Category: Business Daily

Metropolitan Sacco is facing mounting liquidity pressure as a surge in member exits forces the troubled institution to refund the withdrawing depositors following orders from co-operatives tribunal.

The sacco, which is pursuing its former officials on the back of an untraceable Sh50 billion loan book and negative equity of Sh12 billion, has left its members worried over the entity’s future, triggering exit applications.

A growing number of members seeking to withdraw their savings have turned to the Co-operative Tribunal to compel payment, with case records showing a consistent pattern of rulings in their favour.

Regulatory filings show the sacco closed 2024 with Sh7.41 billion deposits and a Sh17.2 billion loan book that had a default rate of 98.99 percent -adding to its woes.

Exits pressure

The co-operatives tribunal has been ordering Metropolitan Sacco to refund members their deposits alongside costs and interest from the date of filing, deepening the strain on its already stretched liquidity. The orders could see remaining members lose their deposits in the absence of loan recoveries.

Between January and April this year, the tribunal issued such orders in favour of 33 members, building on the 104 that were made against Metropolitan in 2025 and at least 49 in 2024.

In one of the latest cases ruled by the tribunal in April, Martha Muthoni Gachoya proved that she had saved Sh128,243 but the sacco had failed to refund the money after applying to exit.

The tribunal dismissed Metropolitan’s argument that customers were bound by a 2022 resolution of an annual general meeting that suspended payment of refunds to allow the sacco to achieve a sound financial position to accommodate refunds.

‘Indeed, the resolution was passed, but as we write the judgment neither shows if the resolution still stands if at all. The respondent’s (Metropolitan) argument of not being financially stable is not an excuse to not pay the claimant (Martha) her dues,’ ruled the tribunal on April 30.

‘As much as we sympathise with the respondent on financial inability to repay, the claimant is entitled to their dues. They cannot be held captive to a society, yet they joined voluntarily.’

Metropolitan is among five saccos which the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority barred from receiving deposits early this year, allowing them to operate under restricted credit-only permits. This came on the back of suspected multi-billion shillings fraud that spooked savers, leading to disrupted operations.

Fraud charges

On Tuesday, 19 former officials of the sacco were charged with nine counts, including suspected conspiracy to defraud the sacco of Sh14.49 billion on diverse dates between 2012 and 2021.

Ms Gachoya’s favourable ruling was one of at least four rulings that were made against Metropolitan on the same day, April 30. Others were in favour of Clare Akasa Juma who was seeking Sh445,527, Ernest Kiplangat Koech (Sh99,069), and Edward Macharia (Sh287,091).

Seven days earlier, Metropolitan had, on April 23, been hit with nine rulings in favour of savers in a single day. The awards included Sh261,189 in favour of Josephat Atsunga, Agnes Nyaruri Isaaka (Sh450,513), Mary Wangari Kiarie (Sh539,235) and Lucy Nyambura Mani (Sh379,490).

‘The claimant cannot be forced to be part of a society which she joined voluntarily and has expressed interest in withdrawing,’ ruled the tribunal in the matter involving Ms Kiarie.

Cash crunch

Metropolitan has revealed pressure in servicing the refunds, as was captured in the case involving Ms Mani. In the case, the tribunal says the defence by Metropolitan was that there is a need for a structured payment ‘due to numerous cases’ of withdrawal that ‘have overwhelmed the society.’

Other awards made on April 23 against the sacco were in favour of Stanley Mbogo Mukiri (Sh255,091), Cecilia Njoki Ndiritu (Sh367,928), Anthony Irari Ngugi (Sh657,191), Sarah Karuana Nyaga (Sh648,039) and Zakaria Benjamin Walumbe (Sh464,516).

In the case of Mr Walumbe, Metropolitan told the tribunal that the sacco has been going through ‘turmoil’ and it is ‘overwhelmed’ by various applicants seeking to exit as a result of mismanagement. The sacco said it was necessary to have a more structured approach to handle the outstanding cases.

Some members are going as far as seeking to attach the sacco’s bank accounts, as was the case with Ms Nyaga’s Sh648,039 claim. She sought the tribunal’s order to attach Metropolitan’s account at Co-operative Bank of Kenya.

The tribunal ordered Co-op Bank to freeze the sacco’s account and use the Sh1.01 million in the account to settle the member within five days.

Co-op Bank’s argument that it could not garnish the sacco’s account on ground that it owed it Sh5.8 million loan was struck out on grounds that Sh1.01 million was not held as security for the loan.

In 2023, the commissioner for cooperatives David Obonyo issued notices of surcharging the senior executives of the sacco in court over the misappropriation of Sh7.2 billion through fictitious dividend payments.

The value of the corporate bond market has soared four times in the past year, following a series of issuances driven by renewed investor interest and a rebound in debt-raising activities by firms seeking expansion capital.

Issued and outstanding corporate bonds now top Sh105.3 billion after successive borrowings from March 2025 by firms including Linzi Finco, East African Breweries Plc (EABL), Safaricom Plc, I and M Bank Limited and the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC).

In contrast, outstanding corporate bonds stood at only Sh25.9 billion in March last year before the start of rapid issuances, which have been supported by low interest rates on the traditional government bonds, incentivising investors to explore alternative asset classes.

This has diversified offerings for investors, with the corporate bonds offering annual returns of between 10.4 percent and 12.2 percent.

Government bonds are generating yields of between 8.9 percent and 14.7 percent in the secondary market at the Nairobi bourse.

The Sh44.79 billion Talanta Sports City-backed infrastructure bond, which was fully subscribed, kicked off the most recent corporate bond issuance run in June last year. Investors offered Sh44.875 billion, achieving a slight oversubscription of 100.2 percent.

The 15-year asset-backed bond with an annual return of 15.04 percent was listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on July 8, in the restricted fixed income market sub-segment.

