Category: Business Daily

Kenyan banks fell off the list of the fastest-growing lenders in Africa, a new ranking by Financial Times (FT) showed, partly due to a stable shilling against the dollar.

The FT’s latest listing of the World’s top 1000 banks shows no Kenyan lender made it to the list of the top 10 highest movers.

Last year, four Kenyan banks ranked among the fastest-growing lenders in Africa, with KCB Group leading the pack followed by Co-op Bank, Equity Group and NCBA.

‘The dramatic dollar gains the Kenyan banking sector enjoyed in 2024 thanks to the strengthening of the shilling were not repeated last year, with the currency largely unchanged against the greenback due to the central bank’s ‘crawling peg’ strategy,’ said The Banker.

‘The stability of the shilling saw Kenyan lenders slip down the rankings at the expense of other lenders in countries where currencies strengthened against the dollar, even as all but one (Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, whose capital position slipped) recorded increases in Tier 1 capital, assets and pre-tax profits,’ it added.

The shilling had traded in a tight band of Sh129.00 to Sh129.92 against the dollar -the most widely used currency in global transactions– for an extended period.

Kenya’s two dominant lenders, KCB Group and Equity Bank, both slipped by two places in Africa rankings, to 15th and 17th, respectively, despite rising in the global rankings.

Globally, KCB Group ranked at position 542, up from 590, while Equity was at position 573 compared to 590 the previous year.

I and M debuted on the list of the world’s largest banks that is published by FT’s The Banker magazine at position 945 which also had Co-operative Bank (842) and NCBA ranked 924.

The Banker ranks the world’s top lenders based on a number of parameters including the size of shareholders’ own capital (tier 1 capital), profitability, operational efficiency, asset quality, liquidity and return on risk.

Kenyan banks also missed out in the list of African banks with the top five return on assets – a parameter they previously dominated at a continental and global platform. Return on assets measures the efficiency of a bank.

The measure is largely driven by wide interest spreads, with the fall of Kenyan banks from the list signalling a narrowing of the spread in the country.

Kenyan banks were replaced on the list by lenders from Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco, which benefited from gains of their local currencies compared to the greenback.

‘Following the sharp devaluation of the naira from 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria in March 2024 significantly increased paid-in capital requirements for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks in 2024, obliging banks to change their licence status, inject additional equity or pursue mergers,’ said The Banker.

‘Widespread equity raising by lenders saw Tier 1 capital increase by 36 per cent in dollar terms during the year, with Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Standard Chartered Nigeria and Access Holding posting the largest overall gains,’ it added.

Access Bank, which acquired National Bank of Kenya from KCB Group to deepen its presence in Kenya, and Zenith Bank, which acquired Paramount Bank to enter the Kenyan market, are some of the lenders who improved their rankings, overtaking Kenyan banks.

Fourteen of the banks ranked among the top 25 lenders in Africa have a presence in Kenya, underlining the lure of the Kenyan market as a launch pad into the East African market and the competitiveness of its banking sector.

Standard Bank Group, which retained its ranking as the top bank in the country, has a presence in the country through its subsidiary Stanbic Bank. Others are South African Absa Group, which ranked third; Nedbank, which bought into NCBA Bank, positioned 5th; Moroccan Bank of Africa (7th) and CIB Egypt (8th).

Kenyan banks are yet to expand to South and West African nations owing largely to their smaller size.

The Eastern African nations where Kenyan lenders have presence have been cash cows owing to their low financial inclusion that has allowed the banks to exercise technological advantage to reap huge.

Markets such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are considered to be volatile, limiting the number of entrants and allowing for wider margins to compensate for the risk.

Kenya has bought a building hosting its High Commission in London for £16,250,000 (Sh2.8 billion) as Nairobi shifts to property ownership for its diplomatic missions abroad to cut rental costs.

A report tabled in Parliament shows that Kenya has already paid for the property located at 45 Portland Place and is awaiting registration and transfer of the title of the property. The building has been purchased under a 999-year lease.

The purchase of the premises will save Kenya Sh103million in annual rent, disclosures showed.

‘The Government of Kenya has now successfully secured a long-term lease interest in the property through acquisition of a 999-year lease at a total cost of approximately £16,250,000 (Sh2.84 billion). The mission is waiting for the title documents from the HRM registry,’ the National Assembly committee on Defence and Foreign Relations says in the report.

