest of the year, foreign nationals pay $200 (Sh25,840). Before January 2024, foreigners would pay a flat rate of $80 (Sh10,332).

Mr Robert Simotwo, the executive committee member in charge of Tourism at Narok County, told the Business Daily that price revisions were strategic, adding that the changes were geared at a ‘high-value, low-volume tourism model’.

‘This approach introduced distinct green and migration seasons and was accompanied by a significant revision of park entry fees from $80 to $100 during the low season and up to $200 during the high season,’ he said.

While acknowledging the decline, the tourism boss said they observed sharper monthly declines as 2025 progressed. ‘This trend was particularly evident among price-sensitive segments such as families and non-resident tourists, indicating that the increased fees likely influenced travel decisions,’ said Mr Simotwo.

Mr Mike Macharia, CEO of the Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers, said the drop in the number of visitors to the Mara was inevitable. ‘This was expected after the increase in park fees,’ he said. ‘However, I think the revenue levels will be more or less the same, which, in our understanding, was the wish of the county government: to earn more from less traffic.’

When he spoke on the performance of tourism in his Madaraka Day speech in 2025, Narok governor Patrick ole Ntutu painted a rosy picture of the sector.

‘Tourism continues to grow through conservation and investment,’ he said as he touted the planned Narok International Airport as a major enabler of international trade and tourism.

Mr Moses Monyorwa, a marketing lead with tour firm Savi Tours, said the increased fees has made the Mara less favourable for travellers.

‘Tripling of the park entry fees made it unattractive,’ he said, explaining that since 2024, billing is done per day compared to the fairly unrestricted terms before January 2024.

‘A lot of people are also shifting to Tanzania instead of Kenya as it is more affordable and there’s generally more to see,’ he added.

At the Serengeti, the entry fees for foreigners is $83 (Sh10,721), while East African residents and Tanzania residents are charged Tsh10,000 (Sh496). And for a foreigner staying inside the Serengeti, they are required to pay a $60 (Sh7,750) concession fee daily. This figure stands at Tsh35,000 (Sh1,737) for locals of Tanzania and East African countries.

According to Maasai Mara Travel, a tour firm, the Serengeti is approximately 30,000 square kilometres in size while the Mara is just 1,510 square kilometres.

Explaining the increased attention towards Amboseli at the expense of the Mara, Mr David Iteyo of Crowned Eagle Safaris said Amboseli’s numbers are increasing due to many factors that include better roads leading there and reliable elephant sightings.

He also said there was a rise in affordable hotels and lodges inside the Amboseli, as well as the stunning views of Mt Kilimanjaro that make the park a bucket list item for many travellers.

Eric Njoroge of Rav Africa Safaris said that the price increase in the Mara drove up the demand for Amboseli.

‘Amboseli not only provides a cheaper alternative but also has quality accommodation, good food, and affordable entry fees,’ said Mr Njoroge.

Kenya’s tax system is undergoing a structural transformation, and the expansion of electronic tax invoice management system (eTIMS) into income tax is at the heart of this shift. This is not simply a compliance upgrade but a mechanism that systematically widens the Kenya tax base and reshapes how economic activity translates into fiscal obligations.

Historically, underreporting, fragmented records, and informal practices allowed significant portions of economic activity to remain invisible. eTIMS now closes this gap at its source, creating transaction-level visibility that brings previously hidden revenue into the formal system.

By capturing every invoice, payment, and expense, eTIMS enables the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to reconcile declared income against actual activity.

Previously underreported revenue from small enterprises, contractors, and informal channels is increasingly captured, drawing more taxpayers into higher effective tax brackets. The result is a structurally wider tax base in Kenya, improving revenue predictability, reducing loopholes, and strengthening the integrity of the tax system.

The operational implications for businesses are immediate. Finance and accounting teams can no longer treat reporting as periodic or discretionary. Transactions such as expense approvals, intercompany transfers, and non-standard adjustments now carry direct fiscal consequences.

Organizations are investing in integrated systems, automated reconciliation, and cross-functional processes to ensure every transaction is verifiable.

Tax compliance is now embedded into operational workflows, and misalignment carries measurable financial, strategic, and reputational risk. Strategically, eTIMS influences core business decision-making. Pricing, procurement, revenue recognition, and expansion initiatives now intersect with tax obligations in real time.

Companies that integrate compliance into operations gain predictability, reduce disputes, and can focus resources on growth. Those that fail to adapt face operational friction, escalating costs, and blind spots in strategic risk management.

At the macroeconomic level, the effect is structural and enduring. As transaction-level visibility increases, informal and previously underreported activity enters the formal Kenya tax net.

Revenue will now become more reliable without raising nominal rates, distortions from uneven compliance will be reduced, and competition will become fairer.

