Category: Business Daily

Imperial Bank (In Liquidation) has taken over Salute Holdings, one of East Africa’s largest Apple-authorised distributors, as the lender in liquidation steps up efforts to recover billions of shillings owed by borrowers.

In a public notice, Imperial Bank’s court-appointed receiver manager, Kamal Anantroy Bhatt, announced that he had taken over the management of the Nairobi-based firm, best known for distributing premium consumer electronics, including Apple products.

This is the latest in an aggressive debt recovery strategy by the receiver manager, who recently also took over two other firms for non-payment of the lender’s loans.

Mr Bhatt disclosed that Imperial Bank appointed him receiver and manager of Salute Holdings Limited on May 5, 2026, paving the way for a takeover that will see him oversee all of the company’s businesses.

“The purpose of this notice is to notify all interested stakeholders that following the Receiver’s appointment, the affairs and business of the company shall be directed by the receiver,” said Bhatt in a notice published on Daily Nation on Thursday.

“The powers of the Receiver extends to all assets and undertakings of the company,” he added.

The takeover of Salute Holdings came days after Mr Bhatt placed Sparetech Trading Company Limited and Mawa Dairy Farm Limited under receivership in the latest asset recovery drive by Imperial Bank.

The government, through the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), placed Imperial Bank under receivership on October 13, 2015, following the discovery of a multibillion-shilling fraud orchestrated through undisclosed insider lending and irregular transactions.

Since then Imperial Bank has been running as a going concern with the government hoping to turn it around and recover the depositor’s cash.

Certain assets and liabilities of Imperial Bank were taken over by KCB Bank Kenya, leaving the troubled lender to focus on recovering the bad debt to repay creditors including depositors not covered by government guarantees.

Salute Holdings’ flagship technology business is iWorld, one of the largest authorised resellers of all Apple products in the region. Apple products sold at iWorld include iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods and accessories. Apple-certified repairs and servicing are also done at iWorld.

Besides Apple products, Salute iWorld also stocks premium accessories from brands such as Belkin, Promate and Beats.

Belkin is one of Apple’s longest-standing accessory partners and manufactures. Its products include wireless chargers, charging cables, power banks, USB-C hubs and docking stations, and screen protectors.

Promate Technologies is a Dubai-based company that designs and distributes mobile and computer accessories in more than 150 countries. Its products include phone chargers, power banks, Bluetooth speakers, earphones and headphones, smartwatches, laptop bags and car chargers.

Other businesses under the Salute stable include SportsPlanet, the group’s sports and lifestyle retail chain that sells sporting goods, fitness equipment, apparel and footwear from international brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Grays, Gilbert and Bestway.

The third business is Sensations, a lifestyle retailer specialising in premium audio products, personal electronics, travel accessories, smart gadgets and other consumer technology products from leading global brands.

In line with the Insolvency Act, the current directors of Salute Holdings, including its founder Vivek Mehra, have lost their powers to deal with the company’s business and assets.

Mr Mehra founded Salute Holdings in 1999 as a distributor of premium international consumer brands in East Africa.

The company later became one of the region’s largest Apple-authorised resellers through its Salute iWorld chain.

“Any person who purports to hold, receive, use, or attempts to buy or sell, contract, or otherwise deal or otherwise deal with the assets of the company or with the company without the prior written consent of the receiver will be acting in contravention of the law and will be liable to legal action,” said Bhatt while giving creditors 30 days to lodge their claims with him.

“The directors are required to furnish the receiver the statement of affairs within 12 days, from the date of this notice. The receiver acts on behalf of the company without any personal liability.”

For many organisations, integrating sustainability across the business remains a complex undertaking. Beyond setting ambitious environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, organisations must invest in the systems, skills and processes needed to embed sustainability into everyday decision-making. A key challenge is translating non-financial information into reliable, decision-useful insights that support financial planning, risk management and reporting.

Building this capability often requires significant investment in data, technology, reporting systems and staff competencies. At the same time, organisations are under pressure to ensure these investments deliver practical business value rather than becoming theoretical compliance exercises. Sustainability initiatives must respond to an organisation’s current operational realities while strengthening its ability to withstand future disruptions, regulatory changes and evolving stakeholder expectations.

The challenge is finding the right balance. Organisations that invest too little may address only immediate needs while failing to develop capabilities for long-term resilience. Conversely, organisations that overinvest in sophisticated tools or frameworks without considering their operational context may end up with costly solutions that do little to solve pressing business challenges.

