Category: Business Daily

The government has cut the pace of construction of new roads by 62 percent over the past four years of the current administration, official data shows, with the length tarmacked staying below pre-2022 levels.

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) built 2,584.25km of roads between financial years 2022/23 and 2025/26, compared with 6,813km in the preceding four years.

The State Department for Roads says in a latest budgetary report to the National Treasury that construction increased by 24.75 kilometres, or 3.25 percent, in the year ended June 2026 despite additional financing raised through securitisation of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF).

The report shows routine road maintenance improved, with the length of roads covered rising 18.5 percent to 31,105.56km last financial year from 26,255.65km a year earlier.

However, this remained 24 percent below the 40,988km maintained in the financial year ended June 2022.

The State Department for Roads said 2,089.25km were constructed in three years to June 2026, ‘largely facilitated by the securitisation’ of the RMLF.

The department said the financing enabled settlement of pending payment certificates and accelerated implementation of road projects, providing a critical lifeline to stalled works.

The government raised the RMLF from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre of petrol and diesel in July 2024, increasing the revenue pool available for roads.

The State subsequently committed part of those collections to investors, using future fuel levy receipts to raise money for settling historical road-sector obligations through a concept known as securitisation, in which cash flow from underlying assets is used to secure funding by lenders or investors.

In April 2025, Sh7 from every Sh25 collected per litre was securitised to secure Sh175 billion through bank bridge facilities and bonds.

The Cabinet approved a further Sh5 per litre in November 2025, taking the portion committed to investors to Sh12 per litre and enabling the Kenya Roads Board to raise more cash for road construction and maintenance.

The securitisation was designed partly to clear outstanding bills owed to contractors, arrears which had constrained the implementation of road projects across the country.

President William Ruto said in March that the government planned to bring a road maintenance levy fund securitisation bond to the market and list it on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

‘In the course of this year [2026], we will be bringing to the market the road maintenance levy fund securitisation bond, which has enabled us to settle the pending bills crisis that had stalled road projects everywhere in Kenya,’ he said.

‘The RMLF has raised for us Sh175 billion, and we will be bringing it here (to the Nairobi Securities Exchange) so people can trade it as well.’

The planned bond will help refinance part of the estimated Sh175 billion in bank loans used to clear historical road-sector pending bills up to December 2024.

Investors will receive payments from the securitised RMLF, with Sh12 from every Sh25 collected from each litre of petrol and diesel effectively committed to servicing the financing.

The funding intervention has coincided with a recovery in road construction, but official figures show that the rebound has yet to restore the pace achieved before the current administration took office.

Before fiscal year 2022/23, the three road agencies were constructing more than 1,500km annually on average, with output peaking at 2,014 km in the year ended June 2019.

Analysis of the latest four-year average shows new roads built fell to 646km annually, from 1,703 km previously, highlighting the impact of the government’s fiscal squeeze on infrastructure projects in the early years of President Ruto’s administration.

President Ruto said in May 2023 that his administration had inherited about Sh900 billion in road-sector commitments from the previous government.

‘We have tried to cut it down; we have tried to cut some of the roads that have not started. But we remain with about Sh680 billion that we have to manage,’ Dr Ruto said at the time.

The resulting fiscal squeeze forced the government to prioritise projects while contractors faced delayed payments, contributing to the sharp contraction in new road construction in fiscal year 2022/23-Dr Ruto’s financial year in office.

Road construction plunged to 495km in the financial year ended 2023 from 1,729km the year before, a 71.4 percent decline as the administration rationalised projects and grappled with inherited commitments from the previous regime.

Road output then edged up to 542km in fiscal year 2023/24 before recovering to 761.25km in that year and 786km in the year ended June.

The recovery, however, remains modest compared with the previous pace, with road construction last financial year still 54.5 percent below the 1,729km delivered in the year that ended June 2022.

The World Bank Group has revised Kenya’s 2026 growth outlook upwards to 4.6 percent from 4.4 percent previously, signalling resilience in domestic output amid shocks from the Middle East conflict.

The multilateral lender had previously trimmed its growth outlook for Kenya from 5.3 percent to 4.4 percent in June, after initially projecting 4.9 percent in April, at the onset of the Israel -US war on Iran, with its immediate impact including higher oil prices and a squeeze in inflows like diaspora remittances.

The World Bank has attributed the slight expected improvement in economic output to high-frequency data which show resilience in long-term growth prospects amid near-term shocks. The upward revision of Kenya’s growth aligns with projections on an overall lift in output across the Sub-Saharan African region in the World Bank’s latest economic update published on Tuesday.

