Category: Business Daily

As the State unveils a scheme to bankroll social media influencers to showcase flagship projects, a thorny dilemma takes shape: should creators grab the cheque and risk alienating their audiences, or guard their credibility and watch the money slip away?

With less than two years to the General Elections, the timing has only deepened suspicions that the move is less about civic education and more about political survival for an increasingly unpopular regime.

The programme, announced last week by President William Ruto’s Head of Creative Economy and Special Projects, Dennis Itumbi, seeks to tap into the extensive reach of digital creators whose content shapes conversations among millions of Kenyans daily. While proponents see the plan as a modern way of delivering government messages where citizens already are, suspicion is rife that the absence of strict disclosure rules or independent oversight could blur the line between transparent public communication and subtle propaganda.

Externally, global precedents already offer a warning.

In the US, for instance, the Federal Trade Commission compels influencers to flag any ‘material connection’ with sponsors, while the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority insists that paid content must be ‘obviously identifiable, from the first glance.

Platform’s such as TikTok have gone further by embedding ‘paid partnership’ labels into their systems.

Kenya, by contrast, has no clear framework, leaving creators torn between short-term payouts and the long-term loyalty of their followers.

While announcing the initiative last week, Mr Itumbi termed the plan a dual-purpose initiative that supports content creators while amplifying government priorities.

“The government is willing to put money specifically for a few things that government is doing, and you can benefit directly. If you do content around housing, health, job creation and agriculture, we are willing to put money into it for you,” he said during a forum with creators.

Mr Itumbi further argued that the model would formalise partnerships with digital creators, some of whom he said are already promoting government programmes on their own platforms without pay.

“There are creators who are already explaining the Affordable Housing programme, or Hustler Fund, because they believe in it. This is about recognising that effort and supporting it,” he said.

While no official guidelines have been published on how the initiative will run, the absence of regulatory guardrails has sparked debate on what transparency will look like in practice.

The Advertising Standards Body of Kenya (ASBK), a self-regulatory initiative set up by players in the marketing industry, has spelt out general provisions to ensure ethical and responsible advertising but does not have influencer-specific disclosure rules.

In advanced economies, regulators have insisted that the success of such campaigns depends on clarity.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission has previously penalised influencers who failed to disclose paid endorsements, while Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority maintains a public list of influencers previously found in breach of disclosure requirements.

For local creators, the dilemma is not just regulatory. Accepting government contracts could alienate audiences who see them as independent voices, particularly at a politically sensitive moment.

Turning them down, on the other hand, means passing up rare formal earnings in an industry that’s still struggling for sustainable monetisation. As a profession, influencing has gained ground in Kenya in recent years, transforming from a side hustle to a full-time career for many young people.

According to online research tool Salary Explorer, local influencer marketers earn between Sh82,800 and Sh286,000 a month, with the average being Sh180,000.

High-profile creators can charge up to Sh100,000 for a single sponsored post, while others rely on smaller but more frequent deals.

Global data platform Statista projects that ad spending in Kenya’s influencer market will reach $2.1 million (Sh271.3 million) by the close of this year, translating to an annual growth rate of 8.8 percent.

Yet, despite these figures, industry earnings remain uneven as only a fraction of creators secure consistent contracts, leaving the vast majority struggling for sustainability. As such, the government’s promise of guaranteed pay for content on flagship programmes could prove attractive.

The political undertones of such arrangements, however, complicate the picture.

With Kenya’s general election due in under two years and the ruling administration facing growing discontent over economic hardship and contested policies, critics argue the State-funded influencer campaigns risk becoming an indirect tool of political messaging disguised as civic education.

While the tension between money and credibility is not new in inflencer culture, stakes are even higher when government is the sponsor. Unlike commercial brands selling products, the State carries political political baggage.

orsing housing, health or agriculture projects might look like neutral civic messaging on the face of it, but in an election cycle, the same content could be interpreted as campaign propaganda.

Kenya is exploring ways to tap into corporate Social responsibility (CSR) funds raised by large companies to support startups and innovators, borrowing from models in India.

Tonny Omwansa, Chief Executive at Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA), said the agency has begun drafting a proposal for the government to establish a framework that would channel a small percentage of CSR budgets into a national innovation fund.

The rural folk, especially in the arid and semi-arid areas, always experience hardship and poverty exacerbated by the adversity of climate change. It was not any different in the eastern part of Kenya, where my story begins.

Daily life revolved around one basic need: water. As a child, my marathon was running to the Athi River with donkeys, carrying jerricans down dusty paths and rocky hills. It was always under the scorching sun and the threat of crocodiles.

The lack of alternatives meant we had to disturb their dangerous habitat. Every so often, children and adults alike escaped with injuries, while others were not as fortunate.

We drank directly from the river, polluted by upstream waste from Nairobi. We swam not for leisure, but to cool our bodies before the uphill climb home. That was our childhood.

No packed lunches, no clean water, no safety nets. It was survival, and it came at the cost of missed school days and the burden of child labour.

Looking back, there is nothing about that life to miss. It was real human suffering. And yet, it is this very experience that explains why I am deeply passionate about climate action.

I know, firsthand, what degraded ecosystems mean for families. Deforestation upstream disrupted river flows. Soil erosion stripped the land bare.

Prolonged droughts pushed communities deeper into poverty. Climate vulnerability was not an abstract idea; it was the reality of my childhood.