Striking this balance begins with a clear assessment of the organisation’s circumstances. This assessment should consider two key dimensions. The first is the organisation’s exposure to a particular sustainability risk or opportunity. Applying a financial materiality lens helps determine how significantly that issue could affect future cash flows, business performance and enterprise value. The second dimension evaluates whether the organisation has the skills, systems and resources needed to manage that exposure effectively.

Investment decisions should then align with the results of these two assessments. Organisations facing significant sustainability risks should allocate greater resources to strengthening their capabilities, while those with lower exposure may require more proportionate investments. The same principle applies to scenario analysis. Organisations should select analytical approaches that match the scale of their exposure, ranging from qualitative assessments for lower-risk issues to advanced quantitative modelling where risks are material.

In just four years, the ownership of Milestone Games Ltd, the holding company that operates the SportPesa brand in Kenya, has moved from being dominated by a few Kenyan tycoons to being led by a UAE-registered company.

The dramatic ownership changes have also seen little-known Commtech Consortium Ltd acquire a 25 per cent stake in Milestone Games, and quietly exit ownership of another company providing the digital platform for Kenya’s Social Health Authority (SHA) in a Sh104.8 billion deal.

Business Registration Service (BRS) records show that Commtech Consortium now owns 2,500 shares in Milestone Games, which operates one of Africa’s best-known betting platforms in SportPesa.

The share acquisition has made Commtech Consortium the second-biggest shareholder of Milestone Games, only second to another new investor in UAE-registered Techglow Ltd.

Techglow now owns 54 per cent of Milestone Games in share transfers that have seen the ownership of businessman Robert Macharia and Ronald Karauri diluted from 71 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively.

The regulatory filings place the direct stakes of Mr Macharia and Mr Karauri at 0.75 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

The ownership shifts in Milestone Games have emerged in the middle of a boom in the sector, with gamblers placing bets worth a record Sh330.5 billion in the year to June as the State eased punitive taxes on the industry.

At Sh330.5 billion, the bets surpassed the Sh145 billion that retail, foreign, and high-net worth investors splashed on purchase of shares at the Nairobi bourse, which posted a return of 34 percent.

This underlines the outsized dividends available to owners of betting firms.

Under UAE law, company shareholding and directorship records are not public documents, making it difficult to establish the beneficial ownership of companies registered in the emirates.

Techglow is registered in Ras Al Khaima.

Ras Al Khaima is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE. It is located on the UAE’s northern coast, approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Dubai.

Publicly available records online did not provide any information on Techglow other than its registration in Ras Al Khaima.

There was no company website or social media pages linked to or associated with Techglow.

In a separate round of ownership changes, Commtech Consortium is no longer listed in the ownership structure of the firm that built and leased the digital platform to SHA.

A consortium of Safaricom PLC, UAE-registered Apeiro Ltd and Konvergenz Network Solutions is developing and leasing to the Health ministry a system integrating Kenya’s public health ecosystem, for Sh104 billion over 10 years.

Commtech Consortium owned 22.5 per cent of Konvergenz Network Solutions when the consortium was formed.

That 22.5 per cent stake is now in the hands of UAE-registered Starway Trading Ltd, BRS filings show.

It is unclear whether that transfer was the result of a share sale to the UAE firm, or whether Starway Trading is an offshore vehicle owned by Commtech Consortium’s shareholders.

The Business Daily was unable to get a comment from Commtech Consortium because calls listed at BRS were unanswered.

Emails sent to Konvergenz Network Solutions on the ownership changes were also not responded to by the time of going to press.

Commtech Consortium was incorporated on March 23, 2023.

Dadson Wahagi Mugo owns 80 per cent and Elvis Charo Kitsao has a 20 per cent stake, according to BRS records.

Milestone Games has two shareholders – Commtech Consortium and Nob Five Ltd, with a 75 percent stake.

Benard Chauro Matoke is listed as the only director in Milestone Games, but holds no shares.

A breakdown of Nob Five owners reveals seven shareholders, including Techglow, Mr Macharia, Mr Karauri and James Ngengi Muigai, a relative of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

White Hart Ltd, owned by businessman Tom Waireri Thuo, a top shareholder in Nob Five, is the third-largest owner of Milestone Games, with an 11.6 per cent stake.

SportPesa exited the Kenyan market in 2019 amid a tax dispute, which also saw its operating licence suspended.

At that time, its owners were largely consolidated under a different holding company – Pevans East Africa.

