Category: Business Daily

For decades, Kenya’s credit system has relied on asset-backed lending, fixed repayment schedules, and risk-based pricing. While this ‘logbook and title deed’ approach has protected lenders, it has excluded many productive enterprises.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and growth-stage companies, whose real value lies not in land or machinery, but in predictable revenues and scalable business models, have particularly been affected.

As banks and private lenders grapple with rising non-performing loans (NPLs), stricter regulations, and evolving borrower profiles, traditional methods are proving inadequate.

Revenue-based financing (RBF) offers a credible alternative to this collateral-dependent system, especially when combined with insurance and credit guarantees.

At its core, RBF enables lenders to provide capital in exchange for a percentage of a borrower’s future revenues.

These payments are made periodically until an agreed-upon return is achieved. Repayments fluctuate with business performance, easing pressure during slow periods and accelerating recovery during peak seasons. Unlike fixed-term loans, RBF aligns repayment with cash flow. Unlike equity, it preserves ownership and control.

This structure makes RBF particularly attractive for businesses with recurring or predictable revenues, such as those in agribusiness, technology, climate solutions, healthcare, hospitality, and professional services. For lenders, it introduces a model where risk is shared rather than entirely transferred to the borrower.

Banks should view revenue-based financing not as a replacement for conventional lending, but as a tool to enhance their portfolios. By incorporating revenue-based products, they can extend credit to viable businesses with strong, verifiable cash flows but lacking traditional collateral.

Variable repayments reduce default risk during downturns, while flexible structures improve client retention and foster long-term relationships.

Technological advancements further strengthen the case for this model. Digital banking, point-of-sale integrations, and real-time revenue monitoring now allow lenders to more accurately track borrower performance, automate collections, and dynamically manage risk, moving beyond static financial statements and historical balance sheets.

To encourage regulated institutions to adopt revenue-based lending, the associated risks must be addressed. Insurance can significantly enhance RBF’s viability.

Revenue interruption insurance can protect lenders against income drops caused by external shocks like climate events or supply-chain disruptions.

Credit insurance can cover partial losses if borrowers fail before the agreed return is achieved. Portfolio-level insurance can smooth returns across multiple RBF transactions, making the model safer for lenders.

By transferring some downside risk to insurers, lenders can offer more competitive revenue-based products and expand access to credit without compromising prudential standards.

This represents a new underwriting opportunity for insurers, focused on performance risk supported by increasingly sophisticated business data, rather than static asset values.

Credit-guarantee mechanisms offer another powerful means for scaling RBF. Guarantees from development finance institutions, sovereign funds, or private guarantors can cover first-loss risk for banks piloting RBF products. This de-risks lending to priority sectors like agriculture and SMEs and improves capital efficiency under regulatory frameworks.

In practice, a bank could extend revenue-based financing to SMEs, supported by a partial credit guarantee and revenue interruption insurance. The result is a layered risk-sharing structure where borrowers, lenders, insurers, and guarantors are all aligned around performance, not just collateral.

Private lenders, such as fintechs, private debt funds, and alternative credit providers, have been quicker to adopt revenue-based models. Many already use it as a core strategy, efficiently recycling capital as repayments track revenue performance.

By partnering with insurers and guarantee providers, private lenders can responsibly scale ticket sizes, enter higher-risk sectors, and protect investor returns while offering founder-friendly capital.

However, the success of RBF depends on robust legal and regulatory foundations. Clear contractual definitions of revenue, transparent reporting mechanisms, proper regulatory classification, sound tax treatment, and enforceable insolvency protections are essential. Without careful structuring, RBF risks ambiguity. With it, the model becomes scalable and compliant.

Revenue-based financing, enhanced through insurance and credit guarantees, offers a blueprint for the future of credit in Kenya.

It allows capital to follow performance rather than collateral, supports productive enterprises, and distributes risk more intelligently across the financial ecosystem.

As lenders search for sustainable growth in a changing economy, the question is no longer whether alternative credit models work, but how quickly institutions can responsibly adapt them. The future of credit may lie not in abandoning traditional methods, but in re-engineering them using revenue, risk-sharing, and innovation to finance growth where it actually happens.

If countries were people, Kenya would be a gifted, charismatic young adult full of promise, confidence and raw ability but wrestles with the discipline and consistency required to become who they know they could be.

Shaped by a difficult upbringing that taught her survival before structure, she exudes unmatched resilience, beauty and creativity-qualities that have acquainted her to the allure of success.

Therefore, she makes occasional plans and dreams big but often stumbles on follow up, distracted by the endless pursuit of cheap dopamine and traumatised by repeated betrayals of trust.

Nonetheless, she’s a natural and upbeat storyteller who laughs easily, gathers people effortlessly, and always seems to have music playing somewhere in the background.

Lately, she has been obsessed with Singapore, whom she considers a befitting agemate. And she’s right.

At independence in 1965, Singapore was a small, resource-poor port city with bulging unemployment, housing shortages, and volatile ethnic tensions. The sword of Damocles precariously hung over her.