‘The softening in private sector activity in August, reflected persistent supply constraints, elevated input costs and tight cash flow conditions, which constrained firms’ ability to translate stronger demand into higher output,’ the World Bank said in its assessment of the monthly Stanbic Bank Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report.

‘Nevertheless, employment continued to expand, and business confidence reached a three-and-a-half-year high, suggesting that underlying demand remains resilient despite near-term operational and cost pressures.’

The Kenyan economy opened to a strong first quarter ended March 2026, before absorbing the impact of the Middle East war which started on February 28, with growth accelerating to 5.3 percent from four percent in the comparable first quarter of 2025.

The expansion was supported by stronger domestic demand, easing financial conditions, robust tourism activity and a recovery in industrial production.

The economy has, however, seen more downside risks since March, including a pickup in inflation from elevated global oil prices, a wider current account deficit from a spike in fuel imports and a slowdown in diaspora remittances. The headwinds saw significant revisions to the country’s economic output forecast this year by authorities, including the National Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

The CBK cut its economic growth forecast for 2026 by 0.4 percentage points to 4.9 percent, down from 5.3 percent previously, citing the implications of the war. The apex bank projected that the manufacturing and ICT sectors would bear the brunt of the US-Israel war on Iran. The National Treasury, for its part, trimmed its 2026 growth projection from an earlier 5.3 per-cent to a flat five percent.

The World Bank expects Kenya to be slightly cushioned from setbacks like the slowdown in diaspora remittances given the relatively smaller share of these inflows as a percentage of GDP.

‘While Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria account for some of the largest remittance receipts from the Gulf in absolute terms, the macroeconomic impact of a disruption would be greatest in smaller and more fragile economies such as the Gambia, South Sudan, Somalia, the Comoros and Lesotho, where remittances constitute a significant share of GDP and an important source of household income, foreign exchange and external financing,’ the World Bank added.

The Kenyan economy grew at a slower rate of 4.6 percent in 2025 from 4.7 percent a year earlier on lower-than-expected output from the agriculture sector, which represents one-fifth of gross domestic product.

The World Bank further expects inflation to quicken, averaging 5.5 percent in 2026 from an earlier projection of five percent, reflecting the pickup in consumer prices from higher global oil prices.

The budget deficit is also expected to expand to 6.1 percent of GDP from an earlier 5.6 percent projection, while debt is seen reaching 71.1 percent of GDP from an earlier 70.3 percent outlook.

The government is struggling to turn its affordable housing programme into cash to fund the next phase of accelerated construction, with completed homes filling faster than revenue generated from sales and upfront deposits.

The Affordable Housing Board collected Sh212.342 million from sold units in the year to June, against a Sh15.25 billion target, achieving only 1.4 percent of projected revenue.

The Sh15.04 billion shortfall raises questions about the State’s plans to increasingly use proceeds from completed houses to finance new projects in coming years, rather than relying mainly on the housing levy taxed from workers’ monthly earnings.

‘Target [was] not met; most units were sold on TPS [monthly Tenant Purchase Scheme or rent-to-own payments] as opposed to the projected cash sales,’ the State Department for Housing and Urban Development wrote in a budgetary report to the National Treasury.

Rent-to-own models allow tenants to occupy a home and build equity through monthly payments. The report shows a sharp contrast between weak cash collections and strong take-up of completed units. This is after occupancy of completed affordable housing reached 94 percent, beating the government’s 90 percent target for the year ended June.

Figures suggest the immediate challenge is not simply whether households want the homes, but how quickly the government can turn that demand into cash to recycle into construction.

The State had completed and handed over 1,836 affordable houses by June, while another 1,380 units were substantially complete at 98 percent, according to the report published by the National Treasury.

A further 103,251 units were under construction, although they were 35 percent complete on average, while another 65,649 units were still under procurement.

President William Ruto’s administration has nevertheless been planning for a dramatic expansion of spending on State-backed housing from the year starting July 2027, with sales proceeds expected to become an increasingly important source of funding. Budget projections, approved in early June by the National Assembly, show spending on affordable, social and institutional housing, together with related infrastructure, is expected to rise to Sh360.1 billion in the 2027/28 fiscal year.

That would represent a 227.3 percent increase from the Sh110 billion budget projected for the current financial year ending June 2027.

Affordable housing alone is projected to account for Sh201.1 billion in the year starting July 2027, nearly four times the Sh50.7 billion allocation projected for the current year.

That allocation to housing and related infrastructure will be the government’s largest development spending area, overtaking roads, whose allocation is projected at Sh197.93 billion.

The planned jump in spending is based partly on expectations that completed houses will begin generating enough revenue to support fresh construction.

Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga said the government’s projections were based on higher receipts from both housing sales and the levy.

‘The Sh360 billion projection includes funds expected to be realised from projected housing sales and increased levy collections,’ Mr Hinga said in May.

The latest revenue figures, however, show the scale of the task facing the programme if housing sales are to become a major financing stream.

The government had expected Sh15.25 billion in sales during 2025/26 but collected only Sh212.342 million, with the department saying most transactions shifted from anticipated cash purchases to tenant purchase schemes.

Under the tenant-purchase or ‘rent-to-own’ payment model, households pay for their homes over time, allowing occupants to move into completed units without making the full purchase price upfront.

That model can broaden access to houses, but it also means the AHB receives payments over a longer period rather than the large immediate receipts assumed under cash sales.

Underperformance in revenue collections from the houses means the project faces a potential mismatch between the timing of expenditure and revenue, as the Housing department seeks to build thousands of units today while relying on future payments from households to replenish funds.

This is critical given the scale of construction still required. Out of the programme’s 217,654-unit target, a marginal 1,836 units had been completed and handed over by the end of June.

The department said the annual construction target was also missed because of ‘delays in the procurement process’, with overall progress reaching 22.8 percent against a 30 percent target.

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) has been ordered to re-employ a former general manager after the Employment and Labour Relations Court found his dismissal over alleged poor performance unlawful and unfair.

The court found that KPC failed to demonstrate a valid reason to terminate Derek Wangaki Okova, who was dismissed in December 2025 despite performance appraisals rating him between ‘Good’ and ‘Very Good’.

The court said it was contradictory for KPC to describe Mr Okova as a poor performer while its own records showed that he had been recognised and rewarded for his performance.

‘For the foregoing reasons, the court finds that termination of the petitioner’s employment by the respondent was substantively unjustifiable and thus unfair within the meaning of Section 45 of the Employment Act,’ the court said in a decision issued on October 2, 2026.

The judge ordered KPC to re-engage Mr Okova within 21 days and directed the company to give him work comparable to that in which he was employed before his dismissal.

The court noted that employees rated ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very Good’ were eligible for incentive awards equivalent to 100 and 80 per cent of one month’s basic salary, respectively, and Mr Okova fell within that category.

Mr Okova was appointed general manager, Pipeline Operations and Maintenance, for a five year term beginning February 27, 2024. His contract was due to run until 2029.

He moved to court after his employment was terminated on December 10, 2025, arguing that KPC had violated its Human Resource Policy and Procedures Manual and his constitutional rights.

KPC opposed the case, maintaining that Mr Okova had consistently performed poorly despite being given feedback, supervision and opportunities to improve.

The anchor shareholders of Quickmart can sell up to 800 million shares or 40 percent of their remaining stake without restriction, following the retailer’s initial public offering (IPO) after the markets regulator agreed to a lock-up rule that only covers part of their holding.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) requires controlling shareholders to hold on to their stake for at least two years after listing, to reassure prospective investors that insiders are not looking for a quick exit or dumping struggling companies on the public.

Disclosures by Quickmart in its IPO information memorandum show that the selling shareholders will be required to hold on to at least 60 percent of their shares for the next two years.

Quickmart’s current owners comprise Mauritius-registered private equity fund Adenia Partners, the founders of Quickmart and Tumaini supermarkets and Chief Executive Officer Peter Kang’iri.

They are currently offloading two billion shares in the IPO, equivalent to a 50 percent stake, at a price of Sh7.50 a unit. Their shares are held through an investment vehicle known as Sokoni Retail Kenya Limited (SRKL).

‘The selling shareholder (SRKL) has agreed that, for a period of 24 months from the listing date, it will not, without the prior written consent of the lead placing agent, co-placing agent and the issuer and the approval of the CMA, directly or indirectly sell or transfer ordinary shares representing 60 percent of the total remaining ordinary shares envisaged to be held by it immediately after listing date,’ reads the information memorandum in part.

“The balance of such remaining ordinary shares not subject to the lock-up undertaking,” the document added.

The partial lock-up means that they can sell an additional 800 million shares in the next two years should they wish to do so. The less restrictive lock-up requirement mirrors that imposed on the Family Bank founder Titus Muya and his associates when the lender listed by introduction in June.

The CMA granted Mr Muya and his associates leeway to dilute their shareholding of 35.6 percent in order to allow them to meet the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) regulatory cap of 25 percent without flouting listing rules.

In this year’s other IPO of Kenya Pipeline Company in March, the National Treasury was locked into holding its remaining 35 percent stake for at least 24 months after disposing a 65 percent stake to the public for Sh106 billion.