‘The full purchase price has been paid, and the conveyance process, including transfer and registration of title, is ongoing’

The purchase of the building marks a shift where Kenya is now purchasing properties for the offices and residences of its diplomatic missions in efforts to reduce the rental costs that are estimated at above Sh3 billion annually.

Rising rent prices and renovation costs are a major headache for Kenya, a matter worsened by budget cuts for these foreign missions.

Kenya launched a phased programme to purchase property for its diplomatic missions in September 2021, with the acquisitions set to be staggered over 15 years.

Besides London, Kenya also bought property for the mission in New York and is also set to complete a similar deal for the also keen to buy property for its envoy in Geneva, Switzerland.

Geneva, New York and London attract some of the steepest rents in the world, underscoring why buying properties in these cities will be instrumental in cutting the rent costs that Kenya incurs every year.

The mission in London had operated from the property on a 67-year lease that expired in October 2021. Kenya then re-negotiated to continue using the residence by paying £350,000 (Sh60.87 million) in rent with an agreement to buy the property.

The market rent of the property was £568,250 (Sh98.4 million) but Kenya secured a lower rate of £350,000 (Sh60.87 million) on the promise to purchase it permanently.

Efforts to purchase a permanent chancery in London started in October 2021, but the first attempt failed after the tender was declared unresponsive.

A second attempt was made the following year but would be cancelled in May 2023 due to procedural concerns tied to the political transition after the 2022 General Elections.

‘Owning the Chancery in London supports prudent financial management by eliminating exposure to escalating rental costs in a high-value property, thereby delivering long-term cost efficiency and value for money,’ the committee says in the report.

Besides the London Chancery along 45 Portland Place, Kenya also owns a property along 78 Winnington Road and another along 48 Connaught Drive, both in London and which are owned on a freehold basis.

The property along 78 Winnington Road is the official residence of the High Commissioner to the UK, while the one along 48 Connaught Drive is the official residence of the Deputy Chief of Mission.

Besides buying properties, plans to facelift of its diplomatic missions in six African countries under a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement as part of a policy shift aimed at easing reliance on Exchequer funding.

As part of the policy shift, Kenya targets a new arrangement whereby private investors will build, rehabilitate, and maintain diplomatic properties in Cairo, Lusaka, Harare, Bujumbura, Juba, and Kinshasa under the PPP model.

The works will entail the construction of purpose-built chanceries, consular halls, ambassadorial residences, and staff housing units.

Investors will design and finance the construction of the properties, then maintain them over a concession period to recoup their money before handing them back to the government of Kenya.

A Sh18.2 billion State project, which aims to procure family planning and reproductive health commodities, has received only 17.85 percent financing nearly 12 years after it kicked off, amid concerns about contraceptive shortages in Kenya.

An analysis by the Controller of Budget, Margaret Nyakang’o, showed that the project, which began on August 13, 2014, had only realised a cumulative expenditure of Sh3.25 billion as of June 30, 2026 against the budgeted Sh18.2billion.

The project, scheduled to end on August 13, 2028, was allocated Sh500 million by the government for the 2025/26 financial year.

“However, a number of projects exhibited low implementation despite having been initiated several years ago. In particular, the Procurement of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Commodities project, which commenced in August 2014, was only 18 percent complete,’ Dr Nyakang’o said.

This slow implementation comes amid concerns about the availability of contraceptives in public health facilities.

Earlier, nominated senator Tabitha Mutinda told the Senate that several family planning commodities had reached zero national stock levels, including combined oral contraceptive pills, three-month injectables, progesterone-only pills, emergency contraceptive pills, and cycle beads.

Implants, male condoms and intrauterine devices were also reported to be at critically low levels or below optimal supply levels.

Ms Mutinda said that the estimated funding requirement for family planning commodities was approximately Sh3 billion.

‘If cash disbursement is not effected against the issued Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) before the end of the financial year, the Sh520 million allocation will lapse back to the Treasury. The procurement window will be lost entirely, and Kenya will enter the 2026/27 financial year with zero stock and zero pipeline,’ she said.

According to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the number of clients receiving various contraceptive methods at health facilities decreased between 2024 and 2025.

The number of new clients receiving family planning injections fell by 10.9 percent, from 692,850 to 617,553, and revisits declined by 8.6 percent, from 2.56 million to 2.34 million.

The number of people receiving combined oral contraceptive pills fell by 29.9 percent, from 294,172 to 206,240, while the number of people revisiting fell by 22.7 percent, from 498,506 to 385,586.