In November 2019, SportPesa halted operations due to a drastic hike in taxes on betting stakes and a multi-billion shilling demand from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

Pevans East Africa, the original owner of the SportPesa trademark, would later transfer the brand to UK-based SportPesa Global Holding Limited (SGHL).

Milestone Games was subsequently assigned the right to use the SportPesa trademark in Kenya by SportPesa Global in the roundabout deals, sparking shareholder fights in Pevans East Africa.

Data from the KRA revealed the boom in online gambling after the taxman netted Sh16.5 billion in excise taxes from the industry, surpassing its target by 15.9 percent.

This emerged in a period when Kenya lowered excise duty to 5.0 percent from 15 percent, offering relief to gamblers.

The cut in the excise rate likely encouraged more gambling activities as the taxman rejected a push to encourage betting, linking the rise in collections to improved tax administration.

As a boom in online gambling across Africa gathers pace, governments are hiking taxes to contain addiction risks and fill depleted public coffers.

But Kenya pushed back from the higher taxes in the year starting July 2024.

Betting firms across the continent have lobbied hard against higher taxes, arguing that the tax would not curb problem gambling but instead push it to underground sites, which they say would proliferate without the extra burden of the levies.

Once a niche activity, gambling has exploded across the continent as a result of easily available online betting accounts.

The outsized stakes underline Kenya’s ranking as Africa’s top betting market. A GeoPoll survey, published last month, showed that 64 percent of respondents in the country had placed a bet on at least one football game in the past 12 months.

Kenyans outpaced other African peers with the high level of sports betting engagement in the past 12 months, beating Ghanaians and South Africans, who ranked second and third with engagement levels of 60 per cent and 58 percent, respectively.

When Kajiado County Government awarded a contractor a Sh3.9 million contract to grade and gravel the Acacia Feeder Road in February 2024, Kitengela residents expected smoother journeys to Namanga Road and the town centre.

However, the contractor abandoned the project four months later after completing barely one kilometre of the promised four, leaving the estate’s only access road covered with loose stone chippings, patches of exposed cotton soil and poor-quality murram that turned into dust during dry weather and mud whenever it rained.

The residents refused to accept what many Kenyans have become accustomed to-poor workmanship, substandard roads, abandoned public projects and disappearing public funds.

Instead of complaining on social media or waiting for the next election cycle, they organised themselves through residents’ associations. They documented the defects, photographed the damaged road, commissioned an engineering assessment and sued the county, its contractor, the local MCA and other officials over substandard works and an undelivered project.

Their request for the procurement records from the county government was unsuccessful after the officials declined to release the information.

Two years later, the High Court has handed them a landmark victory, finding that ordinary citizens can invoke the Constitution to challenge how public money is spent on local development projects.

In a judgment dated July 20, the court rewarded their persistence with a precedent-setting judgment that recognised the residents’ petition as an effort to enforce “constitutional accountability, transparency and integrity obligations against public officers and a county government.”

Affirming the power of citizens to use the Constitution to demand accountability over public projects, the court also issued far-reaching orders requiring the Director of Criminal Investigations, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Controller of Budget and the Kajiado County Assembly to examine the judgment and supporting evidence for any action they may consider appropriate.

The case was filed by four officials of the Kitengela Acacia Larger Neighbourhood Association (KALNA) and the Oloika Community Resident Association (OCRA) on behalf of the residents and daily users of the road.

Their petition targeted Simongiko Valley Works Limited, which had won the road contract, the County Government of Kajiado, senior county roads and public works officials, and Oloosirkon/Sholinke MCA.

According to the residents, the contractor reported to the site only in early June 2024 after repeated demands from the community despite receiving the award in February. They told the court that the works fell far below the contract specifications.

The petitioners said the contractor spread a thin layer of poor-quality material presented as murram over a short stretch of the road without proper compaction.

They also complained that loose stone chippings were scattered across the surface before the contractor abandoned the site while claiming the works had been completed.

Their concerns went beyond poor workmanship. They alleged that the project was supervised not by county engineers but by a ward development officer attached to the MCA’s office, who also procured the murram used on the road.

They further alleged that the MCA was the true beneficiary of the contract through the contractor. The MCA did not file a response in court to challenge those allegations. The residents also wanted to know how nearly Sh4 million in public funds had been spent.

They repeatedly wrote to the county government requesting the Bill of Quantities, road designs, tender evaluation documents, award letter and contract agreement. The documents were not supplied despite several requests.

The court found that the county only produced some of the records after the case had already been filed.

“The Bill of Quantities was only provided when it was annexed to the 2nd to 5th respondents’ (county government and Roads Chief Officer) replying affidavit… over a year and a half after the petition was filed and only in the context of these proceedings,” the court said.