The Quickmart sale, which opened this week and runs until October 30, is targeting Sh15 billion and values the company at Sh30 billion.

Going into the listing, Adenia holds a 50.79 percent stake in SRKL, the family of Quickmart founder the late John Kinuthia 31.83 percent, the founders of Tumaini Supermarket 12.02 percent and Mr Kang’iri 5.36 percent.

Presuming the offer is fully subscribed, Adenia’s stake will drop to 25.4 percent, with the stakes of the Quickmart and Tumaini founders falling to 15.9 percent and 6.01 percent respectively. Meanwhile, Mr Kang’iri’s holding will halve to 2.68 percent.

Although PE funds usually have an investment cycle of between seven and 10 years, Adenia has said that it remains committed to staying on board and supporting Quickmart’s management through its next growth phase.

The fund acquired its stake in the retailer between 2018 and 2019, after buying majority stakes in Quickmart (51 percent) and Tumaini (55 percent) and then merging the entities under the Quickmart brand in 2020.

The only exceptions to the 60 percent lock-up of their shares post-listing include transfers of shares to affiliates and related Adenia funds, disposals required by law, acceptances of a general offer, permitted encumbrances, and transactions approved by the placing agents the CMA or the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) -the World Bank’s private investment arm- has also been exempted from any lock-up restrictions after coming in as the offer’s cornerstone investor, subject to approval by its board of directors.

Global practice usually restricts Cornerstone investors who commit to buying shares before an IPO opens restricted from selling for a fixed period after listing, although this is usually shorter than two years. This bet on the retail sector will see the IFC acquire 258.67 million shares in Quickmart, representing about 13 percent of the offer shares, and an ultimate stake of 6.5 percent in the company.

‘Any IFC purchase of offer shares would be made on the same terms and conditions as all other investors in the offer,’ said Quickmart in the information memorandum.

‘Notwithstanding IFC’s interest in the proposed investment, IFC may sell its shareholding at any time in the future.’

In the case of Family Bank, Mr Muya and his associates were granted a concession by CBK to hold a combined stake of up to 31.9 percent, meaning that a sale of a 3.7 percent stake would be necessary in order to comply with the concession before later moving to full compliance of a 25 percent holding.

They tried to dilute their stake in the bank previously by sitting out capital raising ventures such as the private placement conducted in 2025.

At the time of listing, Mr Muya’s direct stake in the bank was disclosed at 4.42 percent. Daykio Plantations, a real estate company owned 91 percent by Mr Muya and nine percent by the Estate of Leah Wanjiru, held a 9.53 percent stake in the lender.

Other members of his family, including the Estates of Rachael Njeri Muya and Leah Wanjiru Muya, held a combined stake of 19.5 percent. A further 2.22 percent is held by Kenya Orient Life Assurance and its sister company Kenya Orient Insurance, which are also associated with the bank’s founder.

In a public notice dated September 4, 2026, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) told all businesses using TIMS and eTIMS to keep accurate and up-to-date stock records.

The records must account for goods purchased or received, sold, transferred, returned, adjusted or otherwise disposed of. KRA says this will improve the accuracy of tax returns and reporting.

The aim is sound. Stock is where sales, purchases and costs meet, and a system that links the three can expose under-declared income and inflated expenses. For a trader, it works neatly: what comes in as a unit goes out as the same unit.

Manufacturers are different. A manufacturer buys one thing and sells another. Raw material goes into a process, some is lost to wastage and evaporation, some sit as work in progress, and what leaves the factory is a different product, often in a different unit. No invoice records that transformation. The invoice shows the input coming in and the finished good going out.

Take a simple example. A business buys 100 kilogrammes of raw material. Under normal conditions, 92 kilogrammes become finished product and eight are lost as expected wastage.

The books are right. A system that expects stock to match purchases and sales, with no model for yield, may see eight kilogrammes unaccounted for. Multiply that across thousands of transactions and the system flags an ordinary production variance as a discrepancy.

That matters because flags invite questions. An unexplained stock variance can quickly become a tax question, including whether sales have gone unrecorded. Manufacturers already know how hard it is to argue otherwise after the fact, when production returns have been mistaken for new stock.

Even well-run factories do not produce identical yields every month. Machine efficiency, raw material quality and seasonality all move the numbers. A fixed standard cannot be the final word on what counts as acceptable.

KRA indicated that consultative forums with the business community would commence in September to hear implementation challenges and recommendations. As the framework continues to take shape, manufacturers should use the consultation process to make specific asks.

There are four.

First, recognise manufacturers separately. The functionality should allow for bills of materials, so that inputs are linked to outputs through standard yields, and not assume one item in and the same item out.