The World Resources Institute notes that by 2050, nearly one billion people in Africa will face severe water stress unless urgent measures are taken. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report warns that children in Africa born in 2020 will experience four to five times more climate extremes in their lifetime compared to those born 60 years earlier.

These numbers confirm what some of us have lived through since birth.

This is why I advocate for the restoration of landscapes, for clean energy, sustainable food systems, and protection of natural resources that communities depend on.

Climate action should go beyond policy frameworks on paper and fancy global conferences. It is all about human dignity. It is about ensuring that the next generation does not spend its childhood fetching unsafe water or battling odds that should not exist in the first place.

May the policies get better and the actions move faster, so that no more generations have to endure the kind of suffering we went through. Because of that suffering, I now dedicate my voice and work to building solutions.

Climate action, for me, is not just a career path. It is a personal mission to turn pain into purpose and to make sure no child has to endure what we did in the dry and semi-arid eastern part of Kenya.

During the interview, Andrew Mwanyota Lewela, the self-styled barefoot CEO of KeNIC (Kenya Network Information Centre), will attempt to persuade me to remove my shoes, but will fail. It’s not that he’s starting a cult or flirting with some earth-aesthetic religion, though it’s a shame, for he could work a congregation. The man just loves walking barefoot.

He has dabbled with Buddhism, had a pas de deux with Jewish kippahs. How then do you define him? He rejects, in many ways, the very premise of the question. There is, he says, no way to pigeonhole him.

Tanzanian-owned Lake Gas has snapped up two percent of the local market for handling imported cooking gas, taking a piece of a business that has been dominated for decades by African Gas and Oil (AGOL).

Industry data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) revealed the market share of the Tanzanian oil marketer, adding that AGOL and the Shimanzi Oil Terminal (SOT) dominate with a combined share of 94.56 per cent. AGOL’s facility has a capacity of 25,000 tonnes, while SOT connects to five storage facilities with a combined capacity of 2,335 tonnes.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has upheld the dismissal of a hotel supervisor for serving as a director in a newly established company that was planning to venture into a business that would directly compete with his employer.

According to the court, this amounted to a conflict of interest since the business the employee and some colleagues sought to establish was a potential competitor to his employer’s operations.

Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) has extended the suspension of managing director Hillary Wachinga for a further 21 working days starting October 2, 2025.

Dr Wachinga was first suspended on September 3 for 21 working days following what the board termed as a ‘preliminary review of internal matters, which is ongoing.’ This, even as sources linked his suspension to a talent review process he had initiated to streamline operations at the State-owned reinsurer.

A notice on Friday morning announced the extension, which will keep Dr Wachinga out of the office at least up to the end of the month. ‘The board of directors of Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Limited wishes to inform the public that it has extended the suspension of the managing director, Dr Hillary Wachinga, for 21 working days from October 2, 2025,’ read the notice in part.

The extended suspension means general manager for property and investments, Nicodemus Gekone, will continue to serve as the acting managing director for the intervening period. Dr Wachinga, a part-time lecturer at Strathmore Business School, a golfer and poet, became Kenya Re managing director in March 2023, with the board hailing him as a ‘multiskilled strategic thinker’ and a ‘flexible and adaptable corporate leader.’

Kenya Re share price shed 8.38 per cent of its value on the day Dr Wachinga was first suspended, closing the day as the top loser at Sh3.17.

The share price opened Friday trading at Sh3.18.

In the financial year ended December 2023, Dr Wachinga led Kenya Re in a 41.5 percent growth in net profit to Sh4.97 billion that saw shareholders’ dividend per share raised 50 percent to Sh0.30 amounting to Sh839.94 million plus bonus shares of one for each share already held.

Last year, the profit retreated by 10.6 percent to Sh4.44 billion mainly on foreign exchange losses, even as the reinsurance service result -reinsurance revenue less service expenses- grew 4.4 times to Sh2.95 billion. The dividend payout was maintained.

His continued suspension comes at a critical time for Kenya Re given that the September-November window is critical for renewing businesses which has a bearing on the next financial year’s performance.

Kenya Re is also awaiting a new rating from one of the key ratings agencies, raising the risk that the boardroom happenings might filter into the ratings.

A reinsurer’s credit rating is the opinion of an independent agency regarding the company’s financial strength and ability to pay claims coming from insurers. A strong rating points to a reinsurer that can settle insurer’s claims without struggle.

Wholesale prices of electricity will be capped at $0.07 (Sh9.04 at current exchange rates) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for new Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) that Kenya Power will sign in a move aimed at cushioning consumers from costly electricity.

David Gikaria, the chair of the National Assembly Energy Committee, disclosed that capping of the prices is one of the conditions included in a report that his committee will table in Parliament, setting the stage for lifting of a moratorium that has been in place since 2018.

Commercial banks are asking the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to cut the base lending rate further to help lift the pace of private sector credit growth.

Through the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), the lenders say overall inflation remains low, the foreign exchange rate is stable and private sector credit remains ‘under strain,’ requiring further easing of the Central Bank Rate (CBR).

After nearly three decades as an employee-more than half of them as chief executive of Crown Paints-Rakesh Rao longed for the day he could start a business of his own.

Entrepreneurship, he believed, would finally give him ‘peace of mind.” In an April 2021 interview, he said he had given himself about three years-around now, as his two sons settled into their paths-to actualise the dream.