Category: Business Daily

The Auditor-General has flagged under-allocation of tenders to marginalised businesses by Kenya Power in the year ended June 2025, even as the firm awarded deals worth Sh3.5 billion to the groups.

The Auditor-General, Nancy Gathungu, says that the firm failed to meet the constitutional requirement that mandates all State-owned entities to reserve 30 percent of all tenders for businesses owned by youth, women, and persons with disabilities under Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (Agpo).

‘Review of the company’s approved procurement plan for the year under review revealed that only 11 percent of the procurement budget was reserved for disadvantaged groups,’ Ms Gathungu said.

Kenya Power disclosed that the value of tenders awarded to these groups jumped 470 percent to Sh3.5 billion in the year under review as the firm stepped up efforts to meet the constitutional requirement.

The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, compels State corporations to allocate 30 percent of their tenders to these three groups under Agpo, as part of economic affirmative action that was launched more than a decade ago.

Agpo targets deals that are not highly technical, such as the supply of common-user items and basic services. This means the groups automatically miss out in any year when a State agency focuses more on highly technical projects.

Out of the Sh3.5 billion worth of deals awarded under Agpo, youth-owned businesses took Sh2.2 billion, followed by women-owned businesses with Sh1.25 billion, and persons with disabilities with Sh66.7 million.

Kenya Power is one of the State-owned firms whose tendering under Agpo for the year ended June 2025 has already been scrutinised by the Auditor-General.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) disclosed that it awarded Sh2.23 billion in deals under Agpo against a target of Sh2.57 billion in the year ended June 2025.

Gulf Energy wants the government to extend the railway to Lokichar in Turkana County by 2030 to transport crude oil to the port of Mombasa, marking a departure from the State’s earlier plan to build a pipeline.

The firm has in its Field Development Plan (FDP) proposed the construction of a meter-gauge railway (MGR) from Lokichar, then connect it to the main MGR line at Kitale, Eldoret, Nakuru, Nyahururu, or Nanyuki.

The proposed construction of the railway, to be fully funded by the government, is a shift from the earlier plan to build an export pipeline from the oilfields to the port of Lamu at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion (Sh193.5 billion at current rates).

Gulf Energy targets to start commercial production of the oil from six discoveries within blocks T6 and T7 in South Lokichar by the end of 2026 and will initially rely on trucks to transport the commodity when production starts at 20,000 stock tank barrels per day (stb/d).

‘GEBV (Gulf Energy BV) requests that GOK (Government of Kenya) provide a railway line in Lokichar, Turkana by H2 (second half) 2030 to support increasing production to 50,000 stb/d,’ Gulf Energy says in the FDP, which is now awaiting ratification by Parliament.

The combined costs of trucking and rail transport in the two phases are estimated to be $5.32 billion (Sh687.29 billion at current rates).

Oil production will be done in stages, with the first stage targeting 20,000 stb/d from 48 wells in the Ngamia and Amosing fields. Monthly exports are projected at 600,000 barrels.

The second phase will ramp this to 50,000 stb/d and will extend the project area to the Twiga, Ekales, Agete, and Etom oilfields. The monthly exports are anticipated to jump to 1.5 million barrels.

The FDP shows that 600 trucks will be deployed daily in phase one and 155 rail wagons daily when the production is stepped up in phase two.

‘Apart from extension of the railway line, the Government or its railway agents will need to invest in sufficient rolling stock, railway line rehabilitation, and construct appropriate railway siding at KPRL (Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited) to enable the operation,’ Gulf added.

The shift to a hybrid transport of trucks and trains is intended to minimize capital cost while maintaining production potential, helping Kenya to fast-track gains from the project.

Gulf fully bought the Block T6 (formerly 10BB) and Block T7 (previously 13T) from Tullow Kenya BV (the Kenyan subsidiary of British oil explorer) in a $120 million (Sh15.5 billion) deal that was closed in October this year.

The Kenyan oil company intends to start commercial production of the crude oil by December 2026. This plan got a major boost after the Ministry of Energy approved its FDP and sent it to Parliament for ratification.

The MGR currently terminates at Eldoret, and its extension to South Lokichar is seen as more viable than using trucks per day to ferry the crude oil from the wells to Eldoret, from where it is loaded onto the rail.

Failure to extend the rail to South Lokichar could see Gulf forced to deploy a fleet of 1,500 trucks to ferry the commodity when production progresses to 50,000 stb/d.