Proceeds from the bond were deployed to pay the contractor of the project, the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which is tasked with works including the construction of a 60,000-seater stadium.

Sources indicated to this publication that the bond, which was issued by Linzi FinCo, the financing arm of the Liaison Group, was taken up exclusively by local investors.

EABL followed Linzi Finco to market, raising Sh16.7 billion in November 2025 from the first tranche of new Sh20 billion medium-term notes (MTN).

The brewer initially aimed to raise Sh11 billion from the opening tranche but saw investor subscription levels top 152.4 percent.

The firm took up its option of absorbing an additional Sh6 billion, which is referred to as a green-shoe option, leaving it with the headroom to borrow an additional Sh3.23 billion in future tranches.

EABL is set to deploy proceeds from the bond for general business purposes and to repay other borrowings.

The manufacturer made an early redemption of a previous five-year paper with an outstanding amount of Sh11 billion, and which was set to mature on October 30, 2026, before starting its latest MTN programme.

Safaricom rounded off 2025’s corporate bond issuances by raising Sh19.9 billion from the first tranche of its Sh40 billion MTN programme after a 177 percent oversubscription of the offer.

Total bids received for the issue were Sh41.6 billion, surpassing Sh15 billion telco.

The operator took up a Sh5 billion green-shoe option, accepting Sh20 billion from investors.

Safaricom’s bond was listed at the Nairobi bourse on December 11.

Analysts credited the rebound in the corporate bond market to the low-interest regime, which has incentivized investors to search deeper for relatively higher returns.

Read: Dealers rush for investment banking licences as corporate deals rebound

‘With government yields stabilising and credit spreads normalizing, investors are actively rotating into well-rated corporates that offer a yield pick-up above comparable sovereign securities,’ a research analyst told this publication previously.

The NSE has seen two corporate bond listings this month, including issuances of Sh13 billion by I and M Bank and Sh3 billion by KMRC.

I and M’s bond listed at the NSE on March 21 and is part of a larger Sh20 billion MTN programme expected to strengthen the lender’s capital position whilst diversifying the bank’s funding sources.

The bank is expected to use part of the proceeds from the bond to retire dollar-denominated debt, estimated at $50 million (Sh6.5 billion).

KMRC became the latest issuer to list a bond on the NSE after raising Sh3 billion from a second tranche bond which forms part of a Sh10.5 billion MTN programme that commenced in 2022.

The mortgage refinancing company issued a Sh1.4 billion first tranche bond in March 2022 which currently has an outstanding amount of Sh742.13 million.

The firm expects to return to market in 2028 with a third tranche issuance as it seeks to raise the remaining Sh4.9 billion from the medium-term bonds programme.

Other outstanding bonds include Sh3.8 billion Family Bank’s medium-term notes and Sh390.9 million Real People MTN issued in August 2015 and whose maturity is set for July 2028.

A further Sh3 billion Sharia-compliant bond by the Linzi Finco Trust is listed on NSE’s unquoted securities platform (USP).

Real People bond holders have been in a limbo after the firm defaulted on payments between 2015 and 2018 alongside Chase Bank, Imperial Bank, ARM Cement and Nakumatt Holdings.

The defaults which surpassed Sh10 billion in total culminated in a corporate bonds issuance drought as investors became weary of shaky issuers.

In the wake of the defaults, most of the remaining corporate bonds were repaid but fewer borrowers returned to the market for refinancing.

Those that settled their bonds on maturity included HF Group and CIC Insurance Group.

It starts well. A founder is in season. Press coverage is generous. Investors return calls within hours. Boardroom conversations carry the warmth of momentum. Recognition has finally caught up with years of quiet building. Awards arrive. Panels invite. Partners want proximity.

And then, sometimes without warning, the wind shifts. It might be economic chaos pulling revenue out from under projections. A personal choice an editor decides to amplify. A rivalry that finds an opening. A political association that ages badly.

An investor fallout that becomes public before it could be processed privately. Sometimes the founder is wrong. Often partially right. Occasionally simply unlucky. The market does not care for the distinction.

The cascade is familiar to anyone who has watched it unfold.

The calendar empties. WhatsApp groups go quiet. Calls returned within an hour now take three days, then a week, then nothing. The same people who toasted you last quarter struggle to find your eyes at the next industry event. Headlines that once celebrated your vision now interrogate your judgement.

The narrative thickens around the worst possible interpretation, and the founder discovers, often for the first time, that bad stories travel fast and good stories take ages.

The first instinct is almost always the wrong one. Silence. The hope that the storm will pass if you simply outlast it. Head in the sand, head down, push through. But silence in the digital age is not neutral. An unanswered question becomes a confirmed accusation. A refusal to engage is treated as an admission.

The story does not pause for your processing. It writes itself, and your absence becomes its main character. This is where the African Founders Operating System stops being theory and becomes triage.

Mindset is the first front. Do you internalise the attack or hold your knowing? Founders who collapse under reputational pressure have often, quietly, outsourced their self-concept to public perception. When the applause turned, the foundation went with it. Those who survive have done the harder interior work of separating identity from coverage long before the crisis arrived.

Emotionally, the load is brutal. Sleepless nights, intrusive replays of every misstep, the shame of being misread without the right of reply. Founders who name the strain early to a trusted few preserve bandwidth for clear decisions.

Socially, the terrain reveals itself. Hyenas move in from two directions. Competitors smell weakness and reposition. More painfully, some former allies quietly distance. Investors lengthen their decision timelines, hoping to wait you out. But also, sometimes unexpectedly, the real tribe surfaces.

People you barely knew show up with steadiness. People you thought were inner circle vanish. The crisis becomes an audit of relationships you did not know you needed.

Strategically, the question is timing and tone. Respond, stay silent, litigate, restructure, rebuild quietly. Each carries trade-offs. When the market discounts your value, conviction founders ask whether this is the moment to buy more stock in their own story rather than sell it down. Not through performance or denial, but through disciplined re-engagement with the work that matters.