In the same period of time, Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) was slightly higher than that of Singapore and was comparatively well-endowed. Six decades later, Singapore’s economy is more sustainable, several times larger than Kenya’s and its per-capita income tens of times higher.

My country, when did the rain start beating us? Perhaps Kenya should stop the obsession with Singapore and embrace the fact that she needs some time alone. Kenya’s me time, for honest soul-searching.

If you study the history of national development keenly enough, you notice a pattern: institutions matter, policy is paramount, infrastructure is vital and leadership is key, however, beneath all of it sits something quieter, central and more stubborn; human behaviour. And Singapore is perhaps the clearest modern case study of this truth in practice.

Development is not an event. It is a culture. And culture is nothing more than behaviour repeated until it becomes identity.

Nations do not become ‘first world’ solely through GDP charts. They become first-world when millions of small daily choices change among the population: how people treat public property, the law, how they judge leaders, how they think about time, work, merit, corruption, learning and collective responsibility. Sustainable national development comes from micro-behaviours.

In the words of an American psychologist and philosopher William James speaking in a lecture to the Harvard Natural History Society in October 1880, ‘great men play decisive roles in shaping society and historical change’.

For Singapore, it was Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew-one of the leaders often used to illustrate the Great Man Theory of history. But the real story of Singapore is not just about one man. If anything, it reminds us that as important as they are, leaders don’t create success alone, they succeed when citizens meet them halfway.

The provocative truth is that Kenya will not become first world simply because we do not elect better leaders.

And she will not fail simply because we have imperfect ones. Nations are behavioural ecosystems. And there’s no policy that can fully succeed against everyday behaviour that quietly undermines it.

Countries change when both citizens and leaders change what they tolerate, what they celebrate, and what they practice when no one is watching.

Lee Kuan Yew did not simply build infrastructure or eliminate human weaknesses. He helped reshape the expectations and mindsets of his people. He became, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, the change he so wished to see in his country.

He led Singapore in navigating the hardest transition any society makes-the shift from individual survival thinking to collective success thinking. He made efficiency patriotic. He made corruption shameful. He made competence respectable. Over time, these values stopped being government policy and became normal social instincts.

Back at home, the question is no longer whether Kenya can transform but whether we are ready, all of us, to become the kind of citizens transformation requires. Kenya does not need to become Singapore at all.

She only needs to become the best version of herself-pragmatic, disciplined where it matters, innovative where it counts, united for the common good and willing to pay the price.

If enough individual behavioural changes occur, national transformation stops being a dream and becomes a timeline-one with candid milestones, compounding returns, predictable gains, and a future everyone can reasonably invest in as envisioned in the last stanza of our national anthem;

Let all with one accord

In common bond united

Build this our nation together

And the glory of Kenya

The fruits of our labour

Fill every heart with thanksgiving.

Electricity is now among Kenya’s top imports from Uganda, overtaking traditional goods such as milk, eggs, grains and timber, by value and underscoring a trend where power demand is rising faster than domestic generation.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) show that Kenya imported electricity worth Sh978.3 million in the third quarter of 2025, up from Sh666.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

The 46.82 percent jump placed electricity second only to sugar among the country’s biggest imports from Uganda by value, reflecting growing reliance on regional supplies as Kenya struggles to keep pace with consumption growth.

The increase pushed power imports above milk and cream, whose value fell sharply to Sh764.3 million from Sh1.36 billion in the third quarter of 2024.

The shift highlights a trend in which Kenya has increasingly been tapping electricity from neighbouring Uganda and Ethiopia to avert widespread power rationing, as demand from households and businesses continues to outstrip local generation.

Data from Kenya Power shows electricity imports from Uganda climbed to 83.74 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) between July and September 2025, compared with 54.5 million kWh, or units, in the same period of 2024.

Over the January-November 2025 period, Uganda exported 254.7 million kWh to Kenya, a 28.04 percent increase from 198.92 million a year earlier.

The growing imports of electricity from neighbouring countries point to a situation where growth in demand is not being matched by new generation capacity, prompting the government and Kenya Power to rely on imports from neighbouring countries to avoid rationing and blackouts.

Power demand peaked at 2,439.06megawatt (MW) in early December 2025, dwarfing the marginal growth in local production recorded over the past seven years.

While imports have helped stabilise supply, Kenya Power, the near-monopoly State-run electricity distributor, has warned that they also exposed Kenya’s vulnerabilities, citing the region’s heavy reliance on hydropower.

Read: Ethiopia imports now account for 11pc of electricity on Kenya’s grid

A prolonged drought or a major plant failure in exporting countries could disrupt supply.

‘My concern is that this is hydropower from these countries, and in a situation where there is a serious drought, then they might be left in a position where they might be unable to meet this obligation,’ Kenya Power chief executive Joseph Siror told Business Daily last year.

Kenya Power has not signed new power purchase agreements (PPAs) since 2018, following a Cabinet-imposed freeze which was backed by Parliament, leaving local capacity lagging behind demand. Parliament voted in November 2025 to lift the ban, raising hopes of new generation projects coming on stream.

President William Ruto has pledged to add 5,000 MW to the grid by 2030-more than Kenya has installed historically. The country currently has an installed capacity of about 3,300MW, with less than 300MW added in the past three years.

