Category: Business Daily

Sugar sector stakeholders have given a parliamentary committee mixed submissions on the newly reintroduced Sugar Development Levy, with some demanding the tax rate be lowered to one percent while others suggested higher rates of up to 10 percent.

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) informed the Senate Committee on Agriculture that industrial sugar, also known as Icumsa 45, is an essential raw material for manufacturing and that the levy on it should be reduced or eliminated.

Parliament has questioned Tanzanian tycoon Edhah Abdallah Munif’s bid to purchase an additional 29.2 percent stake in East Africa Portland Cement (EAPC) amid concerns that he would dominate the board of the firm and share trade secrets with a rival company.

The Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives raised concerns that Mr Munif, through his investment vehicle, Kalahari Cement Limited, may dominate EAPC voting rights and strategic direction with his increased 41.75 percent stake.

For Kenyan-born British artist James Vaulkhard, art has always been the essence of his existence. He grew up in the rolling hills and tea plantations of Tigoni, a place whose lush landscapes now take centre stage in his maiden exhibition in Nairobi.

James studied art history at Leeds University in the UK before pursuing classical training at Charles Cecil Studios and Studio Della Statua in Florence, Italy. There, he immersed himself in an Italian system of portraiture and figurative painting that valued rigour and discipline.

He recalls months of intensive classes where students would spend a full year working in one medium, on live models, sometimes nude, while learning to master proportions, form, light and shadow. He also taught younger artists during this period. However, James felt the pull to take a different path, one where his own voice would be the muse, the ruse and the fleeting inspiration of his work.

‘I never wanted to be a classically societal portrait artist,’ he says. ‘I envisioned Florence as a foundation. When I moved to the UK, I used that experience to bend and break rules and to develop my own style. Portraits brought in money, but my dream was always to create and sell work that spoke in my own language.’ Exhibiting frequently in London, he worked to ‘deprogramme’ himself from his classical heritage, which, though invaluable, risked becoming a creative cage.

That transformation required grit.

‘When I applied for school in Florence, I was warned about getting sucked into a tradition and discipline that had stood for centuries,’ he recalls. ‘I knew I wanted the foundation, but I also knew I would constantly experiment from the very beginning. I was, however, doing a few classical portraits and commissions over time just to stay afloat as a young artist.’

London gave him opportunities to push his boundaries. Then came the Covid-19 lockdowns, which provided uninterrupted time to paint. ‘I became maniacal with my work,’ he says. ‘By the time sanity returned to the world, my own style had started to take shape.’

His Nairobi exhibition marks a return to Tigoni, where his childhood among rolling tea plantations continues to inspire him. The landscapes, he explains, are challenging to capture. ‘I have always wanted to paint these tea farms, but their surreal nature makes them hard to translate onto canvas. The luminous greens lie flat like a carpet, almost like an ocean or desert. It can be difficult to make them work as a painting.’

In this series, James combines representational and abstract approaches. Tigoni’s hills are the main subject, but he also paints landscapes of Lake Naivasha and Msambweni, places that he enjoys revisiting. His layering of colours, sometimes deliberately unnatural, creates depth and vibrancy. Patterns emerge across the surfaces, suggesting both vastness and intimacy. Viewers sense open plains, light-filled horizons, and a quiet catharsis.

The portraits are inspired by Kenya, but in composition, James was also looking at the San Francisco Bay Area school of painters, including Richard Diebenkorn, Clifford Still and Joseph Amber, whose bold treatment of colour influences his work.

James’s connection to art began early. At the age of seven, his parents were already framing his watercolours, many of which still hang in their home. His skill was unquestionable, and over time, his work has grown to embrace narrative and historical elements. In his latest paintings, though narrative recedes, African landscapes remain central, an ode to place and memory.

The biggest lesson across his journey, he says, has been faith. ‘Art is not easy, not even as a hobby. It can be frustrating. But having the courage to take risks, even when things do not go as planned, always leads somewhere.’ James has seen every side of the artist’s life. At 18, he sold his first painting – a mural of a Pokot herdswoman – for about Sh17,000. Nearly two decades later, he sold his most expensive painting for Sh3.3 million. His exhibition at the One Off Art Gallery features works priced in the range of Sh232,000 and Sh1.1million.

Though his career has taken him from Florence to London and now back to Nairobi, his practice remains a balance between experimentation and discipline, freedom and foundation. He continues to push his style forward, layering colours and patterns in search of both harmony and disruption, abstraction and representation.

His return to Tigoni, he says, feels inevitable. ‘The landscapes have always been calling. I think I needed the years of training, experimentation and failure before I could even attempt them.’