Spiritually, the question is foundation. If your purpose was real, it survives the noise. If it was vanity dressed as mission, the noise reveals it.

Then there is the balance sheet no auditor will ever see. Social goodwill, banked quietly over years, becomes the only liquidity available in reputational drought. Founders who spent it carelessly in good seasons discover its absence quickly. Those who deposited consistently find unexpected reserves. But goodwill alone does not insulate. Marriages strain.

Board seats once affirming you may quietly not be renewed. Societal placement, the dinners, the invitations, the easy belonging, recalibrates without ceremony. The instinct is to grip tighter.

Why do politicians often survive these moments while founders rarely do? Politicians expect attack as terrain, not exception. They build constituencies of conviction, not transactions of convenience. They understand the half life of news cycles and convert scars into credentials. They tried to silence me becomes a campaign line.

Founders, by contrast, are trained in customer service posture. Apologise, fix, smooth over, move on. Useful in commerce, fatal in a reputation war. The founder who survives learns to think more like a statesman and less like a service provider, without losing the integrity that distinguishes the two.

In the age of AI and social media, the same instruments that wound can heal. Direct channels now allow founders to bypass intermediaries entirely. A clear written reflection, a long form interview, a podcast appearance, can reframe a narrative within weeks rather than years. The cost of voice has collapsed.

And there is a final, uncomfortable truth. Bad news sells, but authentic recovery sells longer. The founder who walks through the fire honestly, names what was theirs to own, refuses what was not, and rebuilds visibly, often emerges with more credibility than before the rupture. Not because the world is generous, but because honesty is rare.

Perhaps this is part of the drill. Every meaningful builder eventually meets a season where the story turns. The question is not whether it will come. The question is who you become while it is happening, and what you choose to build with the version of yourself that walks out the other side. Sometimes the reputation that breaks is the one that needed to.

The Kenyan government is set for a major windfall in tax revenue from the sale of Diageo Plc’s 65 percent stake in East African Breweries Plc (EABL), underscoring the lucrative nature of mega corporate deals to the exchequer.

Diageo is selling its 65 percent stake in EABL to Asahi Group Holdings in a deal that will see the British multinational brewer pay an estimated Sh41.5 billion in capital gains tax (CGT) to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), according to a source close to the transaction.

The KRA is set to receive 15 percent of the net gains that Diageo made on top of its initial investment of Sh30 billion in EABL over the past 26 years, from the Sh307 billion it will receive for the sale.

This leaves the British multinational, which owns such brands as Johnnie Walker and Don Julio, with a net gain of Sh277 billion.

Because this is a private transaction-rather than a trade on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), which is exempt from CGT-Diageo will pay the tax of Sh41.5 billion, or 15 percent of the Sh277 billion, less other expenses such as legal costs, added the source.

CGT is normally paid on the profit or gains made by investors when they sell, transfer, or dispose of an asset such as unquoted shares or property, including homes, land, and buildings. Sellers pay 15 percent of the net gain, a rate that was increased from five percent in January 2023.

In 2000, Diageo – which was formed in 1997 following the merger of Guinness Plc and Grand Metropolitan – acquired majority control of EABL, cementing its influence over the region’s largest brewer.

Earlier, Guinness East Africa, which was incorporated in Kenya in 1965, had been operating largely as a regional marketing and distribution arm for Guinness brands in East Africa, working closely with EABL through licensing, brewing and distribution arrangements before Diageo eventually acquired majority control of the brewer.

However, the British drinks giant has since resolved to exit EABL, together with other African markets, as part of its cost-cutting programme and asset disposal plan. Dubbed the ‘asset-light model,’ it is aimed at reducing volatility in Africa and driving better returns.

Diageo, the London Stock Exchange-listed brewer, officially announced it would sell its entire stake in EABL, including its 53.68 percent shareholding in the Kenyan spirits business, UDVK, to Asahi Group Holdings on December 17, 2025.

The exit will also see the British firm and EABL sign a fresh agreement that allows the NSE-listed brewer to continue producing certain Diageo drinks such as Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Smirnoff Ice, Orijin, and the iconic Guinness.

In the Sh307 billion deal, Asahi will take full control of Diageo Kenya Limited, the investment vehicle through which the British firm holds its stake in EABL.

This transaction is set to attract CGT, a major boon to the exchequer, which has been struggling to collect adequate taxes to meet its ever-growing spending needs.

The KRA has already collected a record Sh35 billion from financial and capital transactions in the first nine months of the current financial year ending June.

This means the conclusion of the Diageo deal in the current or next financial year, starting July, could more than triple the Treasury’s projected annual collections from the tax head for each fiscal period, which are forecast at Sh20.1 billion and Sh21.1 billion, respectively.

Following amendments to the Income Tax Act through the Finance Act 2015, only shares traded on the NSE were exempted from CGT.

Rather than going through the protracted process of buying the shares directly on the Nairobi bourse and escaping the tax liability, Diageo Plc and Asahi have opted for a private contractual arrangement.

Conclusion of the deal has been disrupted by an application filed by Bia Tosha Distributors, which sought to halt the sale because it could undermine its ongoing court case against EABL and related entities.

Read: Fresh legal hurdle hits sale of Sh300bn stake in EABL

Although the High Court dismissed the application, the beer distributor has since filed a notice of appeal challenging the decision to reject its bid to stop the transaction.

Tax analysts close to the transaction estimate that the KRA could receive up to Sh40 billion in CGT, representing 15 percent of the gains Diageo Plc has made since acquiring a controlling stake in EABL in 2000.

In 2023, Diageo increased its stake in the region’s largest brewer after acquiring an additional 118.39 million shares, or a 14.97 percent stake, through a tender offer at the NSE, raising its shareholding from 50.03 percent to 65 percent.