Gulf says that the government can opt to extend the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line from Naivasha to Lokichar, setting the stage for haulage of 561 barrels per wagon.

The SGR currently terminates at Naivasha, but it is set to be extended to Kisumu and the border town of Malaba.

The extension, which is meant to ease movement between Kenya and Uganda, is likely to be funded via a 15-year bond worth Sh390 billion.

There are many reasons for organisations to align and embed sustainability within their purpose. When organisations consider the economic, ethical, strategic and legal imperatives for this course of action, it transforms how sustainability is situated within the organisation.

Unfortunately, some organisations have been unable to take sustainability beyond a siloed activity or plan focused on a limited aspect of the organisation to something holistic and integrated into its purpose.

For example, some organisations limit their sustainability efforts to waste and pollution reduction or avoidance, which is a commendable initiative but falls short of the other significant imperatives that sustainability can offer the organisation, such as business growth.

RelatedWe also see organisations that have incorrectly restricted or defined sustainability to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities alone. It is usually due to a misunderstanding of sustainability within the corporate context and an inability to extend its integration across the entire organisation. To move sustainability from the periphery to the centre, organisations should consider the following.

First, aligning and connecting the organisation’s purpose with sustainability.

In other words, how do the societal challenges organisations aim to solve align with the sustainability agenda? When well aligned, it enables the organisations to identify the material non-financial issues that will impact their future viability and prospects. Through this process, organisations can map out relevant, like-minded partners aligned with their purpose.

The next step is to develop the ‘what’ and ‘how’.

The ‘what’ helps the organisation define the impact of sustainability across its functions and requires an assessment of how sustainability would transform each function.

Organisations can solve the ‘how’ by incorporating sustainability into existing processes and structures. It will ensure that sustainability is not designed to operate on a parallel track within the organisation, but an integral part of existing frameworks and processes.

Finally, organisations should set the key performance indicators used to track performance against targets, including those that promote accountability.

When sustainability is central within an organisation, CSR efforts, for example, are better refined and integrated into the organisation’s broader operations in an enduring manner.

Organisations must ensure constant engagement with stakeholders throughout this journey, including through reporting that enhances transparency and builds trust.

Breakfast in Malindi. Dinner in Milan. This is how Daniel Kirui Njoroge would ideally live his life. He travels a lot, you see. This, travelling, is his love story. He loves Malindi so much so that he, in the past year, has learned how to swim. This is the promise of life as you like it-an unscrolling vista of pleasure and indulgence.

Like a dimension you could slip into, or be sucked into, by an undertow. Why Malindi? Until you are in it, you don’t know; but when you are in it, it’s all that you know. Though he travels a lot, he is actually not a dilettante, but a businessman. He is the Managing Director of Afropack Group, which offers engineered integrated processing and packaging solutions, all done in Italy. Italy, where he borrows his Mediterranean diet and gioia de vivre. Joy of living. With his ease of being, he seems to be able to wear life as a loose overcoat.

‘I do not overdo in eating or drinking,’ he says. That’s his secret to staying fit, and it could be yours too. Everything in moderation, including moderation.

What’s keeping you excited about this holiday season?

Actually, since I’m at the coast, the thing that is actually making me excited at the moment is the real estate here, because it’s a generational changeover. I’m finding it interesting because many at the coast, especially Malindi, have a lot of Italians, the older generations, who are now trying to sell their properties off to the newcomers. This change of generation is making me understand we have so much potential at the coast, and can bring it back home.

Have you always been a beach person?

I consider myself a beach person. I like the sunshine, I like the weather and the Indian Ocean.

Did you grow up around the beach back in the day?

I grew up in Nairobi with its coldness. Then I went to school in Murang’a and Nyeri . Back then, for me, the coast was only for the people who had money.

When you’re planning a holiday, are you trying to recreate your childhood memories or find new ones?

I try to find new ones. What I normally try to do is to visit new places, a new country or city, so that I can try to understand it better. This is the second time in four years that I’m actually going to spend my holidays in Kenya.

Everyone has their own version of holiday stress. What’s yours?

The phone calls. We always have to be connected. You always have to check your phone because during the year, you’re always on the phone and everything. So when you’re relaxed, maybe you receive only two phone calls, and you start asking yourself what’s wrong?

How then do you permit yourself to rest?

