Category: Business Daily

As the public debate over Finance Bill 2026 rages, the loudest arguments are predictably about numbers – whether a 25 percent excise duty is too high, or whether a particular VAT reclassification is justified. But the real crisis facing Kenya’s economy is not the mathematics. It is the volatility of the tax code itself.

The greatest single factor responsible for scarcity of foreign investment in Kenya is the insensate instability of its tax laws and incentive regimes. The central question every investor asks is this: if I start a business on the strength of the tax incentives proposed in this year’s budget, can I be confident that the framework on which I built my investment will still be the law when production begins

In defending the proposed 25 percent excise tax on mobile devices, the National Treasury argues it is simply simplifying the code – collapsing a 55 percent cumulative stack of import fees, levies, and VAT into a single, clean tariff triggered at device activation. On paper, it sounds elegant. In practice, it operates as an asymmetric shock to the very domestic industries the state spent the last three years trying to build.

When local assembly plants such as M-KOPA and East Africa Device Assembly Kenya (EADAK) were established under the Finance Act 2022, they were granted zero-rated VAT status. That policy signal was an invitation: invest millions in capital, hire thousands of Kenyan youth, build local supply chains, and the state will allow you to reclaim input costs to keep smartphones affordable for the low-income consumer.

Finance Bill 2026 effectively tears up that contract. There is no difference between a tax-evading citizen and a promise-evading government.

By shifting locally assembled phones to ‘VAT-exempt,’ assemblers can no longer reclaim those input costs.

Instead of a tax break, local factories must absorb embedded costs on electricity, components, and assembly, while simultaneously facing a significant liquidity drain through the mandatory reversal of previously claimed VAT on existing inventory.

The damage runs deeper than broken promises. The Bill introduces a structural imbalance that defies the logic of industrialisation: imported finished smartphones are granted exemptions from the Import Declaration Fee and the Railway Development Levy, while the raw components imported by local factories to assemble those same phones are not.

When the law treats a fully built import more favourably than a raw component destined for domestic manufacturing, something has gone fundamentally wrong. It creates an environment where formal, compliant sector players are penalised for their visibility, while the informal grey market and smuggled devices thrive in the shadows.

For a consumer purchasing an entry-level smartphone on a financing model, an unannounced 25 percent excise duty combined with trapped VAT is not a minor policy adjustment. It is the difference between accessing mobile banking and being locked entirely out of the formal economy.

There is an old adage in economics: the best tax is an old tax. It is not a defence of outdated systems, but a recognition of a psychological truth – businesses can adapt to almost any rate, provided that rate holds still long enough to build a factory around.

When policy becomes a moving target, businesses stop investing in long-term infrastructure, hiring permanent staff, or funding local research and development. Instead, they price a ‘policy risk premium’ into everything they do – or worse, they relocate to jurisdictions where a promise made in 2023 still holds weight in 2026.

A predictable tax environment is not merely good economics; it is a cornerstone of fairness. When rules change annually, the state signals to investors – domestic and foreign alike – that their capital is hostage to the shifting pressures of the exchequer’s cash flow.

If Parliament wishes to protect the long-term health of the economy, it must anchor tax policy in stability, not seasonal experimentation. Wielding the tax code like a thermostat – cranking it up and down to meet immediate revenue targets – ultimately breaks the dial.

We cannot tax our way into a digital economy if we keep changing the rules of the road every four or five years. The proposed changes targeting the local mobile phone assembly industry are a textbook example of how policy unpredictability destroys economic gains faster than any market downturn.

A stable, predictable tax code that holds constant for a decade will always generate more revenue and more progress than a higher, volatile rate that collapses the very industry it seeks to tax. Fairness is not just about what the State collects. It is about giving those who invest the courtesy of a stable horizon

Three painters, disgruntled by the bureaucratic eccentricities of the traditional art scene, joined brushes together to form a collective pact that would come to be known as Brush Tu, loosely translated ‘just keep on painting.’

Through Brush Tu, they set out to develop and nurture young artists not only on the craft but in the business of art, ensuring that creativity could also become a sustainable livelihood.

At the Circle Art Gallery this week, the exhibition Handle With Care brings together the three founders of Brush Tu: Boniface Maina, David Thuku and Michael Musyoka. While style, technique and skill are fundamentally at play as would be expected of veteran painters, what audiences will relish is the sheer diversity of works on display. Experience, here, feels entirely at home.

Boniface admits that Brush Tu wasn’t formed with the aim of becoming a collective. It started as a common studio shared by painters eager to put their mark in the art scene in the region. But with time, more young artists who were hungry and eager for a platform to learn and show their work joined.