Steve Okoth, Tax Advisory Director and Regional Head of Tax at BDO East Africa, said that a pure private market or off-market transfer of listed shares will attract CGT.

“CGT risk arises because KRA may argue the transaction was not a transfer of securities ‘traded on’ a licensed exchange, but a private contractual transfer,” said Mr Okoth.

Businesses may still opt to structure transactions outside the NSE despite the CGT exemption on listed shares because such arrangements often offer greater commercial and strategic flexibility.

Analysts reckon that in most mega corporate deals, buyers are not simply interested in accumulating shares from the open market but in acquiring immediate control of the target company through the holding entities that own strategic stakes.

In 2017, the KRA revealed that it received about Sh16 billion from the share transfer involving Safaricom’s parent company, Vodafone, and its African subsidiary, Vodacom.

Vodafone on August 7 transferred its 35 percent stake in Safaricom, held in the investment vehicle Vodafone Kenya Limited, to Vodacom in exchange for 233.5 million new shares in the Johannesburg-based firm.

The multinational booked a huge capital gain on the transaction, part of which it realised by selling 90 million of the new Vodacom shares for pound 962 million (Sh143 billion in current exchange rates) on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

‘The shares transfer from Vodafone International Holdings BV to Vodacom Group Limited was done through direct transfer and was therefore subject to capital gains tax,’ the KRA said in a statement to the Business Daily then.

‘The parties involved in the transaction declared and paid taxes and duties to KRA totalling Sh15,967,782,690.’

Private transactions also allow parties to negotiate pricing, payment terms, governance rights, warranties and regulatory approvals discreetly and efficiently, something that would be difficult to achieve through ordinary market trading.

Large acquisitions executed through the NSE can also trigger market speculation, sharply move share prices and take months to complete.

Multinational firms, therefore, often prefer negotiated block transactions involving offshore holding companies, especially where African assets are held through subsidiaries incorporated in jurisdictions such as the Netherlands, Mauritius or the United Kingdom.

In the case of Diageo Plc and EABL, Asahi is acquiring Diageo’s subsidiaries – Diageo Kenya Limited and UDV Kenya Limited – rather than buying EABL shares directly from the NSE, giving it immediate access to the brewer’s controlling stake in a single negotiated transaction.

If you ask me for one workplace-health habit men dismiss too easily, I will easily nominate the overstuffed wallet in the back pocket. It looks small and even feels harmless. It is often defended with a shrug: ‘I’ve always kept it there.’

But in imaging practice, we are repeatedly reminded that the body keeps score of repetition, asymmetry, and poor sitting habits.

Whereas a bulky wallet will give you peace of mind today and even pass as a mark of success in our society today, in some men, it may become a pain issue. One that may become extremely costly in future when you are hit with sciatica.

Let me be clear from the outset, true sciatica is usually not caused by a wallet. Most commonly, sciatica happens when what we call a lumbar nerve root is irritated or compressed, often by a herniated disc, spinal narrowing, or other spinal causes.

The most common pattern we see is pain that travels from the low back or buttock down the back or side of the leg, sometimes with itchiness, numbness, or weakness. Sitting for long periods can aggravate symptoms.

But this is precisely why the back-pocket wallet deserves more attention. It can imitate the problem well enough to confuse patients, delay practical solutions, and feed unnecessary suffering.

In the medical world, we sometimes refer to this as ‘wallet neuritis,’ or ‘fat wallet syndrome’ or, in older language, ‘credit carditis.’

This is when a man sits on a bulky wallet and it compresses tissues around the sciatic nerve and may trigger pain resembling sciatica. It is a workplace-health issue because the modern office worker, driver, banker, manager, and executive all share the same exposure: long hours seated, minimal movement, and a habit they rarely question while some even confuse it with productivity.

Men with leg pain often fear the worst. A slipped disc, a pinched nerve, an inevitable MRI, perhaps even surgery. Sometimes that fear is justified. Many times, however, the first question should be simpler: ‘What are you sitting on every day?’

So yes, this is an opinion piece about sciatica. But it is also an argument about male habits, office culture, and the strange things we normalise simply because they are common.

The fat wallet in the back pocket is not a sign of udosi (affluence). It is, in some cases, a portable ergonomic hazard. If men want one easy workplace-health intervention starting today, let me give a simple prescription… stand up, empty your back pocket, and stop sitting on your pain.

As doctors. We will not be serving our patients well if we jump to advanced explanations, tests, prescriptions and bills before exhausting basic ones. A thick wallet can tilt the pelvis, alter posture, stress the gluteal region, and create chronic one-sided pressure. That is not just a story or theory. It is biomechanically plausible, clinically reported, and the good news is, it is also eminently preventable.

The men most at risk are not necessarily the mjengo labourers. They are the white-collar professionals. The man who spends nine hours at a desk, then two hours driving, then sits through dinner with the same swollen leather brick under his hip is conducting a daily experiment on his own pelvis and sciatic pathway.

In my view, that is why this is important, as a workplace-health issue rather than a routine clinical footnote. As it is, our work environment already raises the risk of back trouble, adding a one-sided lift under the pelvis is the ergonomic equivalent of sabotaging your own chair. Prolonged sitting is itself associated with sciatica risk and symptom aggravation.

There is also an important diagnostic detail. Not every buttock-and-leg pain pattern is classic spinal sciatica. Piriformis syndrome can also produce pain, numbness, or tingling in the buttock, hip, or upper leg when the piriformis muscle irritates or compresses the sciatic nerve. A rear-pocket wallet may contribute to that local mechanical irritation.

So, when a man says, ‘My X-ray scan was normal, but I still have pain down one leg,’ the answer may lie in habitual compression, soft-tissue irritation, posture, and sitting mechanics.

