Category: Business Daily

“There is a difference between a family owned and a family run business,” points out Florence Wanja, Head of Business and Commercial Banking at Stanbic Bank, as she responds to my question on the common challenges faced by family enterprises.

“Most of the large multinational corporations that we see and brands that we know, your Colgate and the like, started as family businesses, initially starting off as family run. With time, as a business grows, it becomes family owned, where the owners are family members, but the business is probably run by professionals while certain decision making lies with the family members,” she explained.

The transition from being family run to bringing professionals on board to manage the business while the founder takes a back seat but retains ownership has proven to be a hard nut to crack, resulting in succession challenges.

A survey by PwC found that 45 percent of Kenyan family businesses have no succession plan. Data from the Family Firm Institute shows that less than a third of family businesses, or 30 percent, survive into the second generation. Only 12 percent remain viable in the third generation, while just three percent continue operating into the fourth generation or beyond.

Recently, Isuzu East Africa terminated its 62-year-old dealership agreement with Associated Motors Limited after the dealer failed to establish a succession plan, leaving the business struggling.

Associated Motors Limited (AML) was appointed as a dealer of the Japanese car manufacturer in 1964, with the business later passed down through generations of the family.

However, siblings of the current management have relocated outside the country and have no interest in the business, forcing the current patriarch to wind it down after efforts to sell it proved futile.

Jane Gichuki, Group Head of Finance and Administration at Symbion Consulting Group, says there are critical transitional steps every family business must take to position itself for longevity.

The first is to assess the current governance structure and ensure there is a clear boundary between family roles and business responsibilities. This calls for regular scheduled management meetings where decisions are documented and action points followed up, allowing family members to develop other aspects of their relationships. She warns that a business can easily consume family life, making it the only topic discussed at home.

“Scheduled meetings also help deal with the founder’s dependency syndrome where everything runs through one person. When they are away, decisions stall,” said Ms Gichuki.

Creating clear boundaries also helps to identify gaps within the business where professional expertise may be required.

A well-defined business structure also ensures family members are placed in roles that match their abilities and can be held accountable for their performance.

For the heirs, she advocates gaining experience outside the family business before joining the enterprise.

Ms Gichuki also stresses the need to involve the next generation in developing the business’s medium-term strategic plans, giving them insight into where the company is headed.

She recommends establishing a board that can provide independent advice and help resolve issues objectively, unlike family members who may be emotionally invested.

“It is also important to clarify what the retiring generation will do next, otherwise they will hang around the business,” said Ms Gichuki.

Ibrahim Nthitu, a second generation hotel owner in Makueni, believes it is necessary to introduce the next generation to the business at an early stage.

Mr Nthitu is the General Manager of Kambua Resort Kibwezi, an establishment founded by his father in Makueni County.

For him, the transition was not smooth. He had to leave his pursuits outside the country and honour his father’s call to return and run the family business. Although he had no prior experience in the hospitality industry, he accepted the challenge. He says he does not regret the decision, having immersed himself in the sector, where he now serves as Secretary General of the Makueni Hospitality Association.

He notes that succession challenges are evident across the hospitality industry, with many owners tied to their premises to ensure smooth operations. As a result, training seminars organised by the association, including a recent one on business continuity planning, often record low attendance because most owners are involved in the day-to-day running of their establishments and need to be physically present.

“Businesses should be managed by competent individuals. If family members are to be involved in the family business(es), then they must acquire the necessary skills. If not, they should remain as shareholders or board members and wait to receive dividends,” said Mr Nthitu.

“In my opinion beneficiaries who are directly involved in the running of a going concern should be allocated shares when the principal is still alive. These shares are then not part of the estate and any funds invested by a beneficiary in a going concern should be clearly indicated,” he added.

Under this approach, those who contribute more to the business receive greater rewards because they have sacrificed their careers and other sources of income to grow the family enterprise.

Rank and authority within the business should also be clearly defined while the founders are still alive, as leadership does not have to follow birth order or gender.

The older generation should also be willing to embrace ideas brought forward by the next generation, who may have a better understanding of changing market trends and new funding opportunities.

Such ideas include the adoption of technology and responding to evolving customer preferences. There is, however, a tendency among founders to cling to practices that worked in the past while patronising the very beneficiaries they have invited to join the business.

Ms Wanja notes that banks have a vested interest in ensuring the continuity of family owned businesses because many of the credit facilities extended to these enterprises are long-term and their performance is closely tied to how successfully the firms navigate different business cycles.

Stanbic Bank recently established a family business division to help family owned enterprises address the unique challenges they face in an ever evolving business environment. The division offers financial solutions as well as advisory services aimed at helping family businesses survive beyond the fourth generation.

The National Treasury targets clean-up of data on debt tapped from the domestic market amid mounting pressure for transparency in the government’s financial transactions.

National Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said that recruitment is underway for a Registrar of national government securities to help improve transparency in the management of the country’s haul of domestic debt, which hit Sh7.4 trillion as at July 24, 2026, accounting for 82.3 percent of the total borrowing.

“The National Treasury is in the process of operationalising the position of Registrar of national government securities. The position of the Registrar of national government securities has been created, and the Public Service Commission has conducted interviews for the position,” he told members of the Public Petitions Committee of the National Assembly.

National government securities constitute Treasury Bills, which refer to short-term instruments, and Treasury Bonds, which constitute long-term instruments through which the Exchequer borrows from the public to finance gaps in the annual budget.

As at the close of July 2026, Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds constituted Sh1.14 trillion and Sh6.09 trillion, respectively.

Dr Kiptoo’s submission was necessitated by a petition filed by Beatrice Waiyaki and others, representing Kiambu County Empowerment Network and the Bunge Mashinani Initiative regarding the governance of public debt in the country.