‘Formed in 2013, it was not until 2016 that we realised our numbers had grown and that we were slowly morphing into what could be considered a collective, which wasn’t what we had envisioned in the first place. It became a place where we could also focus on the business side of art, something that has long been ignored in traditional art spaces for practising artists,’ he says.

Before Brush Tu came into place, the founding artists all had their individual practices ongoing. Michael was a specialist in commissioned murals for households and public spaces, David was doing stage designs and backdrops for drama festivals across the country while Boniface was a painter.

Through collaborative projects, they identified and brought on board talented young artists whose skills enriched the collective’s growing network.

In the show, Boniface’s work of oil on canvas distinctively stands out not because of the medium used but because of his unique style of layering oil mosaics to create distinctive human figures.

His grotesque subjects have a distinct beauty to them but besides the precise layering of oil patterns, it is his application of shade, colour and transparency.

In Handle With Care, Boniface’s contribution is a compelling exploration of both colour and figuration. Viewed collectively, the works feel like a signature style reaching maturity – a body of work beginning to outlive its maker.

His recurring motif of glass, visible throughout many of his paintings, captures softness and vulnerability while simultaneously lending his subjects clarity, resilience and sharp focus.

‘Over time, my work has changed from commenting on society in general to exploring human personality from an individual perspective. My current works are a departure from political commentary. Human figures remain central to my expression, but they have taken on a different appearance. Since 2016, my focus has been on deconstructing the human figure into a more transparent, basic and disfigured form. What you see now is the result of a 10-year journey focused on deconstructing the human body from the inside out.’

He adds: ‘I have a fascination with human anatomy especially when it comes to the muscle structure, so I started making my figures to resemble this as a form of expression.’

Michael’s work on the other hand moves inward, to the psychological and moral realm. The image of the clown transcends his body of work which is said to confront the contradictions between inner truth and outward behaviour.

His work exposes the porous boundary between virtue and vice, sincerity and performance, suggesting that identity itself can become a role shaped by the expectations of others.

Here, survival is entangled with compromise, and the cost of belonging is measured against the erosion of self. His works carry with them the poignancy of looking at images sketched on an old paperback and by nature of their appearance and outlook, divine and infinite. There is a timelessness to his murals that is soft and gentle but also carefully abrasive.

David uses paper as both medium and metaphor, constructing intricate, layered subjects mirroring the complexity of human experience. His fragmented figures inhabit spaces that feel both comforting and strange, where ease is temporary and belonging is never fixed.

Working primarily through papercut techniques, his practice is a display of remarkable dexterity. It isn’t just about the stories he is telling but the delicate nature in which he is able to have different trajectories narrow down on a theme with ease. The exhibition ends on May 29.

The death of at least 16 students after a fire ripped through a dormitory at the Utumishi Girls Senior School has renewed concern about fire safety in Kenyan schools, with insurers raising alarm over the prevalent risks.

The fire broke out just after midnight at the girls’ boarding school in Gilgil, Nakuru and burned for more than two hours, said Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos.

Authorities said the cause of the fire had not been established by on Thursday, though some students suspected of arson were detained by police. At least 97 other students were injured in the fire, which was contained by 3am.

The safety breaches including absence of valuation of assets like dormitories and budget constraints, have seen schools struggle to tap insurance against fire.

In a recent industry assessment, AKI also identified improper financial documentation as a barrier to coverage, making it difficult for insurers to design suitable covers.

The findings have exposed the growing difficulty schools face in securing comprehensive fire insurance despite recurrent dormitory blazes that lead to deaths, injuries and massive property losses.

‘Many schools lack basic safety infrastructure such as fire extinguishers, perimeter fencing, and accessible emergency exits. In addition, some fail to maintain updated asset registers, staff lists, and other critical records,’ noted AKI.

‘This inadequate documentation complicates underwriting, pricing, and claim processing, and increases insurers’ exposure.’

The government-owned Utumishi Girls Senior School is managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service. Many of the students are the daughters of police officers.

The victims had not yet been identified at the time of going to press, a source of anger and frustration for some of the parents who gathered at the scene.

Dozens were still waiting to confirm their children were not among the victims of the fire.

Fires at schools have been a cause of concern for education officials, with classrooms and dormitories often crowded and no firefighting equipment in place. Officials sometimes cite poor electrical connections as sparking blazes.

The failure to follow safety guidelines, such as keeping exits clear and windows unlocked, has frequently been blamed for the high number of casualties and has emerged as a concern for insurers.

The latest deadly blaze came after a string of other fires at Kenya’s boarding schools.