Still, good medicine requires honesty about evidence. The research linking fat wallets to sciatica-like symptoms is not as strong as the evidence for disc-related lumbar radiculopathy.

Much of it comes from case reports, case series, and narrative reviews rather than large trials. That means we should not blame every case of sciatica on a wallet, nor should we pretend a slim cardholder is a cure for all radiating leg pain.

But low-risk, common-sense interventions do not need perfect evidence when they are cheap, safe, and anatomically sensible. If a patient can remove a possible source of pain today, that is not pseudoscience. That is prevention, which quite literally is better than cure.

Quite simply, men should stop treating the back pocket as permanent storage. A wallet belongs in the front pocket, a jacket, a bag, or better yet – in a slimmer digital-era fashion piece. At the end of the day, workplace health is not only about furniture, but also about behaviour. You cannot out-engineer a bad daily habit if you cling to it for eight to ten hours at a time.

And if symptoms have already begun, the advice is unglamorous. Stay as active as possible, avoid long periods of sitting or lying down, correct posture, and seek assessment if pain is worsening or normal function is declining.

For suspected wallet-related symptoms, the first intervention may be what some authors jokingly call ‘wallectomy’… take the wallet out of the back pocket and keep it out. Stretching, strengthening, and physical therapy may help, especially when piriformis irritation is part of the picture.

What I would urge, however, is vigilance for the exceptions. Severe or progressive weakness, loss of bowel or bladder control, numbness around the genitals or anus, or sudden major neurological change are not ‘wallet problems’ until proven otherwise. Those are red flags that need urgent medical attention.

Monday evening at Standard Chartered headquarters did not feel like the end of a workday. The room was loud before the programme even started. Young professionals filled the seats, jackets still on, phones face down, conversations already running. Anyone who has ever been in a room full of ambitious young people knows the energy they carry. It is restless.

But this room was different.

Eric Karani was one of the faces. The 30-year-old works in financial services at an investment bank and walked in as a guest, brought along by a friend. He has heard about Toastmasters before, but never joined. He came because something at work was not working and he has been trying to figure it out.

‘We all have degrees and technical skills. But the moment a meeting room is quiet and all eyes turned on you, the words that felt so clear in your head stop making sense when they come out of your mouth,’ says Eric.

That gap, the one between knowing something and being able to say it in a way that moves people, was the reason the room was full that night.

‘I could pay interview coaches when I had an interview coming up. I was planning to join a group called Engage Kenya and their speaking training fee was about Sh50,000 for three months.’

The coaching helped each time. But the problem kept coming back because the root of it had never been fixed. According to Eric, the cause is something he has watched across his professional circles.

‘The biggest challenge actually is being able to learn how to lead, influence and take your own space,’ he said.

‘I don’t think we have a challenge of opportunities. When you go into forums where you find founders, hiring and recruiters, they actually have a challenge of hiring. So it is not that we do not have jobs. It is just that we are not able to articulate ourselves, to show the sort of value that we can offer.’

He also points to social media, the very thing that was supposed to make this generation more connected, has quietly made real conversation difficult.

‘Before, with less social media, we would easily interact, even just having one-on-one conversations,’ he said.

‘With social media, it is a good tool but also a bad tool when you are not able to manage it. I believe that is the biggest thing that we have as a challenge among we young people.’

Eric is not sure what he will get from Toastmasters or how long it will take. But he knows he came looking for something that will stick. ‘I feel that I will get to learn and grow my communication skills.’

While Eric is a first timer, Wangari Kamau had already been in that room for three years. She remembered what it felt like to be new, because her first days were not what she expected either. Wangari is 31 and runs her own small business, working mostly from home.

‘I was looking for an excuse first to dress up, to leave the house, and also an opportunity to meet new people who are inspiring.’

But she draws a line that most people walk past without noticing. Being a good communicator and a good public speaker are two completel different things. She considers herself the first. The second one terrifies her.

‘I feel like I have always been a good communicator but I have always struggled with public speaking because that requires an external confidence and I am more of an introvert,’ she said.

‘Toastmasters helped me develop the art of public speaking. It is not just learning how to communicate but learning how to perform and that is what I’m here for.’

Her first speech made that gap impossible to ignore: ‘I froze…it was a mirror for all my insecurities.’

She has thought a lot about where that fear comes from. She does not think it starts in the office.

‘I am not talking about the scary big traumas that people imagine, but just the way we were raised, the behaviours that were reinforced, the messages that we got growing up shaped us as adults,’ she said.

Three years in, she still gets stuck sometimes. A speech she prepared recently went wrong on stage, and she had to face the disappointment.

‘There is no point A, B and C. It is like a muscle that you just have to keep exercising. You cannot say I have been to the gym, I have big muscles, I will stop. You have to keep going.’

Frank Tsuro has served on the Toastmasters International Board of Directors from 2023 to 2025 and was in Nairobi as part of a listening tour across East Africa. He sits in these rooms to find out whether the programme is reaching people where they actually need it.

‘The biggest communication gap I see is the ability to think on our feet and speak without a script,’ he said.

‘Universities teach students how to prepare presentations and rehearse speeches. What they rarely teach is how to respond when someone in a boardroom asks an unexpected question and every senior person in the room is subconsciously assessing how you handle pressure.’

He explains what is happening inside the mind in those moments. The person is not just thinking about the idea they want to share. At the same time, they are asking themselves whether they are wrong, whether people like them, whether they are senior enough to speak, and whether they might embarrass themselves.

‘The brain naturally prioritises what it perceives as a threat, and in that moment the threat is usually social embarrassment, not articulation,’ he said.

‘So the idea does not disappear. It gets suppressed. That is why communication under pressure requires practice, not just knowledge.’

He says this is where many careers quietly fall apart without people ever understanding why.