The petitioners also poked holes in the government’s aggregation of national debt data, terming it complex and inaccessible to ordinary Kenyans seeking to understand how the Exchequer is structuring debt, whose financing is met using taxpayer funds.

The Treasury PS told the National Assembly that plans are underway to overhaul the country’s debt reporting framework by adopting a more centralised platform for all debt data in the country.

A team dubbed the Public Debt Warehouse Implementation Committee is spearheading this overhaul.

“A comprehensive and mandatory public debt register already exists. However, the National Treasury is implementing a Debt Data Warehouse to consolidate debt information from multiple systems and sources into a secure and centralized platform. This will reduce manual processes, eliminate duplication, minimise errors and enhance the speed, accuracy and reliability of debt reporting”, Kiptoo said.

The latest changes in the country’s debt management and reporting frameworks come as pressure rises for the government to adhere to the prescribed debt ceiling of 55 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the October 2023 amendment of the Public Finance Management Act.

Currently, Kenya’s debt-to-GDP ratio is at 69.4 percent of GDP, which places it significantly above the legally prescribed ceiling, with the government having been given five years within the adoption of the amendment to align the country’s debt with the 55 percent of GDP ceiling.

“The National Treasury is actively implementing a multi-year fiscal consolidation programme to reduce the fiscal deficit in the medium-term and shift domestic borrowing toward longer tenor to reduce refinancing risk”, Kiptoo said.

The government’s debt stock surged to Sh12.82trillion in June 2026 on a new wave of borrowing amid depressed revenue collection, new disclosures by the National Treasury said.

The government document laid in the National Assembly on July 29, 2026, shows that a cumulative Sh416.2 billion was procured from multilateral and commercial creditors during the period January 1, 2026 and April 30, 2026 to finance various projects in the country.

In the current financial year, the government plans to borrow Sh987.4 billion from the domestic market to finance the Sh4.82 trillion budget. This marks an increase from the Sh961.7 billion borrowed from the domestic market in the financial year that ended June 30, 2026.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is dominating the global box office right now, but I want us to take a detour and focus on Anam’s Wake.

The premiere happened this last weekend, Prestige cinemas, ahead of its wide release this week, 3rd to 8th August 2026, at a reasonably affordable ticket price.

So in the lobby, as we were networking and waiting to go in for the screening, I kept asking any attendee I had the opportunity to speak to two questions: why did you buy a ticket for this, and how did you hear about it? The reason being, the premiere and the opening weekend had sold out.

Most people I asked said they’d found it through social media, and most were regular consumers of Kenyan cinema who came out specifically because the trailer promised something different.

So an aggressive marketing push, I don’t know whether it was my algorithm, but this film has been all over my feed, and a unique concept might have played a role when it came to the reception of the film. But let’s put all that away, the most important question here is: does the final product deliver?

Anam’s Wake

Anam’s Wake is written and directed by Likarion Wainaina, who also produces alongside Wanjiru Njoroge, with cinematography by Enos Olik. Marima Wanjiru leads as Anam, opposite Samson Omondi as a character you will need to discover for yourself, Ruth Apondi as Aunt Kavata, Peter Kawa as Mason Ebale, and Vanessa Okeyo as Amani Ebale.

The ensemble also includes Maureen Muthoni as Stella, Pras Jadi as Kwame Ebale, Gathoni Mutua as Zuri Ebale, and Brenda Ngeso as Nyawira.

The plot follows Anam, a professional mourner trained to summon Death and negotiate the passage of souls, who has never dealt with her own grief 16 years after her mother’s death.

Her first solo ritual takes place at a wealthy family’s estate, but things become complicated when Death arrives early, dragging buried family secrets and Anam’s own history into the light, or darkness, depending on how you look at it.

The performances anchor the film, and I don’t know why. Still, I recall thinking of the impact of the Kenya Theatre scene, especially with Wanjiru and the mysterious character played by Samson.

It’s a demanding, exposition-heavy role that demands constant physical and emotional labour across the acts, paired with Ruth Apondi, whose grounded, unforced delivery in the first act gives the film its sense of realism, giving her character a sense of place and belonging. I must say the performances are great throughout, but Ruth Apondi feels the most natural in her role, which I must admit was fantastic casting.

Character motivations are clear, meaning for the most part some characters will be easy to follow.

A mystery

Ben Tekee’s role is unnerving, challenging, and unconventional, and most Kenyans will find his scenes uncomfortable, even horrific, depending on your beliefs. Peter Kawa shapes the momentum of the second act. Pras Jadi, newer to the craft, is most compelling when silent; his stillness carries weight that his line delivery occasionally undercuts.

And Samson Omondi is a scene-stealer, probably the character audiences will remember most. His delivery and cadence are spot on, and his physique allows him to aura farm (intentionally striking poses, or behaving stoically to boost one’s perceived cool factor) and command the screen during his entrance, which is elevated by the costume designer.

The costumes, individual pieces like jewellery, might look unassuming and familiar on their own, but it’s in how everything comes together, the jewellery, body art, the majestic outfits and casting choices, that creates something distinctly coherent and African rather than generic.

A lot of thought went into the costumes, which help elevate the story visually, and for the most part, a lot of the characters look cool, sometimes unsettling, one figure in particular.

The cultural context, language choice, and overall art direction give the film a Kenyan identity, though I’m not in a position to vouch for the accuracy of every accent, as I’m from a different tribe, but the subtitles carried me through.

Meeting the Runda family kicks off a mystery that had been slowly set up in the first act, and the suspense, there is symbolism and set ups that eventually pay off, I love something they do with water.