The court ruled that supplying the documents after litigation had begun did not erase the earlier violation.

“A constitutional violation is not expunged by belated compliance under the compulsion of litigation.”

The county government maintained that the procurement process complied with the law and that its engineers had inspected the road before issuing a completion certificate confirming the works had been completed.

The court, however, was not persuaded. The court noted that the residents had produced photographs showing punctured tyres, damaged vehicles, schoolchildren walking on loose stones and school buses stranded after rainfall.

They also presented an engineering assessment estimating that the actual works completed were worth about Sh1.2 million compared with the Sh3.97 million contract value.

“A completion certificate does not, in and of itself, constitute conclusive proof of satisfactory execution of works where there is credible evidence to the contrary,” the court ruled.

It found that the county had failed to ensure public money was used to deliver the project to the required standards.

“The failure to ensure that public funds were applied to execute the contracted works to specification, resulting in the road being left in a worse condition than before the works commenced, constitutes an omission that violates the petitioners’ right to a clean and healthy environment,” the court stated.

It also awarded the four petitioners Sh150,000 each, totalling Sh600,000 as damages and Sh300,000 as costs of the case.

In its final orders, the court ordered the county government to organise an independent inspection of the road within 60 days and prepare a plan to remedy any defects identified.

It directed the county to release all procurement records relating to the project free of charge to the residents.

The aviation industry has long measured progress through engineering breakthroughs. Predictive maintenance systems, advanced avionics and increasingly sophisticated digital flight planning tools have reshaped how airlines operate and how safety is maintained.

However, alongside these technical advances has been a subtler transformation, which has had less to do with hardware and more with how operations are communicated and understood.

For example, at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ we have an ‘Intern on a Mission’ programme series, which places interns inside real airline workflows, documenting everyday processes that are rarely visible to the public.

With this, interns have a full view and narrative covering crew briefings, cockpit preparation, take off, route optimisation, inflight coordination and landing procedures.

That perspective matters because aviation safety is shaped as much by organisational culture as by technology. Airlines operate through complex networks of interdependent roles, yet much of that complexity remains hidden, even from professionals outside their own departments.

Story telling initiatives like this open a window into daily operations and begin to dissolve existing boundaries, revealing how engineers, cabin crew, pilots and ground staff function as parts of a tightly integrated safety ecosystem.

Seen this way, storytelling aligns with a broader industry movement toward systems thinking.

Modern safety frameworks rely on layers of redundancy and human decision-making designed to anticipate and absorb risk. However, these systems only function effectively when participants share a common understanding of how their roles intersect. Making operational workflows visible helps cultivate that shared awareness, reinforcing the idea that safety is a continuous collaboration across disciplines and not just a single action, as can be easily perceived.

Meanwhile, as airlines seek to strengthen safety culture internally, they are also confronting an external challenge, and that is attracting the next generation of aviation professionals.

Rising passenger demand and expanding connectivity across the world are increasing the pressure on airlines to recruit pilots, engineers, maintenance specialists and digital operations experts.

Already, there are calls in some regions to raise the pilot retirement age by two years to mitigate a looming shortage, as many approach the mandatory 65-year retirement age.

In this context, traditional recruitment messaging often struggles to capture the dynamism and complexity of such careers, while behind-the-scenes formats offer an alternative that could allow potential recruits to see aviation as a lived environment defined by teamwork, decision-making and constant learning.

The appeal of such formats lies partly in authenticity.

Watching an intern participate in operational briefings introduces viewers to the rhythms of airline life without the distance created by corporate messaging.

For audiences in emerging markets, like those in Africa, where direct exposure to aviation careers may be limited, such visibility can play a role in expanding the talent pipeline by making unfamiliar roles feel attainable.

This same transparency carries implications for how airlines engage with passengers. The aviation industry operates under intense scrutiny, particularly during delays, disruptions or safety-related incidents, when public confidence can be tested.

Explaining procedures and decision-making processes through accessible storytelling helps build a more informed audience, one that understands both what happens but why. Over time, this form of communication may help reduce misunderstandings and reinforce trust during moments of operational stress.

At the same time, as airlines increasingly adopt advanced technologies, the demand for such clear, narrative-driven communication is only intensifying.

Data analytics, predictive maintenance and connected aircraft technologies are adding new layers of operational complexity that can be difficult to convey through traditional channels. Narrative-driven formats offer a bridge between technical depth and public comprehension, translating sophisticated systems into stories that retain accuracy without sacrificing accessibility.