‘A young professional who lacks situational awareness will often make the right moves at the wrong time, with the wrong audience and in the wrong tone, then wonder why nothing lands.

“Nobody usually explains what is happening. The individual starts believing they are not smart enough or talented enough, when the real issue is that they were navigating organisational politics without understanding the rules.’

Remote and hybrid work, he says, did not create the communication problem but made it difficult to hide.

‘Screen-based communication removes much of the non-verbal information people naturally rely on to read a room, build trust, and sense engagement,’ he said.

‘Many young professionals become professionally invisible in hybrid environments not because they lack intelligence or ideas, but because they have never been taught how to claim digital space effectively. Over time, that invisibility compounds quietly, and the career consequences follow.’

According to the April 2025 AI Talent Readiness Index report, produced by Qubit Hub and Qhala, Kenya ranked fourth in Africa with a score of 49.70.

The report, which assesses a country’s capacity to develop, retain, and deploy artificial intelligence talent across the pillars of digital skills, data and infrastructure, as well as government readiness, further recommended that each signatory state should consider training at least 15 percent of its population on AI awareness by 2028.

Yet beneath this ambitious goal lies a gap, between AI adoption and AI literacy, between the use of these AI systems and developing the competence required to understand their risks, ethical implications and governance requirements. Which leads to a simple yet meaningful question: Is AI literacy simply a useful skill, or is it becoming a compliance requirement?

Global developments across the world suggest the latter. In April 2025, the US President issued an Executive Order to promote AI competency. Similarly, Beijing formally mandated eight hours of AI education in schools starting September 2025.

In Europe, Article 4 of the European Union’s AI Act, whose supervision and enforcement rules apply from August 3, 2026, requires organisations to ensure that employees and relevant stakeholders possess ‘sufficient AI literacy’.

Closer to home, the proposed Kenya Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026 offers an early indication of a similar direction. Part V places responsibility on the Artificial Intelligence Commissioner to promote public awareness of AI’s benefits, risks, and ethical implications.

This is significant. When a regulator is tasked with education and capacity building, it typically signals a transition phase from voluntary adoption to expected competence.

In practice, organisations deploying AI systems, especially high-risk systems, will likely need to demonstrate understanding of AI risks, ethics, and governance to meet emerging compliance expectations.

This shift is also being recognised within the corporate sector, as highlighted in the 2025 KPMG Africa CEO Outlook, in which 81 per cent of African CEOs interviewed believe AI upskilling will directly lead to organisational success in the near term.

As a starting point, AI literacy must move beyond general awareness. It is not enough for executives to know ‘how much return on investment AI will bring’.

Organisations will need structured, role-based training programmes accompanied by clear internal AI Usage guidelines that define acceptable use, accountability, and risk management.

Equally important, both the training and the guidelines should be inclusive and written in simple, accessible language, and delivered in accessible formats, including for persons with disabilities, to ensure that no one is excluded from developing the literacy required to participate safely, and responsibly in an AI-driven society.

Secondly, you cannot regulate what you do not understand, and you cannot comply with rules governing systems you cannot interpret. This is key for Kenya and indeed, for much of the world.

For example, obligations such as transparency, bias mitigation, and risk assessment require not just technical competence but human capability.

That said, regulators are unlikely to assess only the technical performance of AI systems, they will likely assess how organizations understand risks, document processes, and respond to AI failures, including ownership and accountability.

This requires employees and management to have some level of awareness on how AI models function, where risks rise, and to what extent these risks are managed and by who or whom.

Thirdly, the public sector must keep pace. Kenya’s emphasis on institutional capacity building is well placed. Regulators and policymakers will need sufficient AI literacy to interpret the law, enforce it consistently, and adapt it as technology evolves.

Read: Why gaps in AI Bill could expose Kenya to data exploitation risks

Without this foundational understanding, even the most well-designed regulatory framework risks becoming difficult to implement and enforce.

Lastly, considering the projected economic growth of AI in Africa’s economy which is estimated to reach $2.9 trillion by 2030, this will lead to significant transformation for Africa.

Amid this projected growth, AI literacy within organisations, corporate boards, and regulatory institutions, must be fully integrated, not merely as a matter of convenience or competitive advantage, but as an essential foundation for responsible, ethical and inclusive participation in the AI driven society and its emerging regulatory frameworks.

Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has been cleared to proceed with the award of an Sh817 million consultancy tender to Mace YMR LLP for the design and construction of the Nairobi Railway City Central Station after the procurement watchdog dismissed a challenge by a rival bidder.

The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board upheld the corporation’s decision to disqualify Dar Kenya/Dar Plus Joint Venture at the preliminary evaluation stage, finding that the consortium failed to meet mandatory requirements set out in the tender document.

The project forms part of infrastructure developments jointly financed by the governments of Kenya and the United Kingdom under the UK Export Finance (UKEF) Framework.

The two firms had submitted bids to provide consultancy services for the flagship project. However, after the preliminary evaluation, Dar Kenya/Dar Plus JV’s bid was declared non-responsive and excluded from further consideration, while Mace YMR LLP advanced to the technical evaluation stage.

Mace YMR LLP’s proposal was subsequently found to be responsive and substantially compliant, with a proposed contract sum of Sh817,677,187.

In its review before the board, Dar Kenya/Dar Plus JV argued that its disqualification was unlawful because the shortcomings identified by Kenya Railways amounted to minor deviations that did not affect the substance of its bid.

The consortium relied on Article 227 of the Constitution and Section 79 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, which allow procuring entities to disregard minor deviations that do not materially alter a tender.

The firm contended that omissions relating to certain practising licences for auditors and missing signatures in audited accounts were minor defects that could not justify disqualification.

It further maintained that its bid had initially passed the mandatory evaluation stage and proceeded to technical evaluation, demonstrating that the procuring entity had considered it responsive before later reversing its position.