Coming from a culture with a particular attitude toward death and the dead, I found the film’s disturbing details thoughtfully handled rather than gratuitous, still horrifying. I also appreciated the film’s willingness to sit with its philosophical questions: what death means, what a negotiator’s job actually costs, and what this small community of soul-guides believes.

The cinematography is superb for the most part.

My favourite sequence is an early scene between Anam and her Stella inside the house; the blocking and staging are remarkable, with the camera tracking the friend’s movement in and out of frame in a way that feels Spielberg-inspired. The film also has a distinct visual identity and a colour grade that embraces natural African skin tones, with frames that occasionally mirror a character’s internal state rather than simply observing it.

The themes are heavy but I appreciate that there was also a place for humour in the script.

Gripes

This is a dense mythology that could have used an illustrated or short animated prologue, something like the silhouette sequences that close the film 300 but at the opening, to establish the rules, the women, the history, and, crucially, what grief actually means within this story’s logic.

As it stands, Anam simply reads as numb, and the line between suppressed feeling and defined grief is blurred.

Pacing in the third act was a bigger issue for me. The first two acts move confidently, but once the film pivots to the apprenticeship, it stalls, even when motivations are clear, becoming more tangled and exposition-heavy.

That act survives on first-viewing novelty alone. I thought the film should have ended with the family mystery as a cliffhanger of Anam learning the negotiator’s true goal. Instead, by pushing further, it breaks the momentum, and while the focus shifts back to Anam, what you end up with is a convoluted plot that, rather than elevating the character, drowns the act in exposition and obliterates any sense of agency. That third act makes the film feel longer than it is.

There’s also an occasional lack of visual ambition. One or two frames (in the Runda house) look like they were shot by a videographer rather than a cinematographer.

And through the third act, I could tell there was no one in the pre-production room asking, “How can we make this scene cool?” A two-finger touch meant to carry enormous weight gets no sonic or visual emphasis; a small visual effect to signal its significance would have gone a long way or a just a shake of the camera.

A later philosophical exchange in the third act falls flat, visually, simply because the filmmakers didn’t push themselves creatively.

Some moments could have benefited from the use of a green screen and basic visual effects to place the two characters in a surreal environment, think The Matrix’s Neo and Morpheus, in a completely white space with just two chairs.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that the story is ambitious, and so is the direction and art direction, but it still plays safe, creatively capped, staying within the borders of what we know. I acknowledge something they do with Peter Kawa and the guts to extend that scene with what they had at their disposal.

Still a good watch

But even with those issues, Anam’s Wake is still an awesome experience, primarily because it benefits from a very strong first and second act. It’s unsettling, challenging how we think about and look at the passage to death, grief, and purpose. Most Kenyan audiences will connect with, or be terrified by, what it does with our cultural taboos, and despite its shaky final act, there’s plenty here worth enjoying.

If you love Kenyan film, you’ll be eating well this month.

Two more Kenyan movies doing something different are premering this week. Memory of Princess Mumbi will have a homecoming premiere on 7th August 2026 Prestige Cinemas.

And Tides, a music-driven Kenyan film, premieres on the 8th of August 2026 Two rivers Mall . Like Anam’s Wake, these two also try to do something different.

Airtel on Monday launched a product to rival Safaricom’s Pochi la Biashara, triggering a price war that has cut the cost of customer transfers to micro-businesses’ wallets to zero.

Airtel Money’s Bizna Wallet takes aim at Safaricom’s M-Pesa Pochi la Biashara, a low-cost product that provides small-scale traders with a simplified digital payment solution.

Customers paying for goods via Airtel’s wallet will not be charged a fee as the telco seeks to increase the number of merchants on its platform and cut Safaricom’s share.

Safaricom’s move has triggered rumours that the telecoms operator was aware of Airtel’s moves and lowered prices to protect and grow the market share of its money maker.

M-Pesa now generates the bulk of Safaricom’s revenues, and Airtel, which has struggled against its top rival, is looking at mobile money and fixed data to push it into the profits zone.

“We expect this to be a very instrumental tool for our merchants. Of course, with the free payment to the business wallet, this will be a key driver of customers paying into this business wallet,” said Airtel Money Kenya Acting Managing Director Michael Bonke.

“Free payments to businesses have been one of our customers’ requests. We listen to the market, and if there is any other product needed, we will do it.”

Airtel Money has also halved the costs of its other mobile money transactions, such as paybill payments, sending money to rival mobile money networks, bank transfers to wallet, and transfers of money to bank accounts.

This will happen through a 50 percent cash-back plan rather than an outright plan.

On Saturday, Safaricom also halved charges on payments to business tills and paybills, which is emerging as a sales and profit driver.

Its revenues from M-Pesa Pochi, which was launched in 2020, stood at Sh4 billion in the year to March, while paybill and tills generated sales of Sh9.3 billion, pushing its merchant earnings to Sh13.3 billion.

At 13.3 billion, the sales would match the annual revenues of tens of companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

“To make digital payments more affordable and support the growth of businesses across Kenya, Safaricom is introducing revised tariffs for Pochi la Biashara and Lipa na M-Pesa Buy-Goods,” Safaricom said in a statement on Saturday.

New tariffs effective from August 7 will halve charges for M-Pesa tills and paybill payments, lowering the maximum tariff to Sh54 from Sh108 for transfers of between Sh45,001 and Sh250,000.

Pochi la Biashara charges have been revised for a three-month period to October 31, with the top rate at Sh50 for transfers between Sh2,501 and Sh250,000.

The number of merchants using Pochi la Biashara reached 2.1 million in the financial year ended March 2026, nearly doubling from 1.1 million a year earlier.