‘We are reorganising that space. Just give me a bit of time, and we will have a clearer picture. By God’s grace, before 2030, we should have doubled the grid that we have. And we should try and do it with renewable energy,’ Dr Ruto told business leaders on August 6, 2025.

The pledge by Dr Ruto is echoed in the draft 2026 Budget Policy Statement, where the National Treasury warned that the current installed capacity remains insufficient for an economy that is rapidly modernising.

Treasury said the government plans to prioritise the development of an additional 10,000MW of affordable and dependable power over the next seven years, tapping geothermal, hydro, solar, wind, and nuclear energy to support manufacturing, e-mobility, digital expansion, and emerging technologies.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has warned against the misuse of Kenya shilling banknotes, citing a growing trend in which currency is being used for decorative and celebratory purposes that damage notes and disrupt cash circulation.

In a notice issued on Monday, the CBK said it has observed increased use of banknotes in cash flower bouquets, ornamental displays and similar items, practices that involve folding, rolling, glueing, or pinning currency.

According to the apex bank, such handling compromises the physical integrity of banknotes, rendering them unsuitable for circulation and increasing the rate at which currency must be withdrawn and replaced.

‘The use of adhesives, pins, staples, and similar materials damages banknotes and interferes with the efficient operation of cash-handling and processing equipment, including automated teller machines (ATMs), cash counting machines, and sorting equipment,’ wrote the CBK in the notice.

‘This results in increased rejection of banknotes during processing and leads to premature withdrawal and replacement of currency, at an avoidable cost to the public and the Bank.’

Section 367 of the Penal Code prohibits the defacement and mutilation of banknotes, with any person who willfully impairs any currency note issued by the CBK deemed to have committed an offence under the law.

The law provides for a jail term of three months or a fine of Sh2,000 or both for offenders.

The notice is part of wider efforts by the CBK to safeguard the integrity of currency in circulation and manage the cost of currency issuance and replacement.

Damaged notes typically have a shorter lifespan, increasing printing, logistics and processing costs of the currency replacement that are ultimately borne by taxpayers.

Kenya’s cash ecosystem relies heavily on automated systems across commercial banks, retailers, and service providers, making the physical condition of banknotes critical to smooth circulation.

Latest data shows that as at the close of last September, hard cash circulating outside the banking system stood at Sh292.5 billion, having risen marginally from Sh291.5 billion in the preceding month.

CBK’s caution comes less than a fortnight ahead of Valentine’s Day, with the trend of cash bouquets having gathered momentum during the love day celebrations in recent years.

Valentine’s Day has increasingly become associated with creative and extravagant gift-giving in Kenya, with cash bouquets emerging as a popular alternative to traditional flowers or chocolates.

These bouquets often feature banknotes arranged to resemble flowers or other decorative shapes, sometimes accompanied by ribbons, cards, and other embellishments.

Florists, gift shops, and online vendors who offer cash bouquets are among those driving the trend, often oblivious of the regulatory and financial implications of using currency as decorative material.

The trend has grown alongside social media displays, with recipients posting photos of elaborate cash arrangements, further popularising the practice and increasing the demand for such gifts during celebrations.

Every time I find myself working on an article on film, my thoughts inevitably circle back to Kenya’s film culture.

I find myself asking random questions like, What happened to the people who went through virtual production training last year? Why do so many African stories, especially documentaries, lean so heavily on struggle, resilience and poverty? Is it even possible for funding organisations to support films that simply tell stories that celebrate joy or everyday life?

And are these films even meant for us? Too often, we only hear about them after they’ve won international accolades, and only then do they get screened locally.

That last question was answered, at least partly, by the EAccelerate Regional Screening on January 30, at Prestige Cinema in Nairobi.

It was Documentary Africa’s first public screening event in East Africa, organised in partnership with the East African Screen Collective and DW Akademie. After a few technical issues, Six short films were screened, three documentaries and three fiction pieces.

Let’s talk about them

The Documentaries

Xurmo

The standout of the night was Xurmo, a heartbreaking portrait of Binti Cumar Gacal, a Somali musician who was popular before Somalia’s collapse.

Her story is symbolic of the nation itself. I spent most of the film holding back tears, it’s an incredible story that was effective because of the bareness of it all.

The pacing lets you sit with her reality, the archival footage, the framing holds her presence with dignity. Above all, it’s her decision to stay in Somalia despite fame and the option to leave that makes this story profound.

Now don’t get me wrong, it follows a generic documentary format, though I can’t see any other way of telling this story. What I liked was the discipline with the cinematography and the stylistic choices they made with the look.

sKINs: Addis Abeba

The second documentary, Skins Adeba, was more experimental, nonlinear, poetic and visually daring. At least three times, I thought it had ended, only for it to continue.

That unpredictability worked in its favour. The use of small animated overlays and artistic imagery was refreshing, though the narration felt unnecessary and sometimes pretentious. Still, I appreciated its attempt to bend time and what they were doing with the visuals.