Kenya Railways, however, defended the decision, insisting that the bid failed to satisfy mandatory requirements and was therefore properly disqualified.

The corporation argued that Article 227(1) of the Constitution and Sections 79 and 80 of the procurement law require procuring entities to evaluate bids strictly in accordance with criteria contained in the tender document and do not permit the waiver of mandatory requirements.

The board heard that bidders were required to submit certified audited accounts for any three consecutive financial years drawn from 2021, 2022, 2023 and or 2024.

Lawmakers have recommended an additional Sh388.16 million allocation to Kenya’s anti-money laundering agency for the fiscal year starting July to rescue Kenya from the global dirty money ‘grey list’ and avert deeper scrutiny of its financial system.

The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning said the funding is intended to strengthen operations at the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) and help Kenya close compliance gaps identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering watchdog.

Kenya was placed on the FATF grey list on February 23, 2024, after the global watchdog flagged weaknesses in the country’s systems for combating money laundering, terrorism financing and illicit financial flows.

The watchdog cited failures in prosecuting money laundering cases, weak oversight of virtual assets and cryptocurrencies, and inadequate monitoring of non-profit organisations and beneficial ownership structures in Kenya.

Grey-listing does not trigger sanctions, but signals weaknesses in safeguards against illicit finance, prompting foreign investors and international financial institutions to subject transactions from affected countries such as Kenya to enhanced checks.

Failure to satisfy FATF requirements could expose Kenya to heightened international scrutiny, slower cross-border transactions and increased compliance costs for banks and businesses.

The parliamentary committee, in its report on the 2026-27 budget estimates to the House, recommended the extra allocation ‘to support the FRC to enhance operations and close the FATF implementation gap and remove Kenya from the grey list’.

The move comes after the FRC warned lawmakers earlier this month that its current budget is insufficient to sustain basic operations, threatening Kenya’s campaign to exit the FATF watchlist.

Treasury PS Chris Kiptoo has since pledged that Kenya will intensify reforms and work to exit the grey list by this May, warning there may be little room for extension.

‘We really need to work hard. I am not sure we can have the opportunity to extend the greylisting period,’ said Dr Kiptoo in February.

The proposed allocation by MPs follows disclosures by FRC Director-General Naphtaly Rono, who told the parliamentary committee that the agency’s current allocation in the budget estimates effectively left the agency paralysed.

The FRC had initially requested Sh2.49 billion for the financial year beginning July, but was allocated a budgetary ceiling of Sh765.5 million, leaving a funding gap of Sh1.73 billion.

Mr Rono said the anti-money laundering authority had revised its requirements downward and needed at least an additional Sh564.9 million to attain a minimum operational threshold of Sh1.33 billion.

He told the lawmakers that the allocation in the Budget estimates before the National Assembly would be fully consumed by salaries and fixed administrative expenses, leaving no money for investigations, inspections or intelligence analysis.

Personnel costs require Sh479.3 million, while office rent, utilities, insurance and staff medical cover account for another Sh286.2 million, Mr Rono said.

‘Our operational funds remaining stand at zero,’ Mr Rono had told the committee. ‘We cannot exit the grey list without a well-funded exit plan.’

The disclosures have exposed the widening gap between Kenya’s anti-money laundering commitments and the shrinking resources available to the agency spearheading the effort.

The FRC’s budget has steadily declined over the past three financial years, falling from Sh1.70 billion in 2022/23 to Sh1.29 billion in 2023/24 before dropping further to Sh570 million in 2024/25 fiscal year.

The shrinking budget has constrained inspections, delayed registration of reporting entities and reduced public outreach programmes, raising concerns over enforcement gaps in Kenya’s financial system.

Kenya’s anti-money laundering framework requires banks, financial institutions and designated reporting entities such as law firms, real estate agencies, NGOs, casinos and betting firms, to flag suspicious financial activity to the FRC.

Cash transactions worth $15,000 (about Sh1.94 million) and above, as well as cross-border transfers exceeding $10,000 (Sh1.3 million), must be reported.

Institutions are also required to report suspicious transactions regardless of the amount involved.

However, the FRC says it currently lacks the resources to process the more than 10,000 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) it receives annually.

The figure marks a dramatic increase from the 34 reports handled when the agency was established in 2012, reflecting the rapid expansion and complexity of Kenya’s financial system.

The FATF grey listing has intensified pressure on Kenyan authorities to tighten oversight of financial flows amid growing concern over illicit cash movements, terrorism financing and abuse of emerging digital payment systems.

Kenyan banks and financial institutions already enforces stricter customer due diligence requirements, including verification of beneficial ownership and enhanced monitoring of high-risk transactions.

Authorities have also adopted an inter-agency enforcement strategy involving the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Attorney-General’s office, the Asset Recovery Agency and the Business Registration Service.

The additional Sh388.16 million proposed by MPs is expected to partially restore operational capacity at the FRC, although it still falls short of the amount the agency says it requires to function effectively.

The parliamentary committee’s recommendation sets the stage for a wider budget battle as lawmakers weigh competing spending priorities against growing international pressure to strengthen Kenya’s financial crime enforcement regime.

Anna Wanjiru did not start her bakery to make money. It was her way of dealing with her child’s medical condition.

“My daughter was diagnosed with severe eczema in 2018, when she was about two years old. One of the things the doctor recommended was removing gluten from her diet,” says the 38-year-old mother of three.

‘When I did some research, I found out that this would mean cutting out treats such as chapati, biscuits, toast and cake. I kept wondering: what would I do on her birthdays?’

It was this question that set Anna on a path of exploring and experimenting with gluten-free options.

‘I wasn’t going to let my daughter miss out on life,’ she says. ‘So I joined an online school and took a course in culinary nutrition.’

The course also helped her pursue a personal goal of embracing healthier eating without feeling like her options were limited.