However, maintaining credibility in this approach requires restraint because audiences quickly detect when storytelling prioritises branding over substance.

The effectiveness of ‘Intern on a Mission’ over the last eight years has been grounded in its observational tone, which allows professionals to demonstrate expertise organically rather than through scripted messaging. Such authenticity suggests a broader lesson for airlines experimenting with similar formats that transparency works best when it feels earned rather than engineered.

Kenya’s savings and credit cooperative (sacco) sector remains one of the country’s greatest financial inclusion success stories. For decades, saccos have enabled millions of Kenyans to save, access affordable credit, educate their children, invest in businesses and improve their livelihoods.

Today, regulated saccos serve approximately 7.4 million members, with assets exceeding Sh1.2 trillion, leveraging on over Sh870 billion in member deposits, making it a critical pillar of Kenya’s financial system and economic development.

As the prudential regulator, the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) has a statutory responsibility to safeguard members’ deposits, preserve financial stability and promote a safe, sound and efficient sacco sector. This responsibility guides our supervisory approach and the reform agenda currently underway through our parent Ministry of Cooperatives, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

Kenya’s savings and credit cooperative (sacco) sector remains one of the country’s greatest financial inclusion success stories. For decades, saccos have enabled millions of Kenyans to save, access affordable credit, educate their children, invest in businesses and improve their livelihoods.

Today, regulated saccos serve approximately 7.4 million members, with assets exceeding Sh1.2 trillion, leveraging on over Sh870 billion in member deposits, making it a critical pillar of Kenya’s financial system and economic development.

As the prudential regulator, the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) has a statutory responsibility to safeguard members’ deposits, preserve financial stability and promote a safe, sound and efficient sacco sector. This responsibility guides our supervisory approach and the reform agenda currently underway through our parent Ministry of Cooperatives, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

Sales of Isuzu East Africa’s sport utility vehicles (SUVs) rose by 483.3 percent to 105 units in the half year ended June 2026 as local assembly made the car cheaper.

Data from the Kenya Motor Industry Association shows sales of the seven-seater Isuzu mu-X rose from 18 units a year earlier.

‘We lowered the price but also added more features to the mu-X once we started local assembly,’ a source at Isuzu told the Business Daily.

‘This has seen an increase in demand. We have more customers in the queue. Our target is the 10,000 Kenyans who spend Sh8 million to Sh10 million on used SUVs,’ the source added, noting that the mu-X comes with a five-year warranty.

Isuzu has an ambition of selling up 1,000 units of the SUV – which is offered with a three or 1.9-litre diesel engine – per annum in the medium term.

Vehicle parts headed to assembly are exempt from the 35 percent import duty on fully-built imports. They are also exempt from excise duty, which is set at 20 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent, depending on engine size and fuel type for internal combustion vehicles, which dominate the roads.

Assemblers also benefit from paying an Import Declaration Fee of 2.5 percent compared to the standard 3.5 percent. They pay a lower Railway Development Levy of 1.5 percent compared to the standard rate of two percent.

These incentives can lower the cost of vehicles by millions of shillings, giving assemblers the headroom to price their models more competitively or enjoy higher margins.

CFAO Mobility Kenya dropped the price of the Toyota Fortuner from Sh13.2 million to Sh10 million after it started assembling the SUV in Mombasa in 2023.

Some used car dealers are selling eight-year-old Toyota Fortuner models from Sh6.5 million, indicating the growing competitiveness of assemblers.

The tax incentives are designed to help the assemblers boost production and create jobs, with the government further offering them support under the Buy Kenya-Build Kenya strategy.

Seizing the advantages, formal dealers have moved to reduce the units and number of models they import fully-built from Japan, South Africa and other markets.

The firms in June sold 1,476 vehicles that were assembled locally, representing 92.3 percent of total new vehicle sales in the month.

Assemblers also benefit from paying an Import Declaration Fee of 2.5 percent compared to the standard 3.5 percent. They pay a lower Railway Development Levy of 1.5 percent compared to the standard rate of two percent.

These incentives can lower the cost of vehicles by millions of shillings, giving assemblers the headroom to price their models more competitively or enjoy higher margins.

CFAO Mobility Kenya dropped the price of the Toyota Fortuner from Sh13.2 million to Sh10 million after it started assembling the SUV in Mombasa in 2023.

Some used car dealers are selling eight-year-old Toyota Fortuner models from Sh6.5 million, indicating the growing competitiveness of assemblers.