I’ll be honest with you, I have really struggled with that. And this is actually the first year that I’m going to do that because all the past years, I’ve always been pushing work during the Christmas holidays because we normally have deliveries of some equipment. But this is now my me-time, and I am intentional about keeping it that way.

What’s a family holiday ritual that you’ve carried into adulthood?

Goat-eating ceremony around Christmas time. I got that from my parents and uncles, and I tend to carry it along.

What sort of activities put you at ease during the festive season?

I love to swim, I love the water, so even sitting down in the swimming pool or maybe in the ocean, having the waves beat against your feet is therapeutic. I recommend it.

How long have you been swimming?

A year. I’m not a good swimmer, but I’ve decided to do these things, and next year I’m going to start playing golf. I’m trying to do these strange sports that push me past the normal boundaries.

If you could take only one swimmer’s ritual into the new year, what would it be?

When you wake up in the morning and you’re feeling a bit clammy, enter the water.

What do you want to leave behind in 2025?

The belief that I cannot make it. It’s something that has accompanied me during the whole year, and especially during the difficult times, that everything is going to work out.

What are you most proud of this year?

The connections and networks that I’ve made. That is one thing. Can I also say I’m actually proud of being featured by the Business Daily for the first time in my entire business career [chuckles]? And the third thing is the award that I received an awars– the CEO to Watch of the Year in the Top 100 Executive List Awards. Those are the three highlights of the year that I cherish.

What is one resolution you made yourself that you are proud of accomplishing or having kept?

The one thing that I told myself is that I have to risk it all. And I did that. I made the right choice. I went to Nigeria for two months; it was not easy.

Do you always travel alone?

Most of the time, yeah. But for this part, for the second part of the year, I travel with my family.

Do you get lonely?

No, I don’t. Funnily enough, I was in boarding school since I was a kid. So I’m very much used to that kind of life. It’s only you and you.

Do you still have a thirst for travelling?

I do. Because when you travel, your brain really opens up. That gets me quite excited.

How has travel changed over the years?

Travel has changed a lot. I was actually considering this when talking to my mum the other day. For her, she doesn’t understand why someone can take around 50-60 flights per year, which is one or two flights every month. It has become a common thing because flights are no longer that expensive, making it simpler to travel around. You can have breakfast in Malindi and dinner in Italy.

Do you ever worry about your carbon footprint?

Yes, I do.

But?

But, as I said, we are supposed to actually start small. Beginning with the simple things that we do in our homes. For example, since I come from packaging, I find it highly unusual for people to continue buying things in plastic bottles rather than converting to recyclable materials, which leaves a lesser impact on the community and the environment.

Are you keeping a diet over the holidays?

I try not to overdo eating or drinking. But I have a regular diet. Thankfully, I’m from the Italian school, which is a Mediterranean diet. So, that keeps me fit. For me, holidays don’t mean overindulging in food and drinks, but it’s actually a time to relax your body, your mind, and everything.

What are you looking forward to doing most this period?

I’m looking to spend more time with family.

Summarise your year with a song, a food, a bird, an animal.

It’s Chris Brown’s ‘Holy Blindfold.’ The idea is that when you are blindfolded and you close your eyes, you have to trust in instinct.

What has been this year’s most unexpected gift?

Kindness.

From yourself or strangers?

No, from people that I would never have expected. Kindness and recognition. I must say it’s like that.

How are you stepping into the new year?

I’m entering 2026 with a blast. I’ll be much more rested and energetic moving forward. Whatever I do this year, I’ll double it next year.

What have you finally stopped chasing in 2025?

I’m chasing everything at the moment. Let me be honest [chuckles]. I’m still young, so all the doors on my side are still open, and I know I can make it, so I’ll see it through.

Well, rather, what have you stopped trying to control?

What people think about me.

What success metric no longer defines you?

A major recognition internationally.

What have you forgiven yourself for this year?

Not being able to be there for some people who expected me to be there. I’ve come to learn that I can’t be everywhere at the same time.

What are you thanking yourself for?

I’m thanking myself for being a better version of myself than the person I was two to three years ago.

And how does that person look like now?

That person is funny enough, he’s still a kid who is learning and gets interested in the simple things in life.

Give us your top tip for 2026.

Across Kenya’s business and technology, there are creative and social founders scaling global firms, engineers turning ideas into billion-shilling value chains and community leaders redefining modern African leadership.