Second, build in tolerance. Wastage and yield variance within a reasonable band should not be flagged. The band should be set with industry input and reviewed as processes change.

Third, give taxpayers a clear way to adjust and explain. If stock is adjusted for wastage, damage or rework, the system should record the reason and keep a trail, so the explanation exists when KRA asks.

Fourth, publish a timeline. Businesses need time to adjust their systems and processes before enforcement. Many stock systems were not built to feed eTIMS, and integration takes time and money.

None of this is an argument against stock controls. Better data helps honest taxpayers as much as it helps the revenue authority. But a system designed around the shop floor of a trader will misread the factory floor, and the cost of that misreading will fall on the businesses that make things, employ people and pay tax.

Manufacturers should take KRA at its word and speak now, while the framework can still be shaped around how factories actually operate.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has held its benchmark lending rate unchanged for a fourth straight time since February at 8.75 percent as inflation remains contained within the target range amid shocks from the Middle East war.

The monetary authority has attributed the decision to hold rates to the expectation that inflation will remain below the 7.5 percent ceiling even as consumer prices creep up on a month-over-month basis.

The CBK has also revised its growth outlook for 2026 to five percent from 4.9 percent, underlining economic resilience, particularly in the industry and services sectors, against the backdrop of a similar upgrade by the World Bank.

Private sector credit growth has continued to accelerate, touching 10.6 percent in September from 10.3 percent in August, reflecting the continued transmission of previous rate cuts while bank non-performing loans have also declined.

‘Overall inflation is expected to remain within the target range within the target range in the near term. This will be supported by appropriate monetary policy actions, government interventions and a stable exchange rate,’ CBK said in a statement on Wednesday.

Overall inflation in September crept up to reach 6.8 percent from 6.6 percent in August.

Core inflation, which measures non-food, non-fuel inflation, hit four percent in September from 3.4 percent in August on higher prices for processed foods like milk, wheat products and edible oils, while non-core inflation fell slightly to 14 percent from 14.7 percent in the same period.

The CBK’s market perception survey conducted in September revealed underlying inflationary pressures from higher fuel prices but projected a moderation in food costs on ample rainfall in the four quarter of 2026.

‘Respondents expect inflation to remain within the target range in the near term, due to exchange rate stability, and an expected decline in food prices due to the predicted above-average rainfall between October and December 2026,’ CBK added.

CBK’s retention of the policy rate aligns with a cautious stance adopted by global central banks as they continue to assess the impact of the Middle East conflict on inflation and growth.

Prior rate cuts by CBK continue to transmit in the economy as private sector credit growth accelerates further while the banking sector non-performing loans ratio has improved, falling to 13.9 percent in September from 14.8 percent in June.

Across East Africa’s consumer economy, businesses are discovering that pricing and product quality alone are no longer enough to secure loyalty. From construction materials and retail to banking and telecommunications, competition is being shaped by aspiration as companies look for new ways to retain customers, dealers and distributors in crowded markets.

A walk through most urban centres reveals the pattern. Hardware stores display supplier branding more prominently than before. Retailers promote membership tiers and loyalty clubs. Banks organise networking forums for SME clients, while dealers compete on sales volumes and their association with particular brands.

For years, companies relied on mass advertising and market visibility to drive growth on the assumption that a competitive product supported by wide distribution would secure customer retention. That logic is weakening, particularly in sectors where competitors offer similar pricing, comparable quality, and near identical specifications. The real differentiation is now happening through relationships.

This matters because East Africa’s economic environment has become more financially strained, but not less aspirational. Inflation, currency pressures and high operating costs have squeezed both households and businesses. However, the desire for upward mobility remains intact. Small business owners still want to signal progress. Dealers still want access to networks associated with growth and influence, while consumers still respond to brands that recognise them and reinforce a sense of advancement. Consequently, companies that understand this are reorganising how they compete.

The clearest evidence is emerging in sectors that depend heavily on distribution networks. In construction materials, manufacturers are investing more aggressively in dealer engagement programmes, contractor networks and tiered reward systems. A hardware owner is no longer treated simply as a stockist moving inventory. They are now positioned as long term commercial partners tied to a wider business network, a distinction that carries commercial consequences.

In highly competitive markets, dealers often influence which products customers eventually purchase. Where product differences are marginal, relationship loyalty can become more valuable than technical superiority. A recognised dealer is more likely to prioritise a supplier’s products, defend shelf space and recommend the brand to customers.

The construction materials sector illustrates this. Urbanisation across the region continues to drive demand for housing and infrastructure, even as competition among suppliers intensifies. Manufacturers are competing not only on durability and pricing, but also on influence within dealer and contractor networks where purchasing decisions are shaped daily.