The tax incentives are designed to help the assemblers boost production and create jobs, with the government further offering them support under the Buy Kenya-Build Kenya strategy.

Seizing the advantages, formal dealers have moved to reduce the units and number of models they import fully-built from Japan, South Africa and other markets.

The firms in June sold 1,476 vehicles that were assembled locally, representing 92.3 percent of total new vehicle sales in the month.

A new team was appointed to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) last year. With this transition comes a fresh opportunity to reform Kenya’s electoral system. One issue that deserves urgent attention is the quiet disenfranchisement of polling officials.

Every election cycle, the IEBC recruits thousands of temporary workers, including polling clerks, presiding officers, returning officers, ICT assistants and logistics personnel. These are the people who make it possible for millions of Kenyans to exercise their democratic right. Yet, election after election, many of them do not get to vote themselves.

The reason is straightforward. Most polling officials are deployed far from the constituencies where they are registered. They report several days before the election and remain at their assigned stations until the process is completed. With no provision for early voting or absentee ballots, they are effectively locked out of the electoral process.

This raises an uncomfortable question: How can an electoral system be considered fully inclusive when the people running it are denied the opportunity to participate in it?

Economic realities have also helped normalise this problem. In difficult times, the payment attached to election work can be a significant incentive. Many officials knowingly forgo their vote because the assignment provides a rare opportunity to earn an income. It is a quiet trade-off that has become part of Kenya’s electoral landscape, yet it should not be.

If Kenya has found ways to facilitate voting for citizens living abroad, it should be possible to create a mechanism that enables polling officials to vote while serving the country at home. The challenge is not necessarily technical; it is one of political will, planning and prioritisation.

The new IEBC should consider practical solutions. Early voting for polling officials, special polling sessions at training centres, or designated voting arrangements for officials deployed outside their constituencies could all be explored without compromising electoral integrity.

The details would require careful planning. There would need to be safeguards against multiple voting, clear verification procedures and a reliable system for transmitting results. These are challenges, but they are not insurmountable.

Service to the country and participation in its democratic processes should not be mutually exclusive. The people who safeguard the vote should not have to surrender their own.

Allowing polling officials to vote would affirm their dignity and strengthen the legitimacy of Kenya’s elections. As the new IEBC begins its work, it should ask a simple question: Why should those who make democracy possible be excluded from practising it?

Esther Masese Waititu was just 23 when she joined the banking world as a graduate trainee.

Young, ambitious and fearless, she stunned the bank’s CEO during an introductory meeting by declaring that she intended to take his job one day.

In an earlier interview, Ms Waititu recalled that, even then, she believed the best job anyone could aspire to was that of a chief executive. When the CEO invited questions from the new graduate trainees, she wasted no time.

“I want to have your job. Can you show me how?” she asked.

It was a bold declaration from a fresh graduate, but one that would come to define a career marked by steady progression through Kenya’s corporate ranks.

Those who have followed Ms Waititu’s career may be forgiven for believing that she is edging closer to that childhood ambition after announcing she will leave Safaricom, where she has served as Chief Financial Services Officer since 2023.

Her departure ends a stint at Kenya’s largest telecommunications firm, fuelling speculation that a CEO role may be next.

“I wish to announce that Esther Waititu, our Chief Financial Services Officer, will be leaving Safaricom to pursue other opportunities. At her request, the company has agreed that her last working day will be July 31, 2026,” Safaricom Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa said in an email to staff.

Though her time at Safaricom lasted only three years, it coincided with some of the company’s most significant innovations. Before joining the telco, she had spent 13 years in banking, serving as KCB Group’s Director for Corporate Banking between September 2021 and February 2023 after holding several senior roles at Standard Bank of South Africa.

At Safaricom, she helped transform M-Pesa from a payment platform into a broader financial ecosystem, earning herself the title, “Mama M-Pesa”.

She oversaw the migration of the platform to the cloud-native Fintech 2.0 architecture, launched Daraja 3.0 to open M-Pesa’s rails to developers and championed products aimed at deepening financial inclusion, including Pochi la Biashara, Tuunza Mapato and device insurance.

Among her signature achievements was the rollout of Ziidi Trader, an integrated mini-app launched in February that allows M-Pesa customers to buy and sell shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange directly from their phones.

Reflecting on her departure in a LinkedIn post, Ms Waititu said her goal had never been simply to build better payment technology but to make M-Pesa a platform that helps ordinary Kenyans save, borrow, insure themselves and build wealth.