They are measured less by titles and more by the systems they are fixing, the jobs they are creating, and the futures they are building.

That reality was visible during this year’s Top 40 Under 40 Men awards, in which nearly 1,000 men were nominated, reflecting the growing depth of Kenya’s young leadership pipeline.

Kenya’s social media scene is bouncing back after a slower growth period, adding 3.3 million new active accounts between February and October 2025.

The 21.9 percent rise follows a near-stall in 2024 when the accounts grew 15.9 percent, which was a slowdown from the 38.2 percent surge recorded in 2023.

New statistics from global insights platform Datareportal show that by October, Kenyans were running 18.4 million active social media entities, which was equivalent to 31.8 percent of the population.

‘Social media user identities may not represent unique individuals,’ notes Datareportal in the report.

While the slower growth in 2024 had signaled a near saturation of the country’s online market, this year’s rebound points to renewed adoption driven by mobile access and youthful users, as well as expanded content offerings.

Data shows that TikTok led this year’s rebound, adding 4.72 million users, which was a 34.6 percent jump, including one million in between July and October, in an expansion that lays bare how short-form video formats continue to capture younger audiences and shape trends nationwide.

Meta-owned Facebook, however, retains its position as Kenya’s central platform, hitting 17 million users after it gained 3.4 million new accounts during the review period, which represented a 25 percent rise.

This, the report notes, demonstrates the app’s sustained relevance among communities, local businesses, and older users.

This came at a time when Facebook’s sister platform, Instagram, added 800,000 new users, driven chiefly by its appeal for lifestyle content, visual storytelling, and influencer-driven engagement among urban youth.

Other networks that witnessed growth in new user numbers during the period were messaging platforms such as Messenger and Snapchat, which added 550,000 and 1.4 million new subscribers, respectively, reflecting shifting preferences toward private, interactive, and visual communication spaces.

Professional networking site LinkedIn, on its part, added 1.2 million new accounts to reach 26.9 percent of Kenya’s internet users aged 18 and above, indicating a rising focus on career development online.

‘This surge in digital activity has given rise to a wave of new online creators who are shaping trends, driving conversations, and turning their online presence into a livelihood,’ noted Caroline Kiarie, an Assistant Professor at Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications, in a recent Business Daily commentary.

According to the report, gender composition varies across platforms, with Snapchat and Instagram attracting more women, as TikTok and X skews male subscribers, while Facebook, Messenger, and LinkedIn show a more balanced demographic distribution among users.

Social media networks have, in recent years, evolved to become key drivers of prime economic activities, with businesses increasingly leveraging the growth in audiences to, among other things, showcase products, engage clients as well as conduct sales.

The platforms have also risen to become pronounced tools of youth-led civic and political activism, with agitators deploying them as a mobilisation and sensitisation stage.

Last year, the country witnessed historic youth-led protests, which culminated in the storming of Parliament, with the activities having largely been mobilised on platforms such as X, TikTok, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

The expanded online space has been largely powered by an aggressive penetration of smartphones across the population, with the latest official data showing that the devices stood at 43.7 million as at close of June 2025, as feature phones stood at 29.5 million.

The digital expansion comes as Kenya edges closer to saturation, making platforms’ appeal increasingly dependent on engagement quality, content relevance, and service innovation rather than mere account creation.

Earlier this year, a survey by global research firm GeoPoll, which sampled 3,945 respondents from Kenya, found that 36 percent of users in the country spend more than six hours daily on social media.

‘The survey reveals how users allocate their time on social media…The majority, accounting for 35 percent, spend between three and six hours daily on these platforms,’ wrote GeoPoll in its report.

‘Following closely, 31 percent of users engage for one to three hours.’

According to the survey, the respondents said social media had a positive impact on their overall well-being and mental health (60 percent), with an additional 23 percent saying it was somewhat positive.

In January this year, Kenyan authorities had spelt out a plot to compel social media firms to establish offices within the country’s borders as part of the measures to tame what the government termed as ‘rising abuse’ of the online platforms by users.

Reported malaria cases in Kenya increased by 27 percent last year, pushing the country higher in global disease burden rankings, a new global report shows.

An annual report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that Kenya recorded 4,186,000 cases in 2025, up from 3,294,000 in 2024 – an additional 892,000 cases that moved Kenya to position 23 globally from 21, and from position 21 to 20 within Africa.