Safaricom launched Pochi as part of its strategy to drive the adoption of digital financial services among micro-entrepreneurs, allowing them to keep business earnings separate from personal funds in a wallet linked to their M-Pesa account.

The product was designed to address key pain points for merchants, including the mixing of personal and business funds and frustrations around customer payment reversals.

Airtel’s share of mobile money subscriptions rose to 10.9 percent in March 2026 from 9.1 percent a year earlier.

Safaricom’s dominance in mobile-money services has been diluted from a high of 98 percent.

Airtel Money credits the rise of its mobile money services, which have reached a double-digit market share, to improving customer experiences while also leveraging partnerships with businesses like KCB and Naivas to grow its agency network.

“In a nutshell, I’d say what has got us here is listening to our customers and giving them the best experiences,” added Mr Bonke.

“The current number of merchants that an Airtel Money customer can pay into is about two million. This has been brought about by partnerships that we’ve had with the various banks and other industry players. In terms of distribution, partnerships have given us a foothold in the market and have been key to our growth.”

M-Pesa has emerged as a top revenue earner for Safaricom, alongside data, voice and messaging declines.

Safaricom’s M-Pesa revenues in Kenya rose by 13.4 percent to Sh182.7 billion, anchoring the strong performance in the domestic market.

Former Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju’s second prime property is set for auction as the East African Development Bank (EADB) steps up efforts to recover a Sh4.5 billion debt arising from a loan advanced to the politician a decade ago.

Garam Investments Auctioneers said in a public notice that Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary in Karen will go under the hammer on August 25, 2026, months after another of Mr Tuju’s prime properties was sold following his default on the regional bank’s loan.

“The property is developed with an old-style but well-maintained, spacious, part double-storey, part single-storey colonial house of nine bedrooms, all ensuite,” reads part of the auction notice.

The latest auction comes after the High Court, on May 21, temporarily suspended the sale of Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary on condition that Mr Tuju deposited Sh50 million in court within 30 days.

The court also directed Mr Tuju to file an appeal challenging the planned forced sale within 60 days of the ruling. Failure to do so will result in the stay order being automatically discharged.

However, the court upheld the sale of Tuju’s other properties, Tamarind Karen and Dari Business Park, ruling that his right to rescind the transaction ended once the auction was concluded and the properties were transferred to Stabex International co-owner Jackson Kiplimo Chebett in 2024.

The regional lender sold the property to Ultra Eureka Ltd, a company owned by Stabex International Ltd co-owner Mr Chebett, for Sh450 million on October 1, 2024.

After acquiring the property, which sits on a 6.8-acre parcel of land, Ultra Eureka Limited disclosed that it charged the property’s title to Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) for a $2.5 million (Sh324 million) loan.

Mr Tuju used the property, alongside Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary, as collateral for a $9.3 million loan advanced to Dari Limited by EADB in April 2015.

At current exchange rates, the facility is equivalent to about Sh1.2 billion, but the outstanding debt has since snowballed to about Sh4.5 billion after the accumulation of interest, penalties and other charges.

Entim Sidai was originally a 94-year-old Victorian bungalow in Karen on which Tuju planned to build retirement homes in a project dubbed Karen Retirement Home.

Set on 20.2 acres, the estate combines an expansive colonial residence, resort-style amenities and a purpose-built wellness sanctuary complete with a clinic, massage parlour, restaurant and conference facilities.

Following the loan advanced by EADB on April 10, 2015, Tuju has been locked in a bruising legal battle as he struggles to prevent the empire he spent decades building from crumbling.

Retirement villas

The facility was to be advanced in two tranches, with the first, $9.3 million, earmarked for the acquisition of the 94-year-old Victorian bungalow on Tree Lane, Karen, where he planned to build luxurious retirement villas.

The second tranche-Sh294 million-was meant to facilitate the commencement of construction works.

Mr Tuju has always insisted that EADB breached their agreement when it failed to advance the second tranche of Sh294 million for the development of 30 three-bedroom maisonettes on one property and eight five-bedroom maisonettes on another.

The lender has countered that it could not disburse the money because the conditions for the second drawdown had not been met.

Among the conditions were the presentation of architects’ certificates confirming works completed within the agreed drawdown period and the provision of additional security-specifically Tuju’s property in Upper Hill.

Motorists know it as the place where long-distance trucks queue for hours, buses stop for meals, and travellers take a break before branching off to Machakos town or continuing to the Coast.

The settlement has long been defined by trailers, roadside eateries, open-air markets, budget lodges and a mosque where hundreds of truck drivers stop to pray before resuming their journeys.

Today, however, the transport stop is reinventing itself as one of the fastest-appreciating property markets on Nairobi’s eastern edge.

Driven by its strategic location on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, proximity to Machakos town and growing interest linked to Konza Technopolis, land values in Kyumbi have risen sharply over the past two decades. Pioneer landowners who bought acreage for a few hundred thousand shillings now estimate their properties are worth tens of millions.

The shift is evident a few metres from the busy junction, where Serene Park, a gated housing development, is marketing four-bedroom houses from about Sh23.4 million for cash buyers and Sh23.76 million through mortgage financing.

The homes feature landscaped gardens, spacious compounds, private parking and space for servants’ quarters – a stark contrast to the roadside trading centre that once defined the area.

For long-time residents, however, the transformation began long before developers arrived.

Community leader Dishon Matolo recalls when his parents acquired land through a shareholding scheme back in the 1970s.

“They got the land for Sh525 per share, the size of two and a half acres with a quarter elsewhere,” he says.

Back then, he recalls, Kyumbi was largely farmland with few public services.

“When we moved here, there was nothing. Even for security we relied on Machakos town. Then gradually a toll station was set up, which later became a police post. We were the first people to set up a school around the area.”