This trend is not confined to a single sector or company. Similar patterns are becoming visible in banking and retail, where brands are now organizing customers around loyalty programmes, networking platforms and more personalized engagement in order to strengthen long term relationships in markets where customer attention is becoming harder to retain.

Technology has also accelerated this transition. Digital systems now allow companies to track purchasing behaviour, identify high performing partners and personalize incentives with greater precision. Marketing budgets are also shifting away from blanket visibility campaigns towards relationship management and customer retention.

The incentives themselves are changing too. Discounts and rebates remain important, but they are no longer sufficient on their own. High performing dealers and distributors are now publicly recognised, invited into exclusive programmes and given access to networks that strengthen their commercial standing.

This approach aligns closely with East Africa’s business culture, where relationships and reputation still shape market behaviour significantly. Association with a respected brand often carries value beyond the immediate transaction. In many cases, it strengthens credibility at both community and business level simultaneously.

What, therefore is emerging is a wider commercial focus on belonging, recognition and influence. This is bound to shape how market leadership is defined across the region. The companies likely to sustain influence over the next decade may not necessarily be those with the loudest advertising campaigns, but those that build the strongest relationships around their products and distribution networks.

At the polished ONErpm office in Karen, Bilha Ngaruiya swings gently in her executive chair and does something few corporate leaders would dare.

‘If that isn’t some success story, then I don’t know what is,’ she says blowing her own trumpet.

She has reason to. Since her appointment as ONErpm’s Country Manager when the international music distribution, publishing and label services company entered Kenya in 2022,it has grown to facilitate about $100,000 (Sh13 million) royalty payouts to Kenyan artistes every month, roughly $1.2 million (Sh156 million) yearly.

By her account, that is more than half the Sh300 million that collective management organisations such as MCSK, PRISK and KAMP collectively distribute in a good year.

And she has managed this career success without a college degree.

‘I didn’t finish college, so I didn’t have the traditional credentials many people consider essential. Instead, I learned through apprenticeship,’ she says. ‘I served, observed, asked questions, and earned my way into rooms where I could learn from people who had gone before me. My classroom was the music industry itself. What has carried me isn’t a degree but curiosity.’

First business lessons

That apprenticeship began long before the music industry, at home, where she says she started working at about 10 years old. Her mother was an entrepreneur, so business was never an abstract in the Ngaruiya household.

‘There was always a business. Shoes, kerosene, charcoal, rice, motorcycle spare parts, eggs, you name it. I did everything. I sold, swept floors, went to collect supplies, delivered goods, and helped wherever I was needed.’

She calls those chores her first education in business.

Bilha’s decision to skip college was not about money but about impatience with the classroom while the fast-moving music industry pulled at her curiosity. ‘I was already working my way through the music industry and trying to make money,’ she says.

‘I also knew that the traditional path to getting a qualification would take time and money that I didn’t have. So I chose work.’

That choice launched a winding career through music management, publicity, social media, marketing, campaigns, events, corporate communications, client relations and hospitality, with each opportunity leading to the next.

She interned at Homeboyz, the music stable where she got her first taste of the business, and later worked at Zikki Media, a music aggregation and distribution company. ‘I learned social media by working in social media. I learned music management and publicity by working with artistes,’ she says. ‘I’ve had an apprenticeship that has lasted my entire life.’

Learning from executives

Learning from music executives such as Scooter Braun, an American investor and former talent manager, also edified her skills.

‘When I got introduced to this person, I heavily invested in reading about how they did their job. Scooter is one of the brains behind Justin Bieber numbers.’

She blended what she read with her own ideas and adapted it for the Kenyan market. Alongside her day job, Bilha co-founded Premier Talent Agency, which has supported more than 80 artistes and facilitated over Sh12 million in funding for them.

‘I have invested in 50 artistes from my own money and in-kind services, besides what the company does. It is one of the highlights of my career.’

When ONErpm launched in Kenya, the team quickly hit one of the biggest obstacles facing African artistes; a lack of financing for music projects. Most artistes, she says, ask for at least $20,000 (Sh2.6 million) for their creative work, and Bilha saw an opening in that gap.

Filling a gap

The company began offering artistes advances to fund their projects, recouped in instalments after release. ‘It is something we noticed other distributors were not doing,’ she says.

The company’s goal is always to recoup the money and make interest over a long period.

‘I remember when I was at Zikki, a big artiste came and wanted Sh4 million up front tax-free. We thought it through, and the decision was made to give him the money,’ she says.

The artiste, she says, went on to release music consistently, build a catalogue and stay on the platform.