In 2024, 21 children died when a fire ripped through the dormitory of Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, housing over 300 students.

In 2017, 10 students died in a fire at Moi Girls’ School in Nairobi.

Kenya’s deadliest such blaze occurred in 2001, when students set fire to Kyanguli Secondary School in Machakos, killing 67 of their colleagues, according to a 2016 report by a government-appointed investigation team.

The recurring incidents have triggered public outrage and legal battles over accountability and compensation.

Insurers say that underwriting assessments for schools focus on key risk factors that include the age and design of buildings, dormitory occupancy capacity, fire escape routes, proximity to emergency response services, as well as general housekeeping and safety management practices.

Schools failing in such inspections either attract significantly higher premiums or struggle to secure adequate fire protection cover from insurers wary of mounting claims exposure.

‘Before insurance cover can be extended, insurers typically require schools to demonstrate compliance with essential fire safety and risk mitigation measures,’ Lenard Chirchir, the Britam General Insurance chief operating officer, told the Business Daily.

‘Schools with strong risk management frameworks and proven safety standards generally attract more favourable insurance terms and pricing.’

For an institution that fully complies with the required safety standards, Britam says the risk profile would be standard, with premiums ranging from 0.15 percent to 0.375 percent of the building value.

‘However, insurance pricing will still vary depending on factors such as the replacement value of the building, geographical location, occupancy levels, construction materials used, and the scope of cover required,’ said Mr Chirchir.

Insurers rely on professional valuation reports to determine the replacement cost of buildings and property, but many schools either lack updated records or use outdated estimates prepared years earlier.

This has given rise to underinsurance, which occurs when the declared value of insured assets falls below the real market replacement cost, exposing institutions to major financial shortfalls after catastrophic losses.

Industry data shows many schools also struggle to meet annual insurance premiums due to shrinking capitation allocations, delayed fee payments by parents and rising operational expenses.

This has pushed some institutions to either take partial coverage, delay renewals or avoid comprehensive fire insurance altogether, leaving critical infrastructure exposed to catastrophic losses.

The government has in recent years issued multiple directives requiring schools to improve dormitory spacing and emergency exits, as well as firefighting equipment, following previous fatal fire incidents.

Enforcement has, however, remained inconsistent, with many institutions struggling to finance costly infrastructure upgrades amid growing pressure on education budgets.

The insurance industry notes that many schools still approach fire insurance as a compliance requirement rather than a risk management tool tied to infrastructure and student safety.

Ever sat at that massive deck at English Point Marina when the raucous band isn’t playing and just stared out across the channel without blinking? Because if you blink you might miss something happening across Mombasa Old Town, aged and elegant like a wealthy weathered old woman, adorned with jewellery, lore and secrets.

There is nothing going to happen across Old Town. Because it’s night. The muezzin has already called out the faithful. There is no movement to be seen from the deck. Just lights. Some blinking. And the great invitation of imagination.

I sat at the Deck Bar recently, nursing a post-dinner Fernet-Branca, turned my chair and faced Mombasa Old Town and imagined the lives there. Families living in ancient buildings with shaded verandahs, timber railings and carved balconies.

Courtyards where old men were probably sitting, drinking coffee from small cups as the sound of children spilled out of wooden shutter windows, now open. Men in the streets frying cassava. Teenagers in kanzus wandering aimlessly, looking for what teenagers look for.

Clutches of young girls in buibui walking home, carrying bread or milk, giggling, ignoring the teenagers who are also ignoring them. Forgotten laundry on lines strung across flat rooftops, still in the still warmth of the evening. The smell of cardamom, samosas, coconut rice.

The air at the Deck Bar is warm and occasionally a cool breeze laps at your cheeks. I wondered – rather childishly – why I don’t have a friend in Mombasa Old Town. I want a friend in Old Town. Someone who, when I’m in town, I can sit with on a baraza in the evening, drink sweetened coffee with and ask how things are going.

And maybe, I continued engaging this preposterous fantasy, that person was right at this moment sitting around a big tray with their brothers or sisters, wife, cousins, eating rice with their hands. I sighed, drained my drink and went up to bed.

Eagle-eyed fans of European Champions League football may have noted an unusual coincidence during this season’s semi-finals, pitting Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid against Arsenal.

Visit Rwanda sponsors all four clubs’ sleeves, training shirts, perimeter boards, and backgrounds. The remarkable coincidence will be repeated in the finals, which have been called the Visit Rwanda Derby. Additionally, Arsenal are the Premier League winners after a 22-year journey, and will hoist the trophy while donning Visit Rwanda.