What stands out in James’s story is not only the technical evolution of his work but also his determination to live by his own vision. He has resisted the pull of purely commercial art, choosing instead to forge a style that is personal and resonant. His art bridges two worlds – the classical discipline of Florence and the luminous freedom of the Kenyan landscape – each shaping the other.

It is this tension that makes his current exhibition compelling. The works are not just portraits of place but explorations of memory, colour and self-discovery. They carry the discipline of tradition while embracing the freedom of experimentation.

James is quick to emphasise that the process is ongoing.

His Nairobi exhibition is not a culmination but another step in his evolution as an artist. Each canvas reflects both his roots and his restlessness, his grounding in technique and his refusal to be confined by it. In his own words: ‘It does not always go to plan, but it always leads to something.’

The exhibition runs until the end of October.

Globally, blue economy, covering everything from fisheries and aquaculture to shipping, offshore energy, biotechnology, and coastal tourism, is valued at more than $ 1.5 trillion annually and is projected to double by 2030.

Beneath these sweeping figures, however, lies a stark truth: the bulk of activities is carried out by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). They are the fishers, processors, boat builders, seaweed farmers, and eco-tourism operators who keep local economies alive.

Yet, these enterprises struggle to secure the financing that would allow them to scale, modernise, and compete fairly in a changing economy. Traditional banks often view MSMEs as high-risk clients, especially because many operate informally, with few financial records or collateral to secure loans.

Seasonal earnings tied to fishing cycles or tourism flows do not match rigid repayment schedules. High interest rates and bureaucratic requirements end up shutting out many entrepreneurs before they even begin the loan process.

This financing drought has consequences. Without affordable credit, MSMEs cannot invest in modern storage facilities, ice plants, or processing equipment that would cut losses. They cannot adopt climate-smart practices such as solar-powered cold rooms or sustainable aquaculture techniques.

As a result, livelihoods remain precarious, post-harvest losses remain high, and unsustainable practices persist. The gap between the promise of a blue economy and the lived reality of coastal communities continues to widen. Yet, there are glimpses of what is possible when finance reaches the grassroots.

Seychelles pioneered the world’s first sovereign blue bond in 2017, raising funds to support small-scale fisheries. Belize and Cabo Verde have pioneered debt-for-nature swaps, freeing up resources for marine conservation and community enterprises. Across East Africa, digital platforms are emerging to connect fishers directly to buyers, giving them stronger bargaining power and building financial records that make them more attractive to lenders.

In West Africa, solar-powered cold storage hubs, funded through blended finance, are reducing spoilage, increasing incomes, and creating creditworthy business models.

What these examples show is that innovative financing for the blue economy is possible when systems are designed with MSMEs in mind.

Banks and investors can adapt their products to the unique rhythms of coastal businesses, offering flexible repayment schedules that align with seasons, or using community-based savings groups and warehouse receipts as alternative forms of collateral.

Development partners and governments can step in with credit guarantees and concessional financing that lower the risks for lenders, making small loans more viable.

At the same time, capacity building is essential. Many coastal MSMEs lack the bookkeeping or formal business plans that lenders require.

Training in financial literacy, support for cooperatives, and digital record-keeping tools can help small enterprises become more bankable without stripping away the resilience that comes with their community-based structures. Investing in shared infrastructure, such as cold storage hubs and processing facilities, could also help reduce risks and attract financing.

Beyond financing instruments, enabling ecosystems are vital. Governments can strengthen policy frameworks that prioritise MSMEs, while impact investors and blended finance vehicles can design products that balance risk with sustainability outcomes.

Technology such as mobile money, blockchain traceability, and digital marketplaces can improve transparency and build credit histories, while better data on MSMEs’ contributions will make their value more visible to financiers.

Crucially, financing must also be inclusive, ensuring that women, the youth, and indigenous communities, often at the heart of coastal economies, gain equal access to opportunities in the blue economy.

The blue economy is already a reality, but it remains fragile under pressure from overfishing, climate change, and rising sea levels.

Expanding access to finance for MSMEs delivers a dual benefit: more resilient livelihoods and healthier ecosystems. Targeted investments in fisher cooperatives, women-led seaweed enterprises, and sustainable aquaculture creates ripple effects that strengthen communities, safeguard marine resources, and build a more resilient global economy. Policymakers and financiers have a choice to make. They can continue to overlook MSMEs in favour of large-scale projects, or they can recognise that the future of blue economy rests on small enterprises.

They may be modest in size, but their collective impact is vast. With the right financing, MSMEs can truly anchor the blue economy ensuring that the ocean remains a source of wealth, culture, and opportunity for generations to come.