Digital record-keeping will become the norm, informal economic activity will decline and tax obligations will align with actual economic output. The widened base provides an accurate representation of economic participation supporting better fiscal planning and sustainable growth.

Governance and operational strategy are inseparable from tax compliance. The lens has shifted from outcomes to drivers from declared figures to verifiable transactions.

Firms that integrate this reality manage risk effectively, strengthen oversight, and gain operational clarity. Those that do not risk inefficiency, exposure, and operational friction that can compromise both financial and strategic performance.

eTIMS is more than a compliance tool, it is a structural lever that expands the Kenya tax base brings previously invisible income into the formal system and creates a predictable, transparent fiscal environment. Embedding these requirements into operational and financial planning is essential.

Organizations that embrace this transformation benefit from stronger governance, reduced disputes, and strategic clarity. Those that ignore it face tangible financial, operational, and reputational consequences.

The widening of the tax base through eTIMS is measurable, structural, and enduring.

Understanding its mechanics, embedding compliance into daily processes, and aligning operations with verifiable economic activity is now essential for sustaining growth, protecting value, and navigating Kenya’s evolving fiscal landscape.

In the past week, a wave of scepticism has followed the record-breaking, history-defining performance at the London Marathon, where not only the winner, Sabastian Sawe, but the entire podium surpassed the previous world record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum.

Critics have rushed to explain away the feat, pointing to two main factors: advanced footwear technology and modern carbohydrate fuelling strategies. Yet, while both elements undeniably contribute to performance, reducing such an achievement solely to them oversimplifies the evolution of sport.

The first argument-centred on footwear-is hardly new. It has persisted since the dawn of the ‘super-shoe’ era, widely associated with the release of the Nike Vaporfly 4 percent in 2017.

This shoe introduced a revolutionary combination of a carbon-fibre plate, lightweight construction, and highly responsive foam designed to improve running economy by 3-4 percent.

Its impact was immediate and profound. When Eliud Kipchoge set a world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon, and Abraham Kiptum followed with a half-marathon record shortly after, the debate around technological assistance in sport intensified.

Fast forward nearly a decade, and innovation has not slowed. Adidas’ latest entry, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, represents a dramatic leap forward. With a midsole height of 39mm and significantly enhanced energy-returning materials, it reduces energy loss even further than its predecessors. More strikingly, it weighs just 97 grammes-almost half the weight of the original Vaporfly.

Scientific studies consistently show that adding 100 grammes to a running shoe can increase energy expenditure by about 1 per cent, translating to roughly 70 seconds over a marathon. By that logic, reducing weight offers a substantial competitive edge. Still, while the engineering is remarkable, it is not magic; it enhances the runner’s ability but does not replace it.

The second line of criticism focuses on fuelling-specifically, high carbohydrate intake during races. For decades, sports science has recognised glycogen depletion as a primary cause of fatigue in endurance events. When glycogen stores are exhausted, blood glucose drops, leading to the infamous ‘wall.’

Modern fuelling strategies aim to delay or prevent this by maintaining glucose availability through carbohydrate consumption. Even modest intake has been shown to extend endurance by up to 20 percent.

In this latest performance, the winner reportedly consumed an average of 115 grammes of carbohydrates per hour-approaching the upper physiological limit suggested by research.

This level of precision fuelling is a product of years of scientific advancement and personalised nutrition planning. But again, it is an aid, not a substitute. The ability to absorb and utilise such high carbohydrate levels during intense exertion is itself a trained physiological adaptation, not a given.

The underlying claim from sceptics is that these advancements somehow invalidate the performance-that without them, the sub-two-hour barrier would remain unbroken. This is likely true. However, it also rests on a flawed premise: that there was once a ‘pure’ era of sport untouched by technological or scientific influence. History suggests otherwise. From improved track surfaces to altitude training, from better coaching methods to advancements in sports medicine, every generation has benefited from the tools of its time.

What technology does is not diminish greatness but redefine its context. It raises the baseline, making yesterday’s extraordinary performances today’s standard. Each era competes within its own framework, shaped by the knowledge and resources available. Records are not just reflections of individual brilliance but of collective progress.

Ultimately, the athlete at the centre of this achievement remains the decisive factor. Technology may provide the platform, but it cannot replicate the years of relentless training, often exceeding 200 kilometres per week, much of it at high altitude. It cannot manufacture mental resilience, pain tolerance, or tactical intelligence. These qualities are earned, not engineered.

The suggestion that such a performance is merely a product of shoes and science underestimates the complexity of elite sport. Yes, innovation plays a role, as it always has. But the defining element remains human excellence. No pair of shoes, regardless of how advanced, can run a marathon on its own.