The turning point

Although his family owned the land from the 1970s, Mr Matolo settled there permanently in 2003, just before demand began accelerating. He identifies 2007 as the turning point when people started flowing into the area.

“Land prices started shooting when we had demarcation in 2007. That was when also the population started rising.”

Improved road infrastructure, Nairobi’s eastward expansion and the launch of Konza Technopolis changed how investors viewed Kyumbi.

“In 1995 the same 2.04 acres that were given as shares was selling at Sh150,000. Currently a plot along the road measuring 50 by 100 goes for not less than Sh4 million.”

Land away from the highway remains relatively cheaper but is also climbing in value.

“Away from the highway, a three-quarter acre costs Sh2 million. If today I decide to sell the land I’m having, 2.04 acres, I will not take less than Sh40 million,” Mr Matolo says.

Population growth has also created a rental market that barely existed two decades ago.

“The rentals in Kyumbi go for Sh8,000 for a bedsitter, Sh12,000 for a one-bedroom and Sh18,000 for a two-bedroom.”

While rental rates remain below Nairobi’s, early investors benefit from significantly lower land acquisition costs, improving returns on development.

Leonard Musembi is among those who entered the market before prices surged. He bought 2.04 acres in 2007 for Sh1.7 million after concluding the location had long-term potential.

“The only place that had smaller land sizes was at the market area that had been divided into 50 by 100. When Konza City was launched in 2010 the prices spiked. I have a neighbour whose land is in the far end overlooking the river, still the same size as mine but he wants to sell it for not less than Sh20 million.”

Lagging infrastructure

Despite the capital gains, he says infrastructure has not kept pace with development.

“We have the challenge of water and roads. We don’t have enough boreholes to supply the whole area.”

Many investors are still holding onto their land rather than cashing in.

“The place has really grown although there is not much infrastructure around. Most of the people who bought land around are holding it. They have not sold, divided or built on the parcel. We see many of them just come regularly for inspection.”

Others are beginning to unlock value through rental housing and commercial developments.

“Personally, part of my land I have set up to put rental houses, but I am still in the progress of building.”

The property boom is also creating opportunities for businesses serving a growing residential population.

Joel Kithuka of Wanzuu Investments says the company identified the opportunity before many retailers.

“Some few years ago we opened this business after observing a niche in this market of Kyumbi.”

The business sells household goods, electronics and kitchenware – products increasingly in demand as more homeowners move into the area.

“We observed that there is a gap in terms of household consumption items… Whatever we have is really moving, showing us a good sign.”

Since opening its first supermarket in 2021, the business has expanded to three outlets. It also operates guest accommodation, a hotel and rental retail spaces.

Accommodation costs about Sh2,000 a night, while retail spaces rent for between Sh15,000 and Sh20,000 a month, with larger units attracting around Sh50,000.

Investor Ben Mutua represents another category of buyers – those purchasing land solely for capital appreciation.

“I bought a plot here about seven years ago for Sh500,000.”

He now estimates the property could fetch nearly Sh4 million.

“Maybe in the next two or three years, if I decide to sell it, it will be about Sh10 million. I did not buy it to settle, I wanted it for speculation purposes. The area was developing very fast, being on a highway, and also being on the transport corridor, and a junction that connects Machakos and Mombasa Road.”

Speculators’ market

Interest from prospective buyers continues to grow. “I’ve got people asking me if I can sell for them. People have been coming asking, ‘Can you sell for me?’ No, I’m not selling my properties off now.”

He says more professionals working in Nairobi are choosing to build homes in Kyumbi while commuting to the capital.

“Most people are constructing their homes here, even working in Nairobi. Some use the expressway to reduce commute time.”

Yet he argues that public investment must match the pace of private capital.

“The roads are not in good condition. The county administration should take note of the growth of the town, the investment opportunities, the revenue that they can draw from this area, and offer services to the residents because the population is growing very fast.”

That mismatch between rising property values and lagging infrastructure is becoming the defining challenge for Kyumbi’s next phase of growth.

Traffic congestion has worsened as queues of trailers and tankers along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway spill onto feeder roads, slowing movement within the town. Heavy commercial traffic is also accelerating road deterioration.

For now, however, those constraints have done little to dampen investor appetite. A settlement once known primarily as a truck stop is steadily emerging as a sought-after property market, where land bought for hundreds of thousands of shillings is today commanding prices of up to Sh40 million, and where many owners still believe the biggest gains lie ahead.

Over the past decade, Africa’s sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have quietly evolved from symbolic fiscal policy instruments into some of the continent’s most consequential institutional investors and new pools of development capital.

As commodity windfalls, diversified export revenues and disciplined fiscal reforms accumulate into permanent capital pools, African SWFs are beginning to rival pension funds, insurers, and country development finance institutions in their capacity to shape long-term capital allocation.

With more than two dozen African nations now operating or legislating sovereign wealth funds, the continent is undergoing a structural shift in how public wealth is stewarded, invested and deployed for social and economic development.

Leading African SWFs increasingly separate ownership, oversight and management functions, mirroring international best practice. A governing board or council sets strategy and risk appetite, an independent management company executes investment decisions, and a supervisory or parliamentary layer ensures public accountability.

Most funds have adopted tri-partite governance models with external auditors and published annual reports, while newer entrants are building similar architecture from inception rather than retrofitting it after governance failures elsewhere on the continent.

African SWFs generally fall into three categories: stabilisation funds that smooth fiscal revenue volatility from oil, gas, or mineral exports; savings or future-generations pension funds that convert depleting natural resources into perpetual financial capital; and strategic or development funds that channel capital directly into domestic infrastructure, industrialisation and strategic sectors.