Meanwhile, the number of clients using male condoms fell by 20 percent, from 638,043 to 510,173, and the number of clients using female condoms decreased by 34.7 percent, from 25,673 to 16,760.

During this period, new clients receiving contraceptive implants decreased by three percent, from 713,784 to 692,212, though revisits increased from 328,817 to 336,719.

The US funding disruption has put additional pressure on family planning programmes that were already facing supply and financing challenges.

In January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending foreign aid pending a review of whether programmes aligned with his administration’s priorities. This disrupted health programmes funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), a major provider of contraceptives to developing countries.

This left approximately $9.7 million (Sh1.25 billion) worth of contraceptives, including pills, implants, and intrauterine devices, stranded in a warehouse in Belgium.

A significant proportion of these supplies were intended for distribution to African countries, including Kenya. Most of the stock has since become unusable due to delays and inadequate storage.

In June 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed Congress that the US government would no longer be involved in the global distribution of contraceptives.

After two decades of trying to transform African agriculture into a thriving, bankable business, the sector is still struggling to deliver prosperity despite growing production.

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’s (AGRA) 20-year review shows farm output has roughly doubled since 2005 and cereal yields have risen by about 40 percent, yet farmer incomes remain below the global average.

Here, AGRA President Alice Ruhweza discusses why production gains have not translated into prosperity and what must change.

Africa has increased food production, yet farmers remain poor and investors say they cannot find solid bankable agricultural opportunities. Where is the value being lost?

We have looked at these things separately, yet our assessment shows we need coordinated action. Some groups focus on production, others on markets and agro-industrialisation, and others on institutions. But everything has to move together.

The three traps are productivity, value and capability. Production is happening, but it remains trapped without value. Value creates jobs and economic growth, while institutions must be capable of driving the transformation.

So is Africa’s agriculture problem really a financing problem?

It is a narrative problem, a bankability problem, a business-case problem and an awareness problem. There is money, but investors say they cannot find bankable opportunities. One of our roles is to connect investors to these opportunities. Agriculture is a $1 trillion opportunity.

What makes an agricultural opportunity bankable?

There must be something at the end of it. If it is agritech, what is the technology going to produce?

Take Mission300 on energy access. Governments signed up and developed compacts, but the question became: energy access and then what?

Energy is important for health and education, but you also need a production sector. Agriculture is that sector. Linking energy access to productive activity creates a stronger business case.

Does that mean governments should invest less in agriculture and more in agro-industrialisation?

I don’t think governments should deprioritise agriculture. They should prioritise agro-industrialisation so that value creation generates jobs, many of them downstream rather than on farms.

The success of the green revolution was not just about producing more food. It was also about how many people moved out of agriculture into other sectors. The more we develop agro-industrialisation, the more jobs we create. That is the measure of success.

Why haven’t food crops attracted the same investment as export crops such as tea and coffee?

Agriculture became associated with poverty. Yet governments invest in crops such as Kenya’s tea and horticulture and Uganda’s coffee because they create jobs and earn foreign exchange.

Food crops have not been seen as capable of doing the same, but we must change that narrative. Cassava, for example, is food but can also be used for biofuel. If we see it only as food for the table, we will not invest in it. Seeing its wider potential creates opportunities for processing and agro-industrialisation.

Where does blended finance fit into this?

Private-sector money seeks returns. Unless you make a clear case for those returns, it will not invest. Public or philanthropic money can help de-risk investments, and AGRA has done considerable risk-sharing to encourage private capital to come in.

What is AGRA’s role in closing the financing gap?

Agriculture will not be transformed by AGRA alone. We need an alliance. Governments must create conditions for investment through predictable policies, infrastructure and access to land.

The private sector must bring resources, while organisations like ours can help governments develop business cases, connect them to investors and highlight opportunities.

The money is there, but it doesn’t know where the opportunity is.

Do you need to expand AGRA’s presence beyond its current countries to have a continental impact?

You don’t need to be everywhere to make a difference. Partnerships with organisations in North Africa and other countries can extend our reach, alongside advocacy and policy influence.

Our Youth Agribusiness Performance Index, for example, has been adopted by the African Union and will be measured in its biannual framework. This shows how policy influence can extend our impact without a physical presence in every country.

Ultimately, how should Africa judge whether its agricultural transformation has worked?

Our 20-year review concludes that there is progress, but it has not yielded prosperity. It must raise farmers’ incomes, create value that drives employment in other sectors, and build institutions capable of sustaining transformation.