This is not a mistake; rather, it is the Rwanda Development Board’s planned drive to encourage tourism and foreign direct investment through commercial diplomacy.

Commercial diplomacy, as opposed to more traditional kinds of diplomacy, focuses on business and economic concerns and the Visit Rwanda trademark on football shirts is a crucial component of that commercial diplomacy. The Rwandan government considers Visit Rwanda to be a kind of tourism advertising.

Similar to a billboard, the goal is that those who follow these football clubs would see the tagline and, consciously or unconsciously, think about Rwanda.

However, Rwanda’s skeptics have pointed out that as a low-income country that still relies on foreign aid,and should not be spending money to help European football clubs. However, one thing these critics ignore is that, these sponsorships are investments yielding substantial returns for Kigali.

Welcome to the complex realm of nation-branding, which refers to how countries intentionally shape and manage their worldwide reputation in order to attract tourists, investment, talent, and influence. It is an effective summary of a country’s intangible competitive assets: its vision, intellect, distinct character, people, and promise to the market.

The concept is associated with the existence of a “great global market” in which nations, cities, and regions strive to attract the most visitors, investors, customers, students, events, and so on. Think about phrases such as ‘German engineering’ or ‘Italian design’, they simply show how reputation adds value in global markets.

And nation branding is inextricably tied to soft power; countries with strong cultural and moral appeal find it simpler to form coalitions and drive global agendas.

As a result, without a strong and favourable reputation or nation-brand, no country can constantly compete for customers, visitors, investors, immigrants, as well as the respect and attention of other nations and the international media. Evidently, the sheer existence of a country will not attract tourists or investment; individuals must be given compelling reasons to choose to do business with that country.

Nation branding is built on six interconnected dimensions that shape a country’s global image: governance perceptions of political stability; transparency and global responsibility; reputation of exported national products and services; attractiveness of natural, cultural and urban tourist destinations; investment and immigration; culture and heritage and finally, its people stereotypes and direct experiences with citizens. Together, these elements explain why nation branding is intricate and cannot be reduced to a single campaign or message.

Building a nation’s brand is a deliberate long-term process that needs collaboration among governments, companies, cultural institutions and civil society.

It normally begins with an analysis of current views, stereotypes and worldwide reputation, followed by identification of fundamental values, identities and distinctions. This is followed by selecting messages and channels that are suited to important audiences, as well as gradually aligning policies, activities, and communications. One of the most difficult problems is maintaining continuity. Successful nation branding often transcends political cycles and becomes long-term state policy rather than short-term marketing campaigns.

And, in a world where small states compete for the ear of audiences who are not familiar with them, national brand is identity made tangible, robust, communicable and useful. A good nation brand provides a significant competitive advantage and is the single most valuable piece of intellectual property that any nation owns. Knowing how to maintain, develop, and use this asset is critical for transforming emerging nations’ intangible capital into economic progress.

In a nutshell, nation branding ensures a faster and surer return on investment which countries, their donors and foreign investors are making In their development. In a society driven by capitalism, it is tempting to infer that true competitive advantage can only be obtained by economic, political, or military might.

However, as in any busy marketplace, there is room on the global stage for brands that play by slightly different rules; there is room for niche brands and brands that compete primarily on cultural excellence rather than economic muscle, as Rwanda has demonstrated, and maybe, just maybe, Magical Kenya can burrow a tip!

I and M Group saw its staff count rise by 355 last year as the Kenyan banking multinational accelerated its regional expansion strategy, with most of the new jobs added in Kenya.

According to the lender’s latest annual report, staff numbers rose to 3,601 in the year ended December 2025 from 3,246 the previous year.

‘Workforce expansion grew by 11 percent to 3,601, supported by branch network growth and digital transformation, while employee engagement improved by three percent to 81 percent,’ the company said in the report.

The lender’s permanent staff rose to 2,995 from 2,682 a year earlier. The company added 258 jobs in Kenya alone, increasing its workforce in its largest market to 2,094 from 1,836.

Retail push

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed bank has continued to aggressively expand its retail banking business through new branches and additional staff.

‘The Retail and Business Banking (RBB) segment demonstrated strong momentum anchored in customer-centric innovation, network expansion and data-enabled product development,’ the lender said.

Customer numbers grew by 33 percent to 965,940, partly driven by the expansion of the lender’s distribution network, which aided the acquisition of new clients.

‘Our focus on expanding alternative channels led to notable improvements in customer acquisition and engagement through digital platforms… the Group customer base grew by 33 percent to 965,940 customers, underpinning increased deposit stability supported by improved cash management and a growing retail franchise,’ the company added.