The WHO classifies Kenya as a high-burden country for malaria, with the disease remaining endemic and posing a significant public health challenge throughout 2024 and into 2025.

This dramatic surge occurred despite numerous malaria interventions put in place during 2024 to contain transmission.

During that year, Kenya carried out a national insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaign, implemented Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) under the ITTP programme, expanded Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), and continued the rollout of the malaria vaccine in endemic counties.

The increase has raised Kenya’s share of the global malaria burden from 1.3 percent in 2023 to 1.5 percent currently, with the country now accounting for 5.7 percent of total estimated malaria cases globally.

Among children under five, Kenya’s contribution has similarly risen to 1.5 percent, representing millions of young lives affected by a preventable disease.

The WHO attributes the increase in malaria transmission to a severe global funding cut, which halved globally, from $879.4 million (Sh113.7 billion) to $439 million (Sh56.8 billion), reflecting the absence of US country-level allocations in 2024.

Earlier in the year, the US administration paused foreign aid, impacting global health programmes such as Pepfar and leading to legal challenges through an executive order, which also saw the US withdraw from the WHO.

The executive order also paused transfers of US funds to the WHO and recalled US personnel working with the organisation, citing mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, failure to adopt reforms, and political interference from member states.

‘Total malaria funding decreased by about 50 percent between 2015 and 2024, from $879 million to $439 million, marking one of the sharpest contractions in global malaria investment in the last decade. This reduction has created serious gaps in prevention, diagnostics, and treatment financing, particularly in high-burden countries that rely heavily on external support,’ said the WHO.

The UN health agency also identifies climate change as a major contributor to escalating transmission, as shifting rainfall patterns and rising temperatures expand mosquito breeding habitats, increasing infection rates in areas previously considered low-risk or malaria-free.

Similarly, extended rainy seasons in 2024, combined with flooding in several regions, created ideal breeding conditions for Anopheles mosquitoes – the vectors that transmit malaria.

The sale of the government’s 15 percent stake in Safaricom has elicited healthy debate. Some critics of the deal argue that the State is giving up a strategic asset and could be undervaluing the future earnings prospects of the firm.

Some reports have stated that the government would be leaving up to Sh15 billion worth of future dividend payments on the table by cashing out an upfront payment of Sh40.2 billion from Vodacom.

However, the trends and developments in the technology sector and the company’s planned investments in cutting-edge technology in the short to medium term provide a dynamic projection for future earnings.

In 2021, Safaricom paid out Sh36.8 billion in dividends. The following year, investors got Sh30 billion, which further fell to Sh24 billion in 2023 before rising to Sh26 billion in both 2024 and 2025.

Over the same period, the global economy has gone through a pandemic, a supply chain crisis, trade and tariff wars.

Dividend payments, which are anchored to the overall earnings companies make annually, vary year-on-year based on performance.

These can be volatile as a company’s performance in the market, particularly one that is as enmeshed in the global economy as a telecommunications firm, is subject to numerous trends and risks.

By opting for the initial Sh40.2 billion payment from Vodacom, the State is banking on the present time value of money, at an opportune moment for the country and the strategic telco.

Further, the government will still collect tax expenses from Safaricom, long considered among the largest corporate taxpayers in the country.

In 2025, Safaricom paid up Sh46 billion in income tax expense to the Treasury, up from Sh41 billion paid in 2024.

The funds from this transaction will further be seed capital for the National Infrastructure Fund and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, a boost to national development and future investment.

During his State of the Nation address last month, President William Ruto said the government would create the two funds to help marshal budgetary funds for infrastructure development and future investment.

The funds will be administered by the Treasury, with part of their objectives including providing a savings base for future generations when mineral and petroleum resources are exhausted. A portion of all royalties from natural resources and a portion of the proceeds of the privatisation of national assets will be invested in the fund.

The sell-off will aid the government in its efforts to raise domestic revenue in the face of a growing debt burden, which has seen Kenya’s public debt cross Sh11 trillion this year.

The government’s ceding of its stake in the telco will also broaden the company’s innovation wheel, now unhindered by bureaucratic red tape. This is expected to propel the firm’s growth at a time when international tech giants, including Meta, Alphabet, and Starlink, are making significant inroads into the region’s consumer tech market.

Family businesses are curious beasts. They begin with a patriarch’s sweat and vision, then morph into dynasties that either implode under the weight of entitlement or soar into the stratosphere of global capitalism.