The One with The Tempered Flowers

The third documentary, a Kenya-Tanzania collaboration, tackled issues affecting women, marriage, and fibroids. The concept was generic, conventional, and safe, but with very promising opening scenes. The execution felt uneven. The film tried to merge two themes into one short, and the result was unfocused.

I could see the vision, but it lacked the boldness and confidence of the other works. The intro was compelling, but the rest needed streamlining. It wasn’t experimental enough to justify its groundedness, nor polished enough to carry the weight of its themes.

The Fiction Films

The Fortunate

The first fiction piece, from Ethiopia, was a delightful cinematic surprise. I thought it was a clever look at addiction, but it turned out to be a sharp, funny drama.

The cinematography felt maybe too good for something that was meant to be experimental, the direction confident, and the performances grounded yet compelling. The ending left us hanging, suspenseful, unresolved, yet satisfying.

Little Red Eve

Next came a Ugandan sci-fi short, and this matched what I expected. The restrained use of dialogue was welcome. I’m surprised a story like this was even funded because it’s a sci-fi concept that smartly explores the zombie subgenre.

It had VFX, experimental shots, and a sense of fun that was infectious. It wasn’t perfect, the budgetary constraints were evident and the logic of it all is debatable.

How To Forget Your Name

The final fiction piece was even more ambitious: a futuristic, big-budget-style sci-fi experiment. It had elaborate costumes, bold set pieces, and visual effects that aimed high but fell short.

Some shots looked rough and I couldn’t help but think AI tools could have helped polish certain scenes. Still, I admired the ambition. Even if the concept was somewhat generic, the sheer scale of imagination was exciting. It felt like a glimpse of what African storytelling could become if given the resources to match their imagination.

What worked, what didn’t

The programme was diverse, and that diversity was its strength. But I left with a few concerns. Too many of the documentaries leaned on voiceovers, especially female narration over female-centred stories. Having a specific group’s voice amplified doesn’t automatically make a film profound.

Creative angles and filmmaking discipline are what make a memorable experience, like Xurmo.

We need more female filmmakers, yes, but we also need them to be bold, experimental and inventive. Otherwise, there’s a risk of laziness (generally, not just women), of filmmakers relying on themes that guarantee funding rather than pushing themselves to tell unique, universally resonant stories.

Xurmo worked because it’s focused thematically but broader in concept. It’s profound because the filmmaking discipline lays bare that incredible story.

sKINs had the same problem. The filmmaker has the right to tell their story how they choose, but I kept asking myself: why not stick with the older women already established in the story? I found myself yearning to get more of their stories. At some point, I wished they were the narrators.

Closing Thoughts

I’m glad the event happened. The big takeaway was that we got to see some of the stories that get funding.

We got to see filmmakers experiment, and I got to see Xurmo. I know I keep going back to this short documentary, but it’s incredible, it’s an incredible story, and I can’t wait for the complete version of Binti Cumar Gacal’s story.

But on the flipside, it also reminded me of the dangers of formula. If funding continues to reward safe narratives, filmmakers may stop trying to be creative, opting instead to align with funding bodies’ narratives rather than telling their stories in their purest form.

Gold prices at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) fell further on Monday as the reversal of a record-breaking rally continued into the new week amid the fall in the value of the precious metal globally.

The gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) fell to Sh5, 845 on Monday from Sh6,235 on Friday and a record high of Sh6,600 on Thursday.

This follows a drop in gold and silver prices in the global markets in declines that began around the time reports suggested that US President Donald Trump would nominate former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the central bank.

Mr Warsh historically has been more concerned with higher inflation than slower growth, soothing Wall Street fears that the Fed would succumb to Mr Trump’s push to lower interest rates. Gold extended its fall on Monday to $4,677.17 per ounce after scaling a record high of $5,594.82 on Thursday.

On the NSE, the ETF price is determined by the global gold prices and dollar rate, with the strengthening of the US currency having the effect of increasing the metal’s price.

Investors at the Nairobi bourse can buy the listed 400,000 gold bullion debentures, each equivalent to 0.01 of an ounce of gold or 0.28 grams.

Given the price of the ETF is based on the underlying asset, the prevailing price of gold, this has meant investors in the asset have realised price gains without the need for trading. Its price at the NSE had nearly doubled from Sh3,165 at the start of January last year to Thursday’s peak, rivalling the performance of some of the NSE’s top-returning blue chip equities.

When it was introduced into the Kenyan market in March 2017, the ETF offered investors at the Nairobi bourse local access to gold as an investment asset for the first time, while also providing the market with an alternative to the dollar as a safe haven option in times of turbulence.

Before its introduction, Kenyan investors wishing to participate in the gold market had to either trade in the commodity in its physical form (bullion) or through offshore markets, which came with higher risk and costs.

Holding bullion or other gold assets, such as coins or jewelry, also came with linked barriers like the need for storage (security), a lengthy process of buying and selling and risk of fraud (fake gold).

The NewGold ETF or Absa’s gold-backed exchange-traded fund was first listed on the Johannesburg bourse in 2004 but it has since had secondary listings in other African exchanges, including Botswana, Nigeria, Mauritius, Namibia and Ghana. For months, a gravity-defying rally had pushed gold and silver prices to all-time highs, enticing speculators and sparking fears that investors the world over were losing faith in traditional currencies like the dollar.