“Three years ago, M-PESA was already Africa’s leading digital payment platform. I believed we could do more. With an exceptional team, we set out to make it a lifeline platform, one that helps people save for school fees, insure against risk, borrow to grow and build wealth for the next generation,” she wrote.

She said the launch of Ziidi Trader brought investing within reach of millions of Kenyans by placing the NSE “in the pocket of every M-Pesa customer,” while Fintech 2.0 and Daraja 3.0 laid the digital infrastructure for future innovations. The work, she added, reinforced her belief that financial inclusion and commercial performance are mutually reinforcing.

Long before she was helping reshape Africa’s largest mobile money platform, Ms Waititu was a young woman with big dreams.

Before joining banking, she briefly worked in a coffee shop, where she watched customers casually spend Sh250 on a cup of the beverage before ordering meals. Instead of seeing extravagance, she saw a future.

“I used to look at these guys spending Sh250 on just a cup of coffee before they had their sandwich,” Ms Waititu recalled.

“One day, it shall be me, and I will be served by someone like me on the other side. I wanted to be served with a smile and given options.”

Ms Waititu admits she did not grow up lacking. Her mother worked at property consultancy Knight Frank and the family enjoyed a comfortable upbringing.

Drivers picked them up from school. She attended Loreto Msongari Girls High School while her brothers studied at St Mary’s School, Nairobi. She later got admitted to the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, though her first choice had been the University of Nairobi.

Her life has been guided by the same optimism that defines her career. She met her husband in the early 2000s at the popular Nairobi entertainment spot Kengeles, where a chance encounter blossomed into a lifelong relationship.

The two married, but not before learning one of life’s early lessons in managing the unexpected.

They had planned for about 400 guests at their wedding, only for almost 700 to turn up. Instead of panicking, they negotiated a payment plan with the venue before setting off on honeymoon.

Their destination was the Maldives, the idyllic Indian Ocean archipelago famed for its white sandy beaches, clear waters and luxurious overwater villas that have made it one of the world’s most coveted destinations.

“Things will not always work out perfectly,” she once said.

“But you have to negotiate and find your way to come out of there.”

That resilience would be tested again when she became a mother. Ms Waititu, who has twins, has spoken about the difficult pregnancy that left her hospitalised for several days after giving birth before she was finally discharged to join her newborns.

The experience deepened Ms Waititu’s appreciation for family and strengthened her resolve to pursue excellence at home and work.

Away from the office, she is an avid lover of music, art and travel.

Ms Waititu also enjoys dancing and admits that, after a demanding day, she does not mind stepping out for a night of dancing with family and friends.

Her love for music dates to the beginning of her career. One of the first major purchases she made after landing her first job was a sound system. She bought it on hire purchase.

She also developed a passion for collecting paintings and bought a car, much to the chagrin of her mother, who thought she should have invested in property instead.

“Money should be enjoyed,” she says.

“I have discovered as an adult that money is just a tool.”

Rather than measuring success by how much one earns, she believes people should focus on the quality of life they build.

“I shouldn’t be aiming to see how much money I am making. I should be aiming to see what type of life I want to lead,” she says.

That philosophy extends to travel. While many would rather use Sh1 million to buy land, she believes experiences are equally valuable.

“You have the plot, but I don’t know if you are going to have the experience and richness of life,” she says.

The confidence that led the 23-year-old graduate trainee to tell a chief executive she wanted his job has remained the defining thread of her life.

It carried her from serving coffee to leading one of Africa’s largest fintech businesses, through the demands of marriage, motherhood and executive leadership, and into the upper ranks of Kenya’s corporate world.

As she prepares to leave Safaricom after helping redefine the role of M-Pesa in Kenya’s financial system, the question is no longer if she is ready to lead a company.

It is which board will hand the ambitious graduate trainee the chief executive’s office she first set sights on more than two decades ago.

“I look forward to sharing more about my next adventure soon,” she said in her LinkedIn post.

Several products sold in three leading Chinese retail chains in Kenya are in breach of the law that requires goods sold locally to be labelled in English or Kiswahili.

A Business Daily investigation has uncovered that products ranging from baby and feminine care items to skincare products, personal hygiene goods, electronics and industrial adhesives are labelled purely in Mandarin.

The products, sold at Mia Duck, China Square and Panda Mart, bear the Kenya Bureau of Standards’ (Kebs) Import Standardisation Mark (ISM), indicating that they have been certified for sale in Kenya.

The revelations have sparked questions about how products that do not meet the country’s statutory labelling requirements entered the Kenyan market and reached retail shelves, posing consumption and financial risks to consumers. Their labelling in Mandarin denies consumers a window to make informed choices.