Today, we explore two families who have left indelible marks on industry: the Quandt family of Germany, which is the majority owner of the luxury car brand BMW, and the Tatas of India.

BMW’s story begins in 1916, born from aircraft engine makers Rapp Motorenwerke and Gustav Otto’s Flugmaschinenfabrik. The company thrived in aviation during World War I, but the Treaty of Versailles clipped its wings, forcing BMW to pivot to motorcycles in the 1920s and cars in the 1930s.

The war years were darker: BMW produced aircraft engines for the Nazi regime, a legacy that still haunts its reputation. After 1945, Allied restrictions left BMW crippled, its factories bombed, and its future uncertain.

By the 1950s, BMW was struggling to find its footing. Its luxury sedans were too expensive, its microcars too quirky, and losses mounted. By 1959, Daimler-Benz was poised to swallow BMW whole.

And then came Herbert Quandt, who refused to let BMW vanish into the embrace of Mercedes. Already an existing shareholder, Herbert increased his stake, restructured finances, and set BMW on the road to becoming a global powerhouse.

Fast forward to today: Herbert’s children, Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten, own nearly half of BMW. Stefan holds about 23.6 percent and currently serves as Deputy Chairman of BMW’s supervisory board, a role he has held since 1999 after joining the board in 1997.

Susanne, with 19.1 percent, is Germany’s richest woman, diversifying into pharmaceuticals and advanced materials while anchoring her influence at BMW as a board director since 1997.

Now let’s pivot to India. Jamsetji Tata founded Tata Sons in 1868. His successors over the years have included his two sons, Dorabji and Ratanji Tata, followed by his nephew J.R.D. Tata, who led the business for an astonishing 53 years from 1938 to 1991.

Under J.R.D.’s stewardship, Tata expanded into airlines, steel, chemicals, and IT, embedding Tata into the fabric of modern India.

Jamsetji’s great grandson, Ratan Naval Tata, took over after J.R.D. and led the business for 21 years (1991-2012). Ratan modernised Tata, globalised its operations, and orchestrated acquisitions like Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea.

It is notable that Ratan came from an adopted line of the Tata family: his father, Naval Tata, was adopted by the widow of founder Jamsetji’s son, Sir Ratan Tata.

This detail underscores that Tata leadership was guided more by values and stewardship than by strict hereditary bloodlines. That’s five family members in direct leadership across more than 150 years.

But the transition to non-family members was not without its fair share of Bollywood drama. Before his appointment as the first non-Tata family chairman in 2012, Cyrus Mistry had already been part of Tata Sons’ inner circle.

In 2006, he joined the Board of Tata Sons as a director, representing the interests of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which is the single largest non-trust shareholder in Tata Sons (owning about 18 percent).

This board seat gave Mistry a front-row view of Tata’s governance and strategic decisions for six years before he ascended to the chairmanship. His presence was not incidental: it reflected the delicate balance between Tata Trusts’ majority control and the Pallonji family’s significant minority stake.

When Ratan Tata retired in 2012, Mistry’s board experience and shareholder backing made him the natural choice for succession, at least until the relationship soured.

But by 2016, the honeymoon was over. Mistry was abruptly ousted as chairman, sparking one of India’s most high-profile corporate governance battles.

Mistry revealed what he described as inordinate influence from the family trusts that collectively owned 66 percent of Tata Sons. He argued that the trusts exercised disproportionate influence, undermining board independence and accusing the board of opaque decision-making, particularly around legacy projects and debt-laden acquisitions.

His dismissal led to years of litigation, with India’s Supreme Court eventually upholding Tata Sons’ decision to remove him.

The saga unfortunately exposed fissures in Tata’s governance model, raising questions about how a trust-controlled conglomerate balances philanthropy with modern corporate accountability. It reminds us that even philanthropy-anchored governance can stumble when trust structures collide with boardroom realities.

So, what do we learn from this tale of two dynasties? The Quandts exemplify the classic European model: family ownership, professional management and wealth preserved for heirs. The Tatas flipped the script: family leadership for a few generations, then a deliberate handover to professionals, with ownership vested in trusts that serve society.

One family saved a car company. The other built a conglomerate that doubles as a philanthropic machine. Both models work, but they reveal different cultural priorities: wealth preservation versus a legacy of impact.