‘When a figure like that is given upfront, what the companies want to see is the longevity of that artiste because that is how you ensure ROI [return on investment],’ she explains, adding that a growing catalogue becomes security for both the business and its investors.

The strategy also made recruitment easier, and ONErpm now has more than 10,000 Kenyan artiste accounts, rising to more than 25,000 across East Africa, including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The first artiste the team worked with was rapper Boutross, on the song Angela, which ONErpm promoted until it went global, passing 50 million streams. ‘We hadn’t seen anything like that before,’ Ms Ngaruiya says. ‘That became my proof of concept.’

Commissions, not subscription

ONErpm’s business model also sets it apart from many distributors, which are subscription-based and let artistes pay a flat fee, such as a dollar a month, in return for keeping all their revenue. ONErpm instead works on commission, taking between five and 20 percent of an artiste’s earnings depending on the contract and services provided.

‘That makes us more incentivised to see the artistes grow,’ she says, ‘because we want them to earn more so that we could also grow our commission revenue.’

She credits timing too, since by 2022 relatively few local artistes had their music properly distributed across streaming platforms, and the Covid pandemic had pushed up streaming numbers for those who were releasing music constantly.

As the person sending invoices for their royalties, she began to see real money coming in and asked herself what would happen if more artistes were onboarded.

Spotify’s entry into Kenya around that time was, she says, ‘a huge game changer’, and Boomplay’s growing activity helped streams soar, so that ONErpm has grown from one million streams a month across its Kenyan catalogue to more than 34 million.

Hits are not made in studios

Despite that growth, Ms Ngaruiya is blunt about the economics facing most Kenyan musicians, many of whom, by her account, earn only Sh20,000 to Sh50,000 a month in streaming revenue from their entire catalogue, which makes reinvesting in music, or even living decently, a struggle.

‘Hits are not made in studios, but hits are made from marketing,’ she says. ‘There are so many good songs that when you hear them you wonder why this song is not popping. It’s never really about the quality or the talent of the artistes. It’s all about how well, or how consistently, they are in marketing.’

She says the biggest challenge is that artistes do not understand how the digital music economy works, and cites several reasons including geography.

A stream in Kenya is worth less than one in South Africa, Europe or the US because advertising and subscription values differ, so two artistes with the same stream count can earn dramatically different amounts.

One artiste on her roster, she points out, earns a steady $7,000 (Sh910,000) a month, mostly from the few listeners he has in the US, even though most of his streams come from Kenya.

‘Kenya is just purely sheer numbers, but the few views he gets from the US change the game because of the high CPM.’

CPM, or cost per mille, is what advertisers pay a platform for every 1,000 ad impressions, and Kenya’s is the highest in the region but low by international standards.

Bilha points to the YouTuber IShowSpeed, whose record-breaking views during his African tour brought a sharp dip in revenue for this reason.

‘He had all these record-breaking views, but his revenue drastically dipped because CPM in Africa is quite low, and that is simply because there are not as many advertisers on the continent investing significant amounts of money on these digital platforms as is the case with the international markets.’

Release order also matters, she says, because artistes who put a video on YouTube before releasing the audio can lose about 30 percent of potential revenue. Uploading the audio correctly first, through a distributor that pushes it to many stores, generates a unique code that blocks pirates from uploading the same track, whereas video-first releases let pirates rip the audio, which she says is how many vernacular artistes get their music stolen.

Placing a channel with a global multi-channel network such as VEVO or Studio71 means earning from four revenue streams (the music, the video, publishing and content ID) rather than from ads alone, although good networks, she notes, typically take about 30 percent.

Rollouts are the final lesson, because most Kenyan artistes, she says, stop promoting once a song is out. She recommends listening parties, behind-the-scenes content, acoustic versions, visualisers, reaction videos and sponsored posts so that audiences keep interacting with the song, since “algorithms like being fed constantly”.

She credits this approach for the success of Diamond Platnumz, whose channel is the top music channel on YouTube and who said in a past interview that he makes at least $2.7 million (Sh300 million) a year from it alone.

Even with her own results, Ms Ngaruiya says the Kenyan industry is far from where it needs to be, and that the low value of African streams will remain one of its biggest challenges.

More hospitals have adopted minimally invasive surgery procedures, handing patients wider service options.

These techniques offer patients a less painful alternative to traditional surgeries, with reduced recovery times and lower risks of complications. The techniques include laparoscopic surgery, endoscopic procedures, natural-orifice surgery, and some robotic-assisted procedures.

During laparoscopic surgery, for example, surgeons insert a small camera and instruments through tiny incisions and operate while viewing enlarged images on a screen. Endoscopic procedures use a thin, camera-equipped tube to examine or treat internal organs, while robotic systems enable surgeons to control specialised instruments with greater precision.