A growing number of funds are hybrid vehicles combining stabilisation, savings and strategic development mandates within a single fund or institution. Current funding sources of most African sovereign wealth funds vary by resource endowment and fiscal structure.

Hydrocarbons and mineral royalties remain the dominant source for funds while non-resource-based funds rely on privatisation proceeds, budget surpluses, state asset transfers, dividends from state-owned enterprises (SOEs), donations etc.

An emerging pattern is strategic funds being capitalised with equity stakes in leading national and strategic entities, allowing governments to professionalise the management of existing state assets without new fiscal outlays.

African SWF assets under management currently total in the region of $100 billion to $200 billion, modest by global standards but growing rapidly as new funds are established and existing ones, scale.

With resource-rich or reform-minded African states entering the SWFs space, and with strategic funds absorbing state equity portfolios, cumulative African SWF assets are plausibly positioned to exceed $500 billion by 2035, or roughly double current levels, assuming continued fiscal discipline and successful capitalization of newly legislated funds happens.

Unlike passive global peers, many African SWFs are explicitly mandated to catalyse domestic development, financing infrastructure, agriculture, housing and industrial capacity that commercial capital alone would not underwrite.

This developmental orientation allows funds to act as patient, counter-cyclical anchor investors, crowding in private and multilateral co-financing for projects with strong development returns but longer gestation periods than conventional institutional mandates permit.

As anchor investors, African SWFs are deepening domestic capital markets by participating in local bond issuances, seeding private equity and infrastructure funds, and setting governance benchmarks that other institutional investors emulate.

Their entry as sophisticated, long-horizon allocators is helping build the institutional investor base that many African capital markets have historically lacked, improving liquidity and price discovery in local currency instruments and capital markets.

Additionally African SWFs are increasingly co-investing alongside Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), blending concessional and commercial capital to de-risk large infrastructure, trade and blended finance transactions.

These partnerships give SWFs access to rigorous project preparation, risk-sharing structures, and technical assistance, while DFIs and MDBs gain a permanent, aligned domestic co-investor that strengthens the sustainability of development outcomes beyond the life of any single project.

It is worth noting that the Santiago Principles, the voluntary framework of Generally Accepted Practices and Principles for SWFs, are central to legitimising African sovereign wealth funds in the eyes of international investors, rating agencies and citizens alike.

Adherence signals commitment to transparency, sound governance, and purely economic and financial investment objectives, insulating funds from allegations of political interference and helping newer African sovereign wealth funds build the credibility needed to attract co-investment and favorable market access from day one.

A defining feature of African sovereign wealth architecture is its close relationship with central bank reserve management, since some funds are being seeded or partially capitalised from excess reserves once overall import-cover exceeds prudent adequacy thresholds under frameworks such as the IMF’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy metric.

Clear operational boundaries and coordination protocols between Central/Reserve Banks and SWFs are essential to preserve monetary stability while allowing the strategic layer of reserves to pursue higher-return and longer-horizon investment strategies.

Kenya’s passage of its Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill on July 8, 2026, positions the country well among recent African entrants, reflecting lessons learnt from earlier SWFs elsewhere on the continent.

The Bill embeds clear governance separation, defined funding sources and a three-tier mandate made up of a stabilisation fund, a strategic infrastructure fund and a future generations fund, while anchoring itself to global best practice norms of accountability, transparency and sustainability.

This design-first approach, rather than retrofitting governance after establishment, gives the upcoming Kenya’s sovereign wealth fund a credible foundation from which to attract co-investment and build long-term public trust.

Clearly, African sovereign wealth funds are transitioning from nascent fiscal buffers into consequential institutional investors capable of catalying domestic capital markets and national development outcomes.

Realising this potential fully will require continued adherence to strong governance norms, viable collaborations and sustained political commitment to insulate these funds from short-term pressures.

As more African countries launch new sovereign wealth funds, the continent stands to build a genuinely African institutional-investor-class, that is able to finance its own development on increasingly self-determined terms and style.

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data show electricity imports reached 813.94 million kilowatt-hours (kWh), or units, between January and May, surpassing wind generation of 736.8 million kWh.

This emerged in a period when Kenya has witnessed increases demand for electricity amid a freeze on new power purchase deals.

Electricity imports rose 25.1 percent from a year earlier while wind output fell 4.8 percent, according to the official data.

North-neighbouring Ethiopia drove most of the increase, exporting 675.89 million kWh to Kenya, up 29.2 percent from the corresponding period last year and accounting for more than 83 percent of imported electricity. Uganda supplied another 137.02 million kWh.

The growing role of Ethiopian electricity highlights Kenya’s increasing reliance on regional power markets as rising demand narrows the cushion between domestic electricity production and consumption.

This comes despite Kenya producing a record 5,738.61 million kWh of electricity during the five months, a 6.2 percent increase from 5,401.33 million kWh last year. The increase was largely driven by geothermal generation, which climbed 18 percent to 2,778.74 million kWh, reinforcing its position as the backbone of Kenya’s electricity system.

Hydropower generation edged up to 1,458.26 million kWh from 1,429.49 million kWh, while thermal generation fell 11.5 percent to 559.84 million kWh as reliance on costly diesel-fired plants eased.

Wind generation, however, declined to 736.8 million kWh from 774.2 million kWh, making it the only major domestic electricity source to record lower output than a year earlier.

Unlike geothermal plants that generate electricity around the clock, wind farms depend on changing wind speeds, with output fluctuating throughout the day and sometimes falling sharply when wind conditions weaken.

Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror has warned that low wind generation has repeatedly forced the near-monopoly utility to ration electricity because other generating plants cannot fully meet peak demand between 6pm and 10pm.