When farmers prosper, Africa prospers. Ultimately, the measure of success must be whether we can see a farmer who has prospered.

Three in four small businesses in Kenya rely on mobile money to receive customer payments, according to FSD Kenya’s 2023 FinAccess MSE Tracker Survey. What happens when floods knock out the towers, fibre cables and power lines that keep these transactions running?

With the Kenya Meteorological Department forecasting above-average rainfall across more than 80 percent of the country during the October-to-December 2026 short rains, the risk is real. In risk management, forecasts are early warnings that demand action, not observation. Yet many business continuity plans fail to adequately address prolonged telecommunications outages.

The effects can be devastating. In 2024, faults affecting the SEACOM and EASSy undersea cable systems disrupted internet connectivity across several East African countries, slowing services, interrupting communication and affecting businesses reliant on online banking, mobile payments, cloud systems and digital platforms.

Although the outage was not weather-related, it highlighted organisations’ dependence on reliable connectivity.

Flooding during El Niño rains increases the risk of power outages and damage to terrestrial fibre routes. Flooded roads, power interruptions and weak connectivity can combine to disrupt production, communication, customer service and entire supply chains.

A few years ago, while driving from Nakuru to Nairobi, I encountered flash floods that forced motorists into a slow-moving queue stretching nearly 20 kilometres along flooded roads. The frightening experience showed how quickly extreme weather can disrupt daily life and economic activity.

Many business continuity plans underestimate external dependencies, assuming contingency arrangements will work during a crisis. Businesses often prioritise data backups, insurance, remote work and fire evacuation. While these measures protect information, cover certain losses, enable remote working and support safe evacuation, they may not address wider infrastructure failures.

Plans must also account for risks beyond an organisation’s control. Businesses should assess how flooding and infrastructure damage could affect operations, model different disruption scenarios and conduct risk assessments tailored to the forecast El Niño conditions.

They should map critical processes and infrastructure dependencies and review their business continuity and crisis management plans accordingly.

Our work supporting organisations in enterprise risk management and business continuity has taught us one consistent lesson: disruptions rarely follow the neat sequence outlined in a plan. Businesses must test preparedness across their entire operations and act now, before it is too late.

When I met Dr Kenne Belgrade, the emerging dealmaker who closed the $300 million block transaction transferring a 24.7 percent stake in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to the Dangote Group, the first thing I sought was a breakdown of the deal.

If you are interested in numbers and facts, he thundered, the first point you must agree with is that no money was lost and that investors who bought KPC shares did not lose a dime.

Retail and local institutional investors bought the shares at Sh9 during the initial public offering (IPO), and he offloaded those blocks to Dangote at Sh9.36. Even after factoring in holding time, inflation, dividends and prevailing Treasury bond yields since the March flotation, value was preserved.

Belgrade’s contention is that while the IPO performed well, it left an unsustainable concentration of State-linked pension funds among shareholders. The initial transaction windows left insufficient time to market the offer to global institutional investors.

Offloading shares held by entities such as the NSSF and pension schemes sponsored by Kenya Power, KRA, KPC and KPA was a response to critics who argued that State funds had been coerced into propping up the listing.

Replacing public sector capital with a private titan validated the IPO price that sceptics claimed was inflated.

Having spent weeks in European capitals and the Gulf engaging with risk-averse, condescending foreign investors demanding exhaustive due diligence across the entire infrastructure network, the Dangote Group arrived as a Godsend, wrapping up negotiations within two weeks as the $300 million transaction was concluded.

The numbers on the cap table shifted dramatically. NSSF’s stake plummeted from 22 percent to 6 percent, the Public Service Superannuation Scheme dropped to 6 percent, and individual State-linked pension funds exited entirely.

The broader picture, however, extends far beyond share counts.

KPC is a commercial tollgate for East Africa’s petroleum flows, and three competing business models now clash around its pipeline assets: Kenya’s government-to-government import system, the Vitol-financed trader model supplying Uganda, and Dangote’s proposed import-displacing refinery at Lamu.

The amended Memorandum and Articles of Association convert this commercial tug-of-war into a boardroom contest. The Kenyan government retains 35 percent, while Uganda, which accounts for roughly 65 percent of transit volumes, holds 20.15 percent through UNOC.

Dangote holds the second-largest block at roughly 24.7 percent. Yet, despite his massive outlay, Dangote holds no explicit veto powers.