“I gained a lot of knowledge on how to work with different ingredients and create healthy, appealing and delicious food,” she says. ‘After I was certified, I started experimenting with different flour combinations, searching for one that behaved like wheat.’

She explains that gluten acts as the natural glue that holds dough together, giving wheat its stretch and structure. However, replicating that quality proved challenging. Anna kept searching because most combinations required the addition of xanthan gum, a binding agent, but this can cause stomach irritation in some people. It took her about three years of trial and error to come up with the right mixture.

‘I discovered that Indians often fast from gluten, yet they still make foods like naan and roti,’ she says. ‘I was curious about how they managed that, and that’s how I found the perfect mixture.’

She says that a blended combination of amaranth, tapioca, and water chestnut closely mimics the behaviour of wheat. The breakthrough made her so excited that she didn’t hesitate to open a bakery straight away.

“I had tried it at home, and we were eating everything from chapati to cinnamon buns and cake,” she says. ‘I quickly wanted to share these options with others who had the same dietary restrictions.’

However, she didn’t anticipate the level of demand.

“We started getting orders from outside Nairobi. But, as you can imagine, when you ship doughnuts or chapati all the way to Kisumu, they’re not in the best condition by the time they arrive,” she says.

Anna shut down all operations and went back to the drawing board when she saw that the model was not immediately scalable. This was in 2021. With a broader customer base in mind, she decided to focus on one core product: gluten-free all-purpose flour.

‘I concentrated on perfecting the flour’s consistency and getting the right suppliers, as well as its packaging,’ she says. ‘It is particularly sensitive to moisture in the air, so if you leave it out, it can start to clump together.’

Today, Homechef’s gluten-free flour is packaged in waterproof 500-gramme packs designed to preserve freshness for about two years and easy to transport. Each pack retails at Sh395.

However, flour is not the only product that Homechef offers. In 2024, Anna returned to the bakery business, initially operating from home before securing a dedicated space in July 2025. Despite having never sold it before, she also introduced gluten-free bread to her menu.

‘The demand shocked us again,’ she says. “People started asking for variety, so we introduced different types of bread, cakes, and muffins.”

As the range of products expanded, the space quickly became too small. After only six months, the business relocated to its current premises in Gigiri. What started with just two employees has grown into a bakery and café with 10 staff, offering more than 40 gluten-free products, as well as vegan and sugar-free options.

The majority of their ingredients are locally sourced and natural, except for the water chestnut used in the flour blend, which is imported from Asia because it is not grown locally.

Customers include families with one or more members who have dietary restrictions, young health-conscious consumers, and businesses such as health stores, restaurants and a regional airline caterer.

“Mothers are our biggest customers because they tend to have a similar story to mine, and they feel understood,” says Anna, adding that their best-selling product is the sandwich bread, which retails at Sh650. ‘Businesses mostly buy the flour from us so they can offer healthier options to their clients, although some also purchase the bread.’

Homechef sells about four to five tonnes of gluten-free flour per month for its core product. This figure is a combination of sales from their online platform, the bakery and stockists spread across the country, as well as a few in Uganda and Tanzania. However, while the revenue is enough to cover overheads, Anna is cautious about describing the business as profitable.

“I have invested around Sh4 million into it so far, and I keep reinvesting more,” she says. “Setting up and maintaining the standards for a fully gluten-free commercial kitchen is quite costly. But as a category leader, you’re also constantly investing in ways to improve and expand.”

However, behind Homechef’s growth story lies a set of challenges.

‘Initially, it was education,’ says Anna. ‘A lot of people just knew that when they ate certain foods, they would feel unwell. They didn’t know that they needed to avoid gluten altogether. They certainly didn’t know about alternative options. So we had to start by educating the market.’

The business used social media to address this issue, sharing information and raising awareness. Anna says that this approach also helped them to secure their first clients and has been a key driver of sales so far.

Another major challenge has been securing capital for expansion.

‘Many customers, including foreigners from around Africa and beyond, tell us that what we offer either does not exist in their countries or is simply not of the same standard,’ says Anna. “It’s not easy to get bread that tastes like wheat yet is not wheat, but we have that expertise. However, we still haven’t been able to meet demand, even here in Kenya, fully.’

She says the main reason for this is the difficulty in finding the right partners. These are people who are committed to producing real food without additives and maintaining the required standards.

“We don’t have to be the only company in this field, and it would be great if we could receive support to serve customers who really need this product,” she says. “Since relocating to our current location, for example, we have seen demand grow by about 30 per cent every month.”

The constant rise in taxation has also presented a hurdle for Homechef, particularly with regard to pricing.

‘Most of our customers do not buy these products out of luxury, but necessity,’ she says. “So, while I consider all the work that goes into our products, I also consider how expensive it can be to cater to the needs of someone who requires specialised care when setting prices. That is why we didn’t change the price of our flour for such a long time. It’s only recently that we have adjusted it slightly due to the cost of fuel.’

Throughout her journey, Anna says she has learned the importance of reading the small print, asking questions and not making any decisions in haste.

‘I have signed one or two agreements, including verbal ones, that have really set me back in business,’ she says. ‘I’ve also realised that whenever I rush into something, I end up getting burned, so I’ve become more patient.’

In the near future, Homechef plans to introduce a five kilogramme pack of flour for businesses. Looking further ahead, Anna’s goal is not only to grow the customer base, but also to make Homechef more accessible.

‘Even here in Gigiri, there are still so many people who don’t know about us,’ she explains. “At the same time, there are people who drive all the way from Lang’ata or place orders and pay high delivery fees, so we are looking to open a second bakery.”

She also plans to partner with a hospital and certain communities, such as those supporting children on the autism spectrum.

While Anna enjoys having the café because it allows people to sample products before buying them, she also appreciates the opportunity to interact with her community. Ultimately, however, her dream is to set up a large production-only kitchen.