“There are many instances when we have been forced to load-shed the country when the wind generation is low because all the other generation sources without wind cannot serve the peak demand,” Dr Siror said earlier this year.

Rationing forces businesses to seek alternative power sources or scale down operations, underscoring its adverse impact on the economy.

Kenya Power rations electricity to avoid a trip of the network or blackouts triggered by an imbalance in supply and demand.

The wind and solar plants currently lack battery storage to store electricity generated during their peak production, when wind speeds and solar radiation are highest, triggering rationing during high consumption hours between 6 pm and 10 pm.

The drops in wind and solar generation have put pressure on local geothermal and hydro plants as well as electricity imports from Uganda and Ethiopia, forcing Kenya Power to cut off some areas to shield the grid and avoid countrywide blackouts.

He said Kenya’s installed wind capacity totals 435 megawatts, but actual generation can occasionally fall close to zero because of the intermittent nature of wind.

The resulting deficits are most pronounced during evening peak demand, when electricity consumption rises, but weak wind generation leaves the grid short of supply.

Kenya’s commercial wind fleet comprises the 310-megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Power project in Marsabit County, the 100-megawatt Kipeto Wind Power Station in Kajiado County and the 25.5-megawatt Ngong Hills Wind Farm.

Even with record local generation, electricity sales by Kenya Power climbed faster, reaching 5,249.21 million kWh, or units, between January and May from 4,754.46 million kWh a year earlier.

The surplus between local generation and Kenya Power sales narrowed to 489.4 million kWh from 646.9 million kWh, indicating that electricity demand is growing faster than domestic supply.

That shrinking margin has increased the importance of imported electricity, particularly Ethiopian hydropower, in maintaining reliable supplies during peak demand and periods of weak renewable generation.

The growing dependence on imported electricity is emerging as a strategic challenge for policymakers seeking to sustain industrialization while maintaining affordable and reliable electricity supplies.

Recognising mounting pressure on the power sector, the National Treasury has announced plans to add 10,000 megawatts of generation capacity over the next seven years through geothermal, wind, solar, hydroelectric and nuclear energy projects.

The expansion is intended to support manufacturing, agro-processing, green industrialisation, e-mobility, data centres and artificial intelligence as electricity demand continues to accelerate.

“Reliable and affordable energy supply remains central to powering manufacturing, promoting agricultural value addition, and enabling digital transformation across all sectors of the economy,” the Treasury wrote in the 2026 Budget Policy Statement in February.

The government argues Kenya’s abundant geothermal, hydro, solar and wind resources provide a strong foundation for expanding domestic generation while reducing dependence on imported electricity over the longer term.

President William Ruto has also pledged to substantially expand electricity generation and transmission infrastructure before the end of the decade to support industrial growth and the country’s digital transformation.

Kenya serves as a shining example of the fact that Africa is no longer a market of potential alone. The country is deploying a multi-alliance approach to economic growth and national security, setting it on course to make the most of the continent’s rising industrial scale, cross-border capital flows and homegrown corporate ambition.

On the sidelines of the G7 in June 2026, Kenya and the United States signed a preliminary agreement enabling the country to refine its critical mineral resources domestically.

Also in June, Kenya signed a $1.2 billion agreement with the China Road and Bridge Corporation to expand and modernise Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Several other infrastructure projects in ports, roads, rail and energy have also been announced.

A visit from French President Emmanuel Macron in May produced 11 bilateral agreements valued over $1 billion, focused mainly on transport, logistics, renewable energy and technology infrastructure.

As the East African bloc’s largest economic contributor, Kenya has also been strengthening regional ties by eliminating non-tariff barriers and increasing bilateral trade with neighbouring Tanzania.

The Dangote Group serves as an example of Africa’s tremendous corporate ambition. A measure of its scale is the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos, Nigeria, which has a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, making it Africa’s largest refinery and the world’s largest single-train refinery.

It commenced fuel production in 2024 and reportedly plans to expand capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day within 30 months. The Group is now reportedly considering investing in a new petroleum refinery in East Africa.

The Dangote Group is one example of the rise of large Pan-African corporates with the scale and sophistication to compete globally.

In the financial services sector, institutions like Standard Bank, Equity Bank, Nedbank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank and Ecobank are aggressively pursuing cross-border acquisitions and building integrated platforms that connect African economies.

In the technology sector, companies like Flutterwave and Paystack are building the digital payments infrastructure needed for cross-border transactions. Safaricom’s M-Pesa platform has transformed financial inclusion across East Africa, and Jumia continues to pioneer African e-commerce.

These are not start-ups waiting for validation, they are established enterprises generating the complex, multi-jurisdictional transactions that define a maturing market.

Development finance institutions are deploying record volumes into energy, transport and digital infrastructure. Submarine cable projects and data centre investments are expanding Africa’s digital backbone.

Cross-border rail and road projects and investments in airports, especially in East Africa, are connecting landlocked economies to regional and global markets, while renewable energy developments are opening investment opportunities across the Sahel, East and southern Africa.

Global supply chain disruption is also creating new avenues for African countries that are well positioned to benefit from changing trade and manufacturing networks.

For example, Africa holds roughly 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves, including critical minerals, and its countries are increasingly focused on developing the infrastructure needed to economically benefit from these minerals domestically, rather than exporting them in raw form.

Realising this vast potential requires that volatility be managed while improving productivity and deepening cross-border integration. The continent’s structural challenges demand urgent, workable solutions, including addressing rising debt levels, infrastructure gaps and regulatory complexity.

In this volatile market where deals increasingly span multiple jurisdictions, regulatory regimes and cultures, legal advisers must be able to contribute meaningfully to a client’s growth, not merely react to instructions.