During the review period, I and M added 12 new branches, bringing its total network to 119 outlets and strengthening its footprint across regional markets.

The lender opened 10 new branches in Kenya alongside initiatives aimed at empowering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

I and M has also strengthened its retail banking appeal through free bank-to-M-Pesa and Airtel Money transfers for individual customers.

Regional growth

In Tanzania, the group added 37 employees, bringing the total staff count to 234, while in Uganda it added 12 employees to reach 318 at the end of the year.

In Rwanda, the lender added 44 employees and four in Mauritius, bringing staff numbers in the two markets to 529 and 426 respectively.

I and M posted a 20.2 percent jump in net profit in the first three months of the year to Sh4.7 billion, driven by higher interest income.

The lender’s net income rose from Sh3.9 billion a year earlier as revenues from loans increased while the cost of funds remained flat.

Net interest income rose 31.1 percent to Sh12.2 billion from Sh9.3 billion as payments to depositors held steady at Sh6.1 billion.

Total interest income increased by 19.4 percent to Sh8.4 billion from Sh5.4 billion, supported by higher revenues from loans and advances and government securities, which stood at Sh11 billion and Sh6.6 billion respectively.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is pushing for countries in Africa to move away from country-specific projects to cross-border developments if they are to realise their full economic potential.

AFC president and CEO Samaila Zubairu spoke to the Business Daily on the biggest opportunities that can unlock economic integration in economic blocs such as the East African Community and how to address challenges such as funding constraints.

Like many African countries, Kenya faces rising debt constraints. How is AFC repositioning itself to finance large-scale infrastructure for such nations without worsening their sovereign debt risks?

We have to move beyond the assumption that infrastructure finance must sit primarily on sovereign balance sheets. That model is too narrow, and in many cases too expensive.

AFC’s approach is to structure projects so that risk is shared across project cashflows, private capital, development finance institutions and, increasingly, domestic institutional capital. The objective is to mobilise capital without compounding sovereign debt vulnerabilities.

At InfraCredit in Nigeria, alongside our partners, we have created what effectively is a trust platform enabling the channelling of institutional capital into the real economy. This is a key intermediation role which we facilitate via the provision of credit enhancement products and guarantees.

A clear example of how AFC is putting this into practice in Kenya is our recent investment in the Dhamana Guarantee Company, which aims to replicate the InfraCredit model.

At a high level, this means we can now catalyse the development of bankable projects, using guarantees and credit enhancement where appropriate, and helping African governments create frameworks that attract long-term investment into infrastructure as an asset class.

Kenya is well positioned because it combines strong infrastructure opportunity, with deep domestic savings and a sophisticated financial sector.

Can you outline specific projects you are currently eyeing in Kenya, and how large your current war chest is for the market?

Kenya is a strategic priority for AFC, which is why we have established our first regional office in Nairobi and announced at The Africa We Build Summit a target to deploy and mobilise over $1 billion (Sh129.5 billion) across the EAC in the next three to five years. That includes opportunities linked to logistics, industrial and financing platforms aligned with Kenya’s broader development priorities.

Beyond the direct investment, we are focused on building platforms that can mobilise larger pools of capital into Kenya over time, including domestic institutional investors.

Africa’s regional blocs like the EAC will deliver their full economic potential through cross-border infrastructure and shared value chains. Where does AFC see the biggest opportunities to unlock this integration, particularly in East Africa?

East Africa’s economic potential is impeded by fragmentation, even though the region has Africa’s highest levels of intra-regional trade. Grids, industries and value chains could benefit from better economies of scale if these were unlocked at a regional level. The path is to stop building standalone national assets and build along a shared infrastructure model.

At AFC, we see three key areas where a shift along these lines would have the greatest impact.

The first is power. Cross-border trade within the East Africa Power Pool reached roughly 2.95 TWh in 2025 – a milestone, but well below what regional industrialisation requires. The region is suited to benefit from regional power trading given that it has Africa’s most diverse endowment of clean energy resources.

The second is shared value chains in refining and processing. During the recent Summit, Dangote Industries committed to a 650 kbpd refinery in Tanga, Tanzania. Finally, transport. The Northern Corridor holds another structural opportunity – the under-construction SGR link between Naivasha, Malaba and Kampala.

Until it is operational, long-haul inland trade still leans on trucking and deteriorated metre-gauge rail. Completing the link would cut transport costs and transit times on the corridor’s highest-traffic stretch.

There is an argument that Africa is not capital-poor but capital-trapped, with over $4 trillion in domestic pools. What concrete steps is AFC taking to unlock pension and insurance funds for infrastructure at scale?