When former Family Bank Managing Director Peter Munyiri Maina refused to take the Sh30.6 million awarded to him by the Employment and Labour Relations Court over six years ago, he had set his sights on growing the money by 86.1 percent to Sh57.06 million.

That was on June 14, 2019. Fast forward to November 28, 2025, and the Court of Appeal has delivered its verdict: it remains Sh30.6 million. The gist of the legal battle centred on the rate the bank used to calculate his five-year gratuity.

While confirming the Sh30.6 million gratuity, the court also declined to award him any interest. In essence, inflation has undercut the economist and career banker, serving him a stark reminder of the time value of money-a shilling today is worth more than a shilling tomorrow. Or, as the old adage goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

‘It was the appellant’s (Mr Munyiri) view that he was entitled to interest at court rates from 14th July 2016 when the gratuity became due and payable or, in the alternative, at the ruling rate of interest of Treasury bonds, where he could have invested the money,’ the Court of Appeal said.

Mr Munyiri joined Family Bank on July 15, 2011, as the Managing Director and CEO on a five-year contract and exited on July 14, 2016, at the end of the contract, entitling him to gratuity. However, he differed with the lender over the applicable rate.

While he was pushing for a gratuity of 31 percent of gross pay, Family Bank pegged it at 18 percent. The legal battle was first decided in 2019, but Mr Munyiri appealed seeking a higher rate, award of costs of the suit, and interest.

Family Bank told the court that it could not have paid Mr Munyiri gratuity in 2016 because the gratuity due ‘had neither been settled nor agreed upon’ and that he ‘hurriedly’ filed the claim while they were trying to establish and agree on the applicable rates.

Mr Munyiri’s tenure saw the tier II lender’s performance rise before being shaken by the Sh791 million National Youth Service scandal of 2015. The lender was forced to part ways with nine managers and fined over the handling of the bulk of the money.

In the Munyiri legal battle with his former employer, the Court of Appeal sided with the bank, with the judge saying that the two parties had not agreed on the applicable rate of gratuity and therefore there was no basis for calculating the interest.

‘In these circumstances, it cannot be said that the respondent (Family Bank) wrongfully denied the appellant the money he was entitled to. In terms of rule 29(3) of the Employment and Labour Relations Court (Procedure) Rules, there was also no basis for awarding interest for the period before the filing of the suit,’ said the judge.

The Court of Appeal reminded Mr Munyiri of a 2018 High Court case, which stated the principles for awarding interest, including a requirement that the parties must have agreed on the rate of interest.

The court’s refusal to award interest means that inflation has eroded the real value of Munyiri’s payout over the six years.

In practical terms, the money he might have hoped to grow has lost significant purchasing power now.

Mr Munyiri’s stake in Family Bank was 10.22 million shares or 0.82 percent of the lender at the end of 2015, which marked his last full year at the bank.

When he took over, the bank had a net profit of around Sh391 million and assets of Sh20.2 billion. By 2015, before the NYS scandal, the bank’s net profit had surged to Sh1.98 billion before falling to Sh352.3 million the following year.

Customer deposits had grown from Sh21 billion in 2011 to Sh62.7 billion in 2015 before falling to Sh41.39 billion as the NYS scandal shook the confidence of depositors.

‘During my tenure as Family Bank MD, I managed to change it to be Kenya’s fastest-growing bank and created its new business model anchored on key growth pillars,’ he once said.

Mr Munyiri has worked for several big banks in Kenya. He is the former deputy group chief executive of KCB Bank Kenya, and also once served as the general manager of Co-operative Bank of Kenya. He has also held executive positions at Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays Bank of Kenya (now Absa Bank Kenya).

He holds a Head of State Commendations and an Order of the Golden Warrior for his contributions to the growth of the Kenyan banking industry and the transformation of small businesses in East Africa through financial intermediation.

Mr Munyiri holds a BA Honors degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi and an executive MBA from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers UK, a fellow of the Kenya Institute of Bankers, and an alumnus of several institutions, including Oxford University and Strathmore Business School.

He was appointed chairperson of the National Standards Council- the policy-setting body of the Kenya Bureau of Standards-by the President.

Mr Munyiri ventured into politics and contested to become the Nyeri County governor in the 2022 elections, drawing on his banking background and promise of economic transformation. However, he did not win.

In June 2023, President William Ruto appointed him the chairman of the National Standards Council- the policy-setting body of the Kenya Bureau of Standards – up to last year.