The most successful African law firms are focused on long-term value rather than the billable hour. They are immersing themselves in their clients’ decision-making processes, specific operations, industry dynamics and market pressures.

Legal advisers must now understand both the formal legal and regulatory frameworks and informal practices of all African jurisdictions in which their clients operate. No single law firm, however large, can achieve this through remote desk research; there must be genuine on-the-ground collaboration among local firms.

This evolution also requires balancing the tension between the traditional law firm hierarchy and structure important for quality and governance, and the demand for flexibility in the workplace. Technology is facilitating these changes.

Artificial intelligence has already transformed how law firms research, draft and analyse information to improve efficiency and automate tasks. But the challenge is not simply adoption, successful integration of AI models is also essential.

This is achieved by training AI models on firm-specific data, embedding them into established workflows, and using them to enhance, not replace, critical human judgement.

While technology provides the baseline, the true differentiator will be the human capacity to read the room, build trust, form relationships and translate complex legal frameworks into strategic certainty for businesses.

Africa’s transition from a market of potential to a continent of true industrial scale demands a fundamental shift in how law firms operate.

As massive infrastructure, energy and critical mineral projects redefine the continent’s economic landscape, clients need long-term partners who understand their industry pressures, cross-border supply chains and regional ambitions.

For Africa’s potential to become a long-term strategic certainty, the true differentiators in the continent’s ‘relationships era’ will be strong partnerships built on trust, transparency and aligned incentives.

A technology firm has sued the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), seeking to block the roll out of a digital cargo pre-arrival declaration system amid claims of ‘copycat’ of a similar idea it had shared with the tax agency.

The tech company, Greenworld Big Data Limited, seeks urgent orders blocking the implementation of the Advance Cargo Declaration (ACD) customs platform from August 3, 2026, pending determination of the suit.

Alternatively, the company wants the court to compel KRA to pay it an ongoing royalty equal to 30 per cent of all revenue, gains, cost savings and efficiencies generated by the ACD platform if the tax authority is allowed to continue operating it.

The new ACD platform by KRA is a mandatory digital pre-arrival system requiring a 15-digit alphanumeric reference code for all containerised sea cargo destined for Kenyan ports before loading at the point of origin.

The company claims the taxman copied its proprietary cargo management system after the company shared the idea three years ago.

Court papers show KRA initiated its ACD system after receiving detailed presentations from the company about a similar programme dubbed the Advanced Cargo Information Declaration (ACID) platform in 2023.

Greenworld Big Data Limited alleged that KRA adopted key elements of the technology it presented to it in 2023 without its consent or compensation.

The company says the ACID platform was designed to digitise cargo movement by sea, air, rail and road, and to curb under-declaration and under-valuation of imports. The platform was also designed to improve cargo visibility before arrival, and recover an estimated Sh826 billion lost annually through revenue leakages.

It also says the system could save the government more than Sh23 billion in technology costs and generate an additional Sh150 billion annually through more accurate trade data, according to documents filed in court.

Greenworld Big Data Limited and its founder and director, Jacob Munene, filed the suit against KRA and the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning.

The plaintiffs say they independently conceived, designed and developed the ACID platform before approaching KRA in 2023 to market the technology. KRA and the National Treasury had not filed responses in the documents before the court at the time of publishing this article.

According to the court documents, the plaintiffs say they wrote to the then Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning, Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, more than once as part of their efforts to secure government adoption of the ACID platform.

The company engaged KRA officers between March 13 and August 15, 2023 through meetings, emails and presentations after conducting what it described as a forensic analysis of weaknesses within Kenya’s cargo handling and customs systems.

One of the key meetings took place at KRA headquarters on May 24, 2023.

The company says Mr Munene and fellow director Thomas Ngunyi presented the platform to nine senior KRA officials, chaired by James Ndege (a KRA Customs official), while Levison Kibet recorded the official minutes.

The affidavit claims the presentation disclosed “module by module, the entire architecture of the ACID System,” including the Big Data Hub, cargo consolidation, vessel manifest management, e-vessel booking, dashboard modules, inland cargo systems, smart gate technology, truck monitoring and satellite intelligence.

The company says KRA’s own minutes recorded that the presentation “highly impressed the members” and that the ACID system “is highly recommended by members through various user modifications.”

It says KRA officials also proposed another “technical team engagement” to “delve into the details of the ACID system and its solutions.”

Greenworld says communication then stopped. The company says KRA neither licensed the technology nor compensated it after receiving the detailed proposal.

Court papers show that the company wrote again on August 15, 2023, seeking a further 30-minute meeting with the Cabinet Secretary to explain the proposal, but never received a response.

The legal dispute emerged on July 14, 2026, when KRA issued a public notice announcing the rollout of its Advance Cargo Declaration (ACD) platform for all containerised cargo entering Kenya through its ports.

The tax authority said exporters would obtain an ACD reference code after uploading a draft bill of lading, commercial invoice, freight invoice and export declaration before cargo departed for Kenya.

The notice was addressed to all importers, exporters shipping goods to Kenya, ship owners, carriers, shipping agents, customs agents, and relevant stakeholders.

Greenworld argues that the similarities between the two systems extend beyond the names.

It says both platforms require cargo declarations before shipment leaves the port of origin, and generate shipment reference codes linked to bills of lading.

Both also rely on centralised digital processing, target importers, exporters, shipping agents and customs authorities, and seek to improve customs risk assessment while reducing revenue leakage.

“The striking similarity of the system is so resounding both in expression and system operation to the ACID System pitched to the Authority in 2023, including even the name that it only excludes the ‘I’ for Information,” the company states.