I believe that is fundamentally correct. Africa does not lack capital. The challenge is that too much of it is not yet intermediated into long-term productive assets. Domestic mobilisation has so far largely supported short-term instruments like domestic bills with maturity below one-year, high nominal yields for governments and low real returns for investors.

Our focus is to create investable platforms and instruments that meet the requirements of pension funds and insurers – whether through credit enhancement, local-currency structures, pooled investment vehicles or partnerships that allow institutional capital to participate without absorbing early-stage project risk.

This is central to the thesis we advanced at the recent summit: that African capital must play a leading role in financing Africa’s infrastructure. Vehicles such as Dhamana are important because they help create the kind of credit enhancement architecture needed to mobilise domestic institutional capital at scale.

To what extent is insurance, particularly political risk and credit guarantees, the missing link in unlocking private capital for Africa’s infrastructure projects?

They are not the only answer, but they are a critical part of the solution. Many investors are not unwilling to invest in African infrastructure; they are constrained by risk frameworks.

Instruments such as political risk insurance, guarantees and credit enhancement help bridge that gap by improving credit quality and making projects investable.

High cost of capital remains a major barrier. How is AFC using instruments like guarantees, structured finance and innovative ratings to de-risk projects and make them investable?

Our model has long been to develop, de-risk and distribute. That means bringing projects to bankability through structuring, guarantees, blended finance, local-currency solutions and strong risk management, and then crowding in wider pools of capital. Our credit strength and ratings also matter, because they support access to capital on competitive terms and help lower financing costs that can be passed through into projects.

With volatile African currencies and risk of delayed payments, how is AFC mitigating forex risk for long-term infrastructure investments in countries like Kenya?

Foreign-exchange risk remains one of the defining issues in infrastructure finance. We address this through careful structuring, local-currency financing where possible, hedging, sustainable revenue design, guarantees and strong counterparties.

But over the long term, the deeper answer is to finance more African infrastructure with African capital, in instruments and currencies that better match project revenues. That is not just a risk-management objective. It is part of building stronger financial foundations for growth.

Globeleq has delayed linking its 35 megawatt (MW) plant to the national grid, in what looks set to derail efforts to ease supply constraints that have triggered power rationing.

The British clean energy firm targeted to start supplying electricity to Kenya Power on trial basis this month, ahead of full commissioning of the plant next month. But this has since been delayed over undisclosed reasons.

Electricity from the $117 million (Sh15.15 billion) plant in Menengai is key to easing hitches that have forced Kenya Power to ration supplies especially in the evening when demand peaks.

Kenya Power recently revealed that it is forced to ration supply between 1830hours and 2200hours (peak demand period) due to a deficit created by the near zero generation from wind plants and lack of supply from the solar plants.

‘We had expected them to finalise the connection in May but there has been a slight delay due to unexpected challenges,’ Stephen Busieney, acting Managing Director of Geothermal Development Company (GDC) told this publication without explaining the specific issues that have delayed the commencement of the power supply.

GDC is contractually required to supply the steam that Globeleq and two other power producers use to generate electricity at the Menengai geothermal reservoir. Failure to meet this attracts penalties.

Read: GDC targets private firm to build 10MW power plants

Globeleq, OrPower 22 and Sosian Energy, which is owned by the family of the late President Daniel Moi have been contracted to build geothermal plants at Menengai, each with a capacity of 35MW.

OrPower 22 and Sosian Energy have both completed their plants and are currently supplying electricity to Kenya Power. OrPower 22 started supplying electricity in April this year while Sosian started in June 2023.

The plants by Globeleq and OrPower 22, in addition to the 63MW Olkaria 1 which is currently being upgraded are key to increasing geothermal power, which is the baseload in the national grid. Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) is upgrading the Olkaria I plant to increase its capacity by 18MW to 63MW. The plant has been out of service since 2023 when it was shut down ahead of the rehabilitation works.

OrPower 22, Globeleq and Olkaria 1 are expected to inject 133MW of geothermal to the grid, significantly boosting Kenya Power’s efforts to avert widespread rationing amid a fast-rising demand. The Menengai plant is Globeleq’s second in Kenya after the 52 Megawatt peak (MWp) solar plant in Malindi which has been operational since 2021.

The forced rationing has made it critical to boost electricity supply, with Kenya Power banking on three new geothermal plants, among them the one owned by Globeleq, to ease the woes.

Peak demand (the highest point of electricity usage within 24 hours) jumped six times last year alone, signaling the surge in demand which has piled pressure on Kenya Power. The current peak demand of 2,439.06MW was recorded on December 4, 2025 , pointing to the impact of increased connections and usage of electricity.