Starting Thursday night, the air finally came out, translating to falls in the price of gold ETF at the Nairobi bourse.

After Mr Trump confirmed Mr Warsh’s pick Friday morning, the dollar posted its strongest day in months.

The speed of subsequent declines in precious metals markets stretching from central banks to underground vaults to Wall Street trading desks caught investors off guard.

At the NSE, trading in the gold ETF also picked up as it rallied. About 2, 874 units of the gold ETF were traded in the first week of January before peaking at 73, 765 units last week.

The rally of the precious metal left NSE gold investors with a more than fivefold gain or 420 percent from the ETF’s listing price of Sh1,205.16 per unit in March of 2017. It delivered a return of 22 percent since the start of the year to last week, only trailing gains by the Kenya Airways stock.

The Absa New Gold ETF has lost some of the gains since Friday, with returns falling to 8.2 percent between yesterday and the start of the yearAbsa deems its gold ETF as one of the simplest and least costly for investors, with the units sold fully backed by physical holdings of the metal or gold bullion at a custodian bank- the ICBC Standard Bank.

The demand for the ETF in the wake of its 2017 listing was muted and went for days without a single trade, with owners preferring to hold onto the asset because of its strength in hedging against inflation.

Absa Bank Kenya and the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) can provide additional units to the market should demand surpass the 400,000 listed pieces.

‘The New Gold ETF is not limited in terms of liquidity. Whatever we are holding currently can be increased by simply making an order, which is processed within three to five working days by Absa and the CDSC, ensuring there are as many gold units as demanded,’ Tito Namu, a senior equities dealer at Absa Securities Limited, told the Business Daily in a previous interview.

Analysts expected the price of gold to rally despite the wild swings amid geopolitical threats, falling interest rates, and a de-dollarisation.

‘Positive drivers of gold remain in place, in our view. Major central banks and investors continue to search for USD alternatives — a diversification demand that has yet to run its course,’ Standard Chartered Bank says in its 2026 outlook report.

‘In addition, recent data suggests gold’s inverse relationship with bond yields is starting to re-establish itself, adding another tailwind for the precious metal. Finally, our expectation of a weak USD should also add support.’

Data from the World Gold Council shows that central banks’ gold purchases are outpacing historical norms, fuelling the gold bullion demand and price rally.

Mike Eldon, an IT enthusiast turned management consultant, coach and a newspaper columnist, whose trainings touched many in university lecture halls and corporate boardrooms, has died at 80.

Eldon died on January 29, in Nairobi after battling an illness for some time, sparking off widespread tributes for a gentleman widely known for his humour, integrity and zeal for leadership transformation as well as youth mentorship.

‘Mike was sharp as a razor until the very end. The kind of man who walked into a room and made everyone in it feel like they mattered; a true role model of a humanised leader,’ Martin Oduor-Otieno, a former bank executive and chairman and CEO of Leadership Group Limited, a Nairobi-based consulting firm, said in a tribute.

‘Mike, I’m going to miss those conversations, but I will miss the laughter even more,’ he added.

In the last months of his life, Eldon penned humourous and touching testimonials, revealing his battle with an illness, and even wrote a public letter to his grandchildren on how they could ‘lead a happy and fulfilled life’.

In early December 2025, Eldon, in an article in his long-running column in this publication, wittily revealed that health issues were holding him back from ‘action’.

‘Recently, I was captured by another health issue that laid my energy flat, and so I have again been reflecting on how I have been dealing with it and how that, in turn, may help readers here who are also having to face such performance-halting setbacks,’ Eldon said.

‘It’s that very low-energy level which is so frustrating, preventing one from concentrating on whatever one had been doing. It’s even hard to read for more than a little while, and watching the news about (Donald)Trump and his tariffs certainly won’t fill the gap,’ he added.

Eldon narrated how an illness had drained his energy, but he wasn’t giving up on his work.

‘The natural state for me at these times has been to just be, to do nothing. Just to breathe, to sit or to lie down, and to hope that after a while, I’ll find if not the energy then at least a way to defy its absence and do something – like write an article such as this on my laptop,’ Eldon wrote.

‘I challenge and defy my apathy, knowing that even in my lowest of conditions, I still want to be and am active in my mind and to share what I am going through. I can be at my desk for not too long, but leave it feeling I have not completely wasted my day with nothing to say about it, other than that I made it through to the evening. I have evidence of initiative, feeling proud that I have exceeded any reasonable expectation of accomplishment,’ he added.

Earlier in July, Eldon wrote a moving public letter to his grandchildren and titled it ‘To my grandchildren: how you can lead a happy and fulfilled life’.

He said he wrote the letter at the request of his daughter, who wanted some wise counsel for her children.

‘My dear grandchildren, all three of you are delightful young characters. Each of you is different, with your own characters and personalities, your own natural strengths, and areas where you are much less comfortable. You are lucky to have wonderful parents who know how to get the best out of you. And they are lucky that you take advantage of all they have to offer you,’ Eldon wrote.