One shopper, Caleb Okari, discovered the risks first-hand after buying what he believed was an ordinary tube of household super glue from Mia Duck. The packaging and instructions were written entirely in Mandarin, a language understood by only a tiny fraction of Kenyan consumers. Assuming it was conventional glue, he bought it without understanding its intended use.

‘When I got home and tried to use it, it didn’t work the way I expected,’ Mr Okari recounted. ‘It had a strong smell and did not stick the way the super glue I’m used to does. When I scanned the writing to translate it, I realised it was actually an industrial adhesive and I had been using it all wrong.’

The translated label identified the product as an industrial adhesive designed primarily for construction and automotive applications, including bonding vehicle body panels.

Health agencies, including the US National Library of Medicine, warn that some industrial adhesives require specific handling and adequate ventilation, as prolonged skin contact or inhalation may cause dizziness, headaches, skin irritation and other adverse health effects.

Retailers told the Business Daily that customers who cannot read Mandarin should seek help from staff or use translation applications before purchasing products.

A spokesperson for Mia Duck said buyers are expected to ask staff for assistance, while China Square and Panda Mart said employees are available to translate product labels and instructions for customers.

The practice, however, is inconsistent with Kenya’s labelling laws, which require mandatory product information to be provided in English or Kiswahili so consumers can make informed purchasing decisions and use products safely.

The Weights and Measures (Sale and Labelling of Goods) Rules of 1999 state that ‘every declaration required to be made on a package under this rule shall be either in English or Kiswahili or in both English and Kiswahili.’

It requires that products bear the name and address of the manufacturer, the common or generic name of the product, net weight or measure, and the sell-by date, among other product-specific instructions, all in either English or Kiswahili – the official and national languages of the country.

But the Chinese stores sell products that have all their packaging declarations in Mandarin, with some having only the popular or brand name, the expiry date and the net weight in recognisable characters.

This begs the question: are they really meant for the Kenyan market?

All these products bear the import standardisation mark (ISM) sticker issued by Kebs, which is a certification that they meet the required standards to be on the shelves.

Yet they don’t. Kebs’ standards state that products sold in Kenya must be labelled in English or any other official language in the East African Community, which also includes French and Kiswahili.

‘If the language on the original label is not acceptable to the consumer for whom it is intended, a supplementary label containing the information in the required language may be used instead of re-labelling,’ reads the Kebs standards.

Kebs told the Business Daily that any sale of imported products before relabelling is illegal and that it will take enforcement action against importers and retailers that violate labelling rules.

‘Kebs operates a risk-based conformity assessment and surveillance system that processes thousands of import consignments annually,’ a spokesperson told Business Daily in emailed responses.

‘While the system is designed to ensure a high level of compliance, isolated cases of non-compliance may occur due to factors such as mis-declaration of the customs clearance documents, non-compliance by importers, or circumvention of regulatory requirements by traders.’

Kebs said imported goods are subject to multiple compliance checks before reaching consumers. Under its Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) programme, products destined for Kenya are inspected before shipment to verify compliance with Kenyan standards, including statutory marking and labelling requirements.

‘Kebs, through its PVoC Programme, verifies that imported products falling within its regulatory scope comply with applicable Kenya Standards and statutory marking and labelling requirements before being shipped, released into, or allowed to remain in the Kenyan market,’ the spokesperson said.

In the event of non-compliance, and depending on the product risk the non-compliances raises, the regulator said it can order an importer to recall the products, seize the products, and destroy them to protect consumers.

The Competition Authority of Kenya, which enforces consumer protection laws requiring traders to provide adequate product information for informed purchasing decisions, acknowledged Business Daily’s questions but did not respond by the time of publication. The retailers are aware they are breaking the law, but they say their hands are tied because they don’t make the products.

‘These products come prepackaged by the manufacturer, so we just have to sell them that way. But we’ve been trying to reduce and now many manufacturers we work with label in English,’ said a China Square spokesperson.

Stephen Mutoro, secretary-general of the Consumers Federation of Kenya, said labelling requirements exist to ensure consumers understand what they are buying and how to use products safely.

‘A label in Mandarin alone, with no English or Kiswahili, denies that right. That is a violation, not a technicality.’

China is Kenya’s largest source of imports, supplying goods worth a record Sh671 billion last year and accounting for more than a quarter of all imports, meaning even isolated failures to comply with Kenyan labelling requirements could affect a large number of products reaching consumers.