Kenya Power has not signed any new Power Purchase Agreement since the freeze on these deals was lifted in November last year. This means that the utility faces a wait of at least two years to onboard a new power plant.

Fifteen years ago, ‘Africa Rising’ became the phrase that dominated investor roadshows and development forums. It was compelling and aspirational, but for many Africans, it often felt like a story being told from the outside looking in. The growth numbers were real, but ownership of the narrative was less certain.

What is happening now feels fundamentally different. Across boardrooms, industries, and policy circles, African business leaders are no longer waiting to be invited to the growth conversation. They are driving it. More importantly, they have skin in the game. There is a level of urgency, conviction, and accountability emerging among this generation of leaders that feels less like rhetoric and more like responsibility.

At the annual Africa CEO Forum held in Kigali last week, there was a palpable sense that the continent has moved beyond simply talking about potential. The mood was more grounded. More practical. This is not optimism for headlines. It is optimism backed by execution.

The question is no longer whether Africa will rise. Africa has risen. The real question is what scaling looks like and whether we are prepared to do what scaling demands.

One of the clearest takeaways from the discussions is that fragmentation remains one of Africa’s most expensive holdbacks. Layered approvals, inconsistent regulations, and protectionist instincts continue to undermine the scale the continent urgently requires. Alignment is not the surrender of sovereignty. It is what makes scale possible.

No economy has industrialised meaningfully without roads, ports, energy infrastructure, and digital connectivity. These are not supporting features of growth. They are the foundation on which growth stands. Integration cannot remain a legal framework on paper. Goods, services, capital, and people must be able to move more efficiently across borders if the continent is serious about building a truly interconnected commercial ecosystem. The same logic applies to industrialisation.

Africa holds more than 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves and produces significant volumes of agricultural commodities, yet much of this value still leaves the continent in raw form. Every unprocessed cocoa bean exported is value exported. Every barrel refined elsewhere represents jobs, skills, and industrial capability built in another economy instead of our own.

Recent global supply chain disruptions made one thing clear: resilience is built through productive capacity. Therefore, industrialisation is no longer an aspirational talking point. It is an economic imperative.

The framework for deeper integration exists through the African Continental Free Trade Area. The challenge now is implementation. Fragmented markets limit investment appetite. Integrated markets fundamentally change the proposition. A continent of more than a billion people with a growing middle class is not a marginal story. It is one of the most significant commercial opportunities in the world.

Ultimately, scaling is not the absence of crisis. It is the decision, often in the middle of a crisis, to build systems, industries, and institutions resilient enough to survive beyond a single partnership, a single commodity, or a single political cycle.

Africa has risen. That chapter is written. What comes next will be defined by whether we have the discipline, courage, and coordination required to scale.

That is the work before African leaders now. Not to wait for the conditions for scale to arrive, but to create them deliberately through coordinated capital, aligned policy, infrastructure investment, industrialisation, and meaningful integration.

Few stories capture that reality more clearly than that of Maryanne Musangi and HACO Industries. When she took over the business founded by her father, the late Chris Kirubi, she inherited a company heavily reliant on a single partnership through the manufacturing of Bic pens. For decades, that one line carried the bulk of the company’s revenue. Until it didn’t.

When the partnership ended, the vulnerability of dependence was exposed almost overnight.

What followed is the real lesson. Ms Musangi did not simply mourn the loss. She questioned the structure that allowed one relationship to carry so much weight in the first place. The crisis became an opportunity to rebuild differently. HACO diversified its production lines, expanded supply chain partnerships beyond East Africa, and entered new markets with a clarity that only comes from surviving near collapse.

That story mirrors Africa’s own challenge.

For too long, much of the continent has operated within narrow dependencies. Exporting raw commodities. Relying heavily on external financing. Anchoring growth on singular partnerships and extractive arrangements. The moment one lifeline disappears, the weakness of that model becomes impossible to ignore.

The same spirit of skin in the game is visible in what Aliko Dangote is attempting across the continent. After building Africa’s largest refinery in Nigeria, Mr Dangote is now looking to replicate that scale in East Africa through a proposed multi billion dollar refinery project that could reshape the region’s energy landscape.

Reports indicate that Kenya is emerging as the preferred location because of the scale of the market, the depth of Mombasa port, and the strategic opportunity to reduce East Africa’s dependence on imported refined fuel.

What makes the Dangote story significant is not simply the size of the investment. It is the philosophy behind it. At a time when many conversations about Africa still centre on extraction, short term capital, and imported solutions, Dangote is placing long term industrial bets on the continent itself. Refineries, fertiliser plants, cement factories, logistics infrastructure. These are not symbolic investments. They are infrastructure designed to shift productive capacity back into African economies.