‘As you make your way through your teenage years, like all teenagers, there’s so much exploring you do. Some of it fills you with anxiety, and setbacks occur. And some fill you with excitement, as your achievements give you the confidence to continue being bold and courageous. Among these, it’s very impressive to see you are with those who have been playing leadership roles,’ he added.

In his letter, Eldon urged his grandchildren to be humble, while enjoying their respective competencies, and also stay curious, asking questions and not just spouting their own views.

Read: Humanised leadership fosters synergy, growth

‘I’m happy my grandchildren have a strong sense of humour and enjoy plenty of laughter. Where there is this lightness, it so reinforces emotional intelligence, making it much easier to work and play together,’ Eldon said.

‘I asked my grandchildren to think about it all, to chat with each other, and to get back to me. The way it worked out was that my daughter read my letter to each of her children separately, and this led to good conversations between them. As I hope it does between you and relevant relatives,’ he further stated.

Born on March 17, 1945, Eldon grew up in the United Kingdom and was an economics graduate of University College London and a Sloan Fellow of the London Business School. He entered the IT field in 1967, arriving in Kenya in 1977 to become general manager of multinational computer companies in Kenya, International Computer Limited ICL, Wang and IBM.

He was a pioneer in the development of the use of IT in Kenya and was deeply involved with the development of Kenya’s first national ICT policy.

Eldon reinvented himself as a management consultant close to two decades ago and worked with a wide range of clients, including national and county governments, public and private sector organisations, family businesses, NGOs, the World Bank and GIZ.

He was an adjunct faculty member at Strathmore Business School, a Senior Leadership Adviser to the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); and an adjunct faculty member in the development and delivery of the transformative leadership programme for the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications in their joint initiative with the Harvard Kennedy School.

He was also a Global Partner of the World Bank’s Collaborative Leadership for Development initiative, where he ran workshops on leadership in Kenya and beyond, as well as being an executive coach.

Further, Eldon had been chairman of the Council of KCA University, chairman of the Council of the Kenya Institute of Management and was a founding director and later vice-chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, where he served as a member of the advisory council and of the nominating committee.

Eldon was a founder member of The Management Consultants Association of Kenya and also been a director of the Kenya Education Management Institute and of the African Institute for Policy Development.

He was a founder, chairman, and lead consultant of The DEPOT (The Dan Eldon Place Of Tomorrow), a management consultancy that focuses on leadership, strategy, change management, culture strengthening, performance management, and coaching.

He was also the chairman of Occidental Insurance and an independent director of Davis and Shirtliff, where he chaired its Board Audit Risk and Compliance Committee. He was a co-founder of the Institute for Responsible Leadership, which was launched in London in October 2019.

Eldon is survived by his widow, Evelyn Mungai, and children Dan and Amy, Eric and Wachuka as well as many grandchildren.

Public agencies face penalties for failing to deduct a new levy when paying suppliers and contractors, exposing taxpayers to losses that could run into millions of shillings.

This follows revelations that several State agencies have not remitted the Public Procurement Capacity Building Levy to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) despite paying contractors hundreds of millions of shillings during the year ending June 2025.

The National Treasury introduced the levy in late 2023, requiring all agencies procuring goods and services to withhold 0.03 percent of the contract price for remission to the PPRA.

This would see up to Sh750 million worth of cash previously pocketed by suppliers and contractors handed to the PPRA, ostensibly to implement capacity-building initiatives for procurement officers.

Recent audits, however, show that a number of entities have failed to act on the law, with insiders at the PPRA disclosing that the procurement watchdog has had challenges collecting the levy.

In separate reports for the year ending June 2025, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu flags four public universities for failing to remit the levy to PPRA despite paying contractors hundreds of millions of shillings.

‘During the year under review, the university spent Sh307,363,656 on the acquisition of goods, works and services. It was, however, noted that the management did not deduct and remit the capacity building levy to PPRA as required by Public Procurement Capacity Building Levy Order, 2023,’ Ms Gathungu said about Garissa University.

Based on the Sh307 million payment to contractors, the university was expected to remit Sh92,209 to the PPRA, being 0.03 percent of the payments.

The public auditor also flagged Turkana University College for failing to deduct and remit Sh42,381 to the PPRA for the Sh141.27 million payments to contractors and suppliers during the year, breaching the law.

In Meru University, Ms Gathungu observed that while the institution entered into contracts, it could not prove that it complied with the capacity building levy order of 2023, thus breaching the law.

Chuka University was also flagged for failing to remit Sh3,868 for the levy to PPRA.

The Public Procurement Capacity Building Levy Order, 2023 requires that the levy be charged on all procurement contracts signed between the supplier and a procuring entity, at the rate of 0.03 percent of the value of the signed contract.

‘The purpose of the Levy shall be to provide funds for the development of capacity through training, technical support, and mentoring of the persons involved in the public procurement and asset disposal system in order to facilitate achievement of value for money in public procurement and enhance quality of public service,’ the law says.

Entities are required to deduct the levy from the contract value at the time of making payments for contracts and remit it to the PPRA not later than the 20th day of the following month.