Kenya has launched a buyback of the $1 billion (Sh129.23 billion), 10-year Eurobond that is due to mature in February 2028, looking to avoid the pain of a bullet payment on the debt.

This will be the third early repayment of a Eurobond by the government in the last two years, which is part of the Treasury’s debt management strategy of directly refinancing large upcoming maturities with new bonds of longer tenor.

As reported in the Business Daily this week, the Trade ministry has at last acknowledged the devastating impact of the 17.5 percent Export Promotion Levy on clinker and steel billet imports. This policy, in place for over two years, has severely hindered two crucial economic sectors.

Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui’s appeal to Parliament for its repeal is not merely a policy reversal; it represents a vital lifeline for thousands of jobs, a clear rejection of monopolistic cartels, and a demonstration of decisive leadership. For this, we express our profound appreciation.

Introduced in July 2023 under the guise of boosting local production, the levy was presented as a patriotic measure to foster domestic industries. However, it quickly devolved into a classic case of policy capture, where powerful interests within government and the private sector manipulated public policy to solidify their dominance. Clinker, a crucial raw material for cement, has become prohibitively expensive for cement manufacturers. This led to factories operating at a mere 60 percent capacity, resulting in a staggering 7.9 percent drop in national cement production last year alone-a loss of 763,500 tonnes (over 15 million, 50kg bags equivalent annually).

Exports to key East African markets like Uganda and Tanzania plummeted by nearly 50 percent, eroding Kenya’s competitive edge and inflating building costs.

The same 17.5 percent levy on billets and other imports stifled downstream manufacturing, drove up prices for reinforcement bars and rods, and triggered widespread job losses as mills scaled back operations.

What was touted as an ‘export promotion’ tool benefited only a select few, creating artificial scarcities and unhealthy rivalries that disadvantaged smaller players and betrayed the very industries it claimed to protect. The official statistics, while alarming, only hint at the true extent of the damage. They fail to capture the hundreds of micro, small, and medium enterprises that were utterly destroyed by this levy, particularly in the production of steel wire products like nails, barbed wire, and mesh.

The monopolistic environment it fostered forced these small operators to procure raw materials in extremely large, dollar-denominated minimum order quantities, effectively pricing them out of existence overnight.

Consider the heartbreaking example of a company in Kikuyu Constituency, where the owner had invested Sh300 million from his retirement savings and the sale of properties. Employing 300 people and contributing significantly to local livelihoods, this company was forced to shut its doors after the levy hit, leaving its workers jobless. This is just one of thousands of employees whose dreams were deferred due to misguided policy.

This was no innocent oversight. Previous occupants of the Trade docket, armed with extensive data on the levy’s destructive ripple effects, chose inaction and convenience.

The minister’s forthright admission that the levy has created an unfair market marks a refreshing departure from this pervasive malaise.

For many banks, lending to small businesses is always seen as a risky affair. But Prime Bank, now with three decades of betting on small businesses, explains how it finds the sweet spot in an area where many large banks have struggled.

Prime Bank CEO Rajeev Pant spoke to Business Daily about the power of consistency, specialisation, staying close to customers and avoiding risky bets, and how this has offered a formula to keep loan default rates at below three percent against the banking sector’s over 17 percent.

After Parliament approved the plan to sell 65 percent of the government stake in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), the deal now looks like a foregone conclusion. The National Treasury expects to raise approximately Sh100 billion from the transaction.

The language used by officials to frame the policy is telling. This is not ‘privatisation’ in the ideological sense of rolling back the frontiers of the state. Instead, it is described as ‘liability management;-a tool to raise cash, restructure the balance sheet, and contain public debt. The narrative is that Kenya is not selling assets out of conviction but out of necessity.

A group of former Standard Chartered Bank Kenya (SCBK) employees have asked the UK’s financial services regulator to compel the lender’s British parent to act on their claims for past undervalued pensions, citing frustration in their engagement with the Kenyan subsidiary.

The group numbering 325 is seeking pension on the same terms as the 629 former workers who recently won a Supreme Court case affirming a Retirement Benefits Appeals Tribunal (RBAT) award against the lender for their dues estimated at about Sh7 billion.

Eighteen saccos have converted Sh660 million worth of claims in Kuscco Mutual Assurance Limited (KMAL) into an undisclosed stake in the entity ahead of the planned sale of a majority ownership in the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Co-operatives Ltd (Kuscco)-owned insurer.

Kusccco managing director Arnold Munene said in an interview the sealing of a deal to dispose of a key stake of Kuscco Mutual Assurance to strategic investors is likely to conclude in November and saccos have been supporting this through the claims-to-equity transactions.