That is what scaling looks like in practice. Not waiting for perfect conditions. Not outsourcing belief in the continent. But deploying capital, taking risk, and building assets that outlast political cycles and market sentiment.

Another recurring theme across conversations in Kigali, was capital and, more specifically, the paradox surrounding it.

Africa does not necessarily suffer from a lack of capital. African pension funds and institutional investors control significant pools of money. The challenge is coordination. Currency volatility, fragmented regulations, short term investment thinking, and weak cross border trust continue to slow the deployment of long term capital into infrastructure and industrial projects.

The issue is not simply supply. It is alignment.

Infrastructure, industrialisation, and regional integration require patience. The returns may not appear in a single quarter, but they fundamentally reshape economies over decades. African institutional investors increasingly need to see strategic deployment of capital not as charity, but as commercial foresight.

The solution to Africa’s financing gap will not come exclusively from outside the continent. Much of it will come from coordinating and unlocking the capital already within it.However, capital without policy coherence is ambition without structure.

One of the clearest takeaways from the discussions, is that fragmentation remains one of Africa’s most expensive hold backs. Layered approvals, inconsistent regulations, and protectionist instincts continue to undermine the scale the continent urgently requires. Alignment is not the surrender of sovereignty. It is what makes scale possible.

No economy has industrialised meaningfully without roads, ports, energy infrastructure, and digital connectivity. These are not supporting features of growth. They are the foundation on which growth stands. Integration cannot remain a legal framework on paper. Goods, services, capital, and people must be able to move more efficiently across borders if the continent is serious about building a truly interconnected commercial ecosystem.The same logic applies to industrialisation.

Africa holds more than 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves and produces significant volumes of agricultural commodities, yet much of this value still leaves the continent in raw form. Every unprocessed cocoa bean exported is value exported. Every barrel refined elsewhere represents jobs, skills, and industrial capability built in another economy instead of our own.

Recent global supply chain disruptions made one thing clear: resilience is built through productive capacity. Therefore, industrialisation is no longer an aspirational talking point. It is an economic imperative.

The framework for deeper integration already exists through African Continental Free Trade Area. The challenge now is implementation. Fragmented markets limit investment appetite. Integrated markets fundamentally change the proposition. A continent of more than a billion people with a growing middle class is not a marginal story. It is one of the most significant commercial opportunities in the world.

Ultimately, scaling is not the absence of crisis. It is the decision, often in the middle of crisis, to build systems, industries, and institutions resilient enough to survive beyond a single partnership, a single commodity, or a single political cycle.

That is the work before African leaders now. Not to wait for the conditions for scale to arrive, but to create them deliberately through coordinated capital, aligned policy, infrastructure investment, industrialisation, and meaningful integration.

Africa has risen. That chapter is already written.What comes next will be defined by whether we have the discipline, courage, and coordination required to scale.

Rubis Energy has failed to overturn a Sh458 million tender for fuel supply awarded to rival firm Stabex International after the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) dismissed its challenge.

Kenya Power Company’s invited bids for the supply of low-sulphur diesel to off-grid power stations.

In its ruling, the board found that Rubis Energy lacked the legal standing to seek a review of the process because it failed to plead that it had suffered, or was likely to suffer, loss or damage as a result of the alleged breach of procurement laws.

‘…the Board finds that the Applicant (Rubis) failed to specifically plead suffering loss and damage in its Request for Review as filed contrary to Section 167(1) of the Act,’ said the board.

Kenya Power invited bids for the tender in January 2026, attracting 12 submissions from firms including Galana Energies, Tarita Petroleum, Stabex International, Blue Sky, Hass Petroleum, Lake Oil, Dalbit Petroleum and Rubis Energy.

Following technical evaluation, only Rubis Energy Kenya, Galana Energies and Stabex International advanced to the financial evaluation stage. Rubis submitted a bid of Sh542 million, while Galana quoted Sh603.7 million. Stabex emerged as the lowest bidder after quoting Sh458.2 million.

Kenya Power subsequently carried out due diligence on Stabex to verify its eligibility, existence and capacity to execute the contract before recommending it for award.

Rubis challenged the outcome, arguing that it had a legitimate expectation that the procurement process would be conducted in accordance with the tender document, procurement laws and the constitution.

Kenya Power, however, defended the award, stating that Stabex won because it submitted the lowest evaluated bid.

‘The upshot of our finding is that the instant Request for Review is for striking out for want of jurisdiction,’ stated the board.