During the year ending June 2025, the PPRA was expected to collect over Sh200 million in the capacity building levy from contracts related to development projects alone.

This was after national and county governments implemented development projects valued at Sh669.56 billion in the year.

The levy collections would rise, taking into account other procurement purchases undertaken during the year as part of the government’s recurrent expenditure, which was more than the development spend.

Commodities in most cases are always on the fringes of most individual investment portfolios. It is often overshadowed by the booming equity markets, rising property values and attractive yields in fixed income. They were often viewed as niche for institutional investors and traders.

However, as global uncertainty resurfaces majorly caused by things like inflation risks, geopolitical tensions and shifting monetary policy, commodities are seen commanding investor attention.

This renewed interest, market professionals say is attributed to commodities’ offering when it comes to diversification, inflation protection and risk management, especially during periods when the traditional assets face pressure.

According to Ken Gichinga, chief economist at analytics consulting firm Mentoria Economics, commodities tend regain attention whenever confidence in fiat currencies and financial markets weakens.

Fiat currency is money issued by a government that is not backed by a physical asset such as gold. Instead, its value is supported by law, public confidence in the issuing authority and the central bank’s ability to manage supply, inflation and economic stability.

‘During periods of high uncertainty, not least when inflation threatens to go up, commodities such as gold provide investors with a buffer, especially against inflation,’ Mr Gichinga says.

Mr Gichinga says the logic behind commodities’ appeal lies in history. For decades before the 1970s, the global financial system operated under the gold standard, where currencies were directly linked to gold reserves.

While the world eventually shifted away from that system, the trust associated with gold has endured particularly in moments of instability. That trust is being tested again as inflation expectations shift.

‘Last year, inflation was not a problem because a lot of manufacturers did not pass on costs. But this year, there’s an expectation that it might creep up,’ he says.

That change in expectations is already influencing the investor behaviour.

‘That’s what makes investors who have access to these commodity lines look to diversify. It’s an element of diversification.’

A Global Market Outlook report released in December 2025, warns that the global economy is still vulnerable to inflation shocks, geopolitical disruptions and the uneven growth.

‘The global economy is expected to grow below its long-term trend, with inflation risks remaining asymmetrical,’ the report notes.

In such environments, real assets tend to attract capital.

‘Periods of heightened uncertainty typically see increased allocations to real assets, particularly commodities, as investors seek protection against inflation and currency erosion,’ the report says.

Not all commodities play the same role. Commodities are not a single, uniform asset class. Mr Gichinga divides them into two broad categories: store-of-value commodities and growth-linked commodities.

‘There are commodities like gold that are more of a store of value. They speak more to currency risk,’ he says.

Gold’s performance is closely tied to the US dollar and inflation expectations.

‘If you expect significant inflation in the US or the dollar to weaken and right now the dollar index is at a one-year low, gold significantly gains,’ Mr Gichinga says.

‘Gold continues to play a strategic role in portfolios as a hedge against inflation surprises and weakening fiat currencies.’

Additionally, Central banks are reinforcing that trend.

‘Central banks in emerging and developed markets have maintained elevated levels of gold purchases as part of reserve diversification strategies,’ the report says.

Industrial metals and the growth story. The growth-linked commodities tell a different story altogether.

‘You you have other commodities, such as the industrial commodities, that speak more to construction and global growth. These are your metals like steel, aluminium,’ Mr Gichinga says.

Mr Gichinga says that when interest rates are low and economic confidence is strong, the construction and manufacturing activity increases.

‘When investors are constructing, they need steel, they need aluminium. These commodities gain when people are bullish about global prospects.’

For example China, the world’s largest construction market, plays an outsized role in shaping the industrial demand.

‘China is the largest player in construction, so industrial metals speak more to growth than store of value,’ Gichinga says.

However, that growth trajectory has slowed.

‘China had a very bad Covid period. The construction aggressiveness has come down so you may feel industrial metals might not do very well,’ he says.

The report also points to structural demand linked to infrastructure spending and energy transition.

‘Longer-term demand for industrial metals is supported by infrastructure spending, defence and the energy transition, even as near-term growth remains uneven,’ the report says.

Defensive commodities versus growth-linked bets

Despite the persistent global risks, growth expectations have not collapsed.

‘The global economy is still expected to grow at 2.2 per cent. Even with all that’s happening in America, there’s still expected buoyancy,’ Mr Gichinga says.

On energy markets, the report points to supply-side shifts and geopolitical developments as key drivers of price movements.

Lower energy prices, the report explains, could act as a stimulus for global growth, indirectly supporting demand for industrial commodities.

‘Sustained moderation in energy costs would lower input prices for manufacturers and could support a gradual recovery in industrial activity,’ it says.

Beyond growth and inflation, Mr Gichinga says geopolitics is changing the commodity demand.

‘With America threatening the Nato alliance, European countries will start thinking about investing in their own military,’ he says.

That has implications for specific minerals.

‘Defensive stocks need those minerals. That means more demand for things such as uranium,’ he says.

Unlike gold or industrial metals, soft commodities are driven less by macro trends and more by supply disruptions.