Government data show that in 2025/26, Kenya performed 9,852 minimally invasive surgeries, exceeding the target of 7,005 by about 41 per cent.

At Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi (AKUH), surgeons have expanded the range of robotic-assisted procedures they perform. In August, the hospital performed a robotic-assisted laparoscopic gallbladder removal, and in September they performed robotic removal of an ovarian cyst measuring more than 10 centimetres.

Abdulkarim Abdalla, chair of the hospital’s Department of Surgery, said robotic technology builds on conventional keyhole surgery.

‘Robotic-assisted surgery builds on the benefits of conventional keyhole surgery by providing surgeons with a three-dimensional view of the surgical field, greater flexibility of movement and improved access to areas that are difficult to visualise using traditional techniques,’ said Dr Abdalla.

The hospital has also been using vaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES) since 2024. The technique enables certain gynaecological operations to be performed through the vagina instead of through abdominal incisions. It can be used for selected hysterectomies, the surgical removal of all or part of the uterus, removal of ovarian cysts and treatment of ectopic pregnancies.

Bob Achila, lead surgeon and consultant urogynaecologist at AKUH, said the technique avoids an external abdominal incision.

‘vNOTES achieves this by operating solely through the vagina, avoiding any external cuts,’ said Dr Achila.

Public hospitals are also adopting minimally invasive surgery.

At Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu, fully fledged laparoscopic and endoscopy services became operational this year after the hospital acquired advanced equipment.

These services are expected to reduce the need for patients in the Lake Region to travel to Nairobi for advanced procedures.

JOOTRH Chief Executive Joshua Clinton Okise said the investment would make specialised care more accessible to patients.

‘By investing in advanced equipment, the hospital aims to reduce the need for patient referrals to distant facilities and provide timely, specialised care closer to home,’ said Dr Okise.

Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) has also expanded its laparoscopic surgery services. In May 2025, the hospital’s Shoe4Africa Children’s Ward performed laparoscopic surgery on a four-year-old boy with an undescended testicle, a condition in which one or both testicles have not moved into the scrotum as expected.

Meanwhile, Mbagathi County Referral Hospital performed its first laparoscopic operation in June, removing the gallbladder from a patient with painful gallstones. The hospital stated that the procedure would usually cost around Sh212,000, but it was fully covered by the Social Health Authority (SHA).

The cost difference is significant as minimally invasive surgery becomes more widespread. Previous estimates have put the cost of laparoscopic procedures in some private hospitals at between Sh300,000 and Sh350,000, depending on the operation and facility.

The expansion builds on decades of laparoscopic surgery in Kenya. A review of cases at AKUH documented 408 laparoscopic procedures between 2000 and 2002, including operations for infertility, ectopic pregnancies, fibroids, ovarian cysts and hysterectomies.

The minimally invasive approach is also being used in urology. In January, Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) became the first public health institution in Kenya to perform Rezum water-vapour therapy for benign prostate enlargement. The procedure was also performed at AKUH in June and AAR Hospital in August. Rezum involves delivering controlled bursts of steam through the urethra to destroy excess prostate tissue, which the body gradually absorbs.

Amadadin Alhlib, a consultant urologist at AKUH, said Rezum provides an additional treatment option for appropriately selected patients.

‘Recently, Rezum has emerged as an additional treatment option,’ said Dr Amadadin.

Hospitals are also expanding their use of robotic surgical technology, although robotic-assisted surgery is not automatically minimally invasive. In some procedures, such as robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery, the robot operates through small incisions.

In others, including knee replacement, the technology helps the surgeon plan and work with precision but does not necessarily involve a minimally invasive approach.

In December, Metropolitan Hospital in Nairobi performed robotic-assisted knee replacement surgery on two patients, becoming the first hospital in East and Central Africa to use the technology for the procedure.

Metropolitan Hospital’s Chief Executive Kanyenje Gakombe, said the development followed years of investment in surgical capacity, technology and specialist training.

‘The introduction of robotic-assisted surgery at Metropolitan Hospital expands access to high-precision orthopaedic care in Kenya and the wider region. It is the result of more than 30 years of investment in clinical training, infrastructure, and medical technology,’ said Mr Gakombe.

Faraj Alkizim, head of robotics, joint replacement and spine surgery at Metropolitan Hospital, said the technology supports surgeons rather than replacing them.

‘Robotic-assisted knee replacement is designed to support surgeons with patient-specific planning and precise bone preparation, improving the accuracy of alignment and component positioning,’ said Dr Faraj.