‘If you look at soft commodities like cocoa, there is a shortage in the world. The big producers are Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, and they are nationalising production,’ Mr Gichinga says.

He adds that the demand is still strong, especially with chocolate where the demand is high but production is constrained.

The report also points out that weather-related disruptions and geopolitical interventions in agricultural markets has continued to create supply imbalances.

‘Each commodity has its own narrative. You have to understand who the big supplier is and who the big buyer is.’ Mr Gichinga says.

The single biggest driver

For investors, few variables matter more than interest rates. ‘Interest rates have an inverse proportionality to commodity prices,’ Mr Gichinga says.

When rates fall, the liquidity increases.

‘When central banks lower interest rates, you have more money in people’s pockets. More money means more demand.’ he says.

That demand feeds into the higher commodity prices: ‘The lower the interest rates, the higher the demand. Interest rates are one of the biggest determinants of commodity prices.”

Despite the renewed interest, commodities is still a supporting act in most portfolios.

‘Commodities can enhance portfolio resilience during periods of macroeconomic stress, but allocations should be calibrated carefully due to their inherent volatility,’ the report says.

Avoiding FOMO

The rising prices often attract inexperienced investors chasing returns. Mr Gichinga says that the most important thing is to have a basic economic understanding.

At a minimum, investors should track two indicators. If nothing else, understand inflation and interest rates.

‘Interest rates tell you how much money is in people’s pockets. Lower rates mean more demand. Higher rates mean less money.’

For investors heavily concentrated in bonds, equities or money market funds, commodities can provide balance. Mr Gichinga adds that the number one principle in an uncertain world is always be diversified.

While individual investors face different risks from institutional funds, the principle is grounded.

‘It’s easy to say you’ll pack all your money in bonds. But interest rates can go up and mess you up.’ Mr Gichinga says.

American tech giant Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, account for 79 percent of digital advertising spend by Kenyan companies, highlighting dominance in a fast-growing industry that hundreds of local firms are also attempting to crack.

In the three months to September 2025, Facebook earned Sh6.1 billion from digital ads placed by Kenyan firms, accounting for 52 percent of the total spend, while its sister platform Instagram took Sh3.2 billion, or 27 percent, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya.

With a combined 79 percent, the Meta platforms’ revenues from Kenya dwarfed earnings by top global rivals such as Google, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, among others, some of which are domiciled in the country.

‘Meta platforms hold 79 percent of digital investment, making them top preferred digital channels by most brands,’ said the regulator in its quarterly audience measurement report.

‘The heavy reliance on Meta platforms exposes advertisers to algorithmic volatility and data privacy risks, while limiting innovation in local ad tech solutions.’

Facebook is currently Kenya’s most used social media platform, used by about 68 percent of the country’s adults, according to data from the authority. It is closely followed by WhatsApp – also owned by Meta – with about 54 percent of adults using it.

Instagram, however, is used by just 12 percent of Kenyans, yet takes up a significant share of digital advertising spend among Kenyan companies, dwarfing more popular platforms such as TikTok, whose usage stands at 30 percent, YouTube at 29 percent, and X at 14 percent.

After the two Meta platforms, programmatic display networks – automated systems that place advertisements on websites – account for nine percent of digital advertising spend in the country, with other platforms sharing the remainder.

X captured eight percent during the period, YouTube 2.3 percent, Google Display, which places ads on websites, 1.6 percent, while TikTok took just 0.2 percent, despite being Kenya’s fastest-growing platform by usage.

Read: How Kenyan content creators earn millions as YouTube gets crowded

Skewed market

Despite this dominance, Meta has no physical presence in Kenya and is not bound by local advertising laws that limit certain promotions, such as gambling or capital markets products.

Analysts argue this reflects a skewed competitive market, as local advertising platforms must adhere to stringent regulatory requirements that foreign giants may flout without consequences.

‘Local advertisers are regulated comprehensively with rules governing the content, audience and timing of their adverts,’ argued Mercy Mutemi, a technology lawyer and executive director of Oversight Lab Africa, a charity that advocates for fair regulation and deployment of technology.

‘Enforcement of these regulations has not been extended to digital platforms. What this lack of oversight has caused is the saturation of these platforms with content that is harmful, whose viewership the platforms capitalise on to increase their advertisement revenue.’

Globally, the two Meta platforms account for just 23 percent of total digital advertising revenue, while Google’s platforms, including YouTube and its display network, account for about 24 to 27 percent.

Other companies, including Microsoft, TikTok, X and other programmatic networks, account for nearly half of global digital advertising spend. This contrasts sharply with the situation in Kenya, where they account for less than 20 percent.

Regulatory gap

Kenya’s digital advertising market is among the highest globally. In 2025, it accounted for about 25.1 percent of total advertising spending, according to estimates by technology trends monitoring firm Data Reportal.

On average, companies spend Sh555 per internet user on digital advertising, with total spend accounting for about 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP.

‘This data signals that there’s a huge regulatory gap and through it, not only is our local industry being disrupted unfairly, but also numerous opportunities for the exploitation of the public are being created. A different approach is needed if we are to ensure consumer and antitrust protection,’ avers Ms Mutemi.