Reserved-matter vetoes over the CEO appointment, tariffs, capital structure and business plans belong exclusively to joint approval by the Kenyan and Ugandan government directors.

Because special resolutions require an 81 percent vote threshold under the amended governance documents, the voting arithmetic gives the Kenyan government, Uganda and Dangote each an effective blocking minority.

But ordinary board mechanics favour the incumbents. Article 24 reserves seats for the Treasury, Uganda, local institutional groups and oil marketing companies, forcing any other director through a tight Nomination Committee gate. Dangote enters as an outsider on the cap table.

His interests naturally look beyond simple dividend yields; he requires offtake and infrastructure alignment for his Lamu refinery, putting his agenda in direct conflict with existing import margins and trading houses.

Does the Kenyan State risk losing operational control? A hostile takeover via rights issues remains an uphill task because the voting threshold required to introduce capital expansions onto the corporate agenda is intentionally set too high.

Furthermore, under the Sessional Paper through which Parliament ratified the privatisation, reducing the State’s remaining 35 percent holding requires explicit legislative approval.

Governance dynamics remain delicate. Since the IPO, KPC has experienced administrative friction, key staff turnover and an unprecedented rise in trade union militancy at a utility historically free of industrial action.

Simultaneously, Uganda has begun asserting direct influence, with its Treasury and Energy permanent secretaries taking board seats and unlocking stalled executive appointments.

The future hinges on which alignment breaks the impasse. Dangote may remain contained as a passive major shareholder, kept away from executive levers by reserved vetoes. Alternatively, Dangote and local import networks could find operational convergence on upstream crude storage and transport, or Uganda could be persuaded to shift its product strategy towards the Lamu refinery.

The $300 million transaction rebalanced the share register, but it has ensured that KPC’s boardroom will remain the primary arena for the region’s energy politics.

When Al-anwar Hassanali, an entrepreneur in Kenya’s watch industry, told his father he wanted to drop out of university to pursue business, his father gave him one ultimatum.

Hassanali says he was worried that his father was spending so much on his school fees yet getting so little in return.

‘I realised my father had taught me more about business at his shop than what I was learning in university,’ he says.

When he was due to start his third year, he never returned to school.

Throughout his childhood, Hassanali had accompanied his father to his shop along Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue, spending weekends and school holidays there. The visits began when he was just three years old and continued until he joined university.

Hassanali watched his father run the family business, learning firsthand how to attract customers, price products, manage inventory and close sales. These were practical lessons, he says, that no business class could have taught him.

His father, however, was unsettled with his decision to drop out of university.

‘My father wanted to get a degree of his own and become an accountant. But he had to drop out of school and take over the family business after his dad passed away. When I told him I wanted to leave university, he told me, ‘I am giving you a semester break, and if you prove to me, you can make money, then you have my blessings,’ says Hassanali, who was pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

He tried his hand at several businesses, from running an inspiration blog and dabbling in wedding photography to owning a tour company.

His first entrepreneurial lesson was how fast they failed. Not giving up, he saw an opportunity in the watch business, drawing on a childhood fascination with timepieces and seeing his father sell.

‘I was about five years old when I was given a watch as a birthday gift which had ‘Woof’ written in 3D on the rubber belt, along with cute little cartoon dogs. It was so expensive that I used to wear it only on Sundays. On other days, I kept it in the drawer,’ he says.

Hassanali’s entry into the watch industry began with a bet on Citron watches, which a friend of his father had supplied for sale in the family’s shop. He saw an opportunity to take the business online.

He sold 12 watches in just six hours, but the initial success proved short-lived. Half were returned by customers, forcing him to refund the money he had been so delighted to earn. It was his second lesson in entrepreneurship: making a sale is one thing; keeping the customer satisfied is another.

He later acquired several Chinese watch brands but achieved limited success in growing them into thriving businesses.

‘After three months, I had made only Sh8,000. My dad told me to go back to university because I was not making any headway in being an entrepreneur. I prayed so hard for Allah to guide me as I did not want to go back to school,’ Hassanali says.

Not one to give up easily, he embarked on research and stumbled upon Leather Belt Casio Edifice, a brand which came to define his business for years.

Leveraging online marketing, Hassanali settled on selling watches online, setting up Saa Zone – a low-budget watch shop. Apart from Casio watches, he also sold Omax watches through Facebook ads, and good orders started coming.

‘I had a page on Facebook and would sell a watch a month, mostly to friends. Money started coming, and this convinced my dad to let me pursue my dream. This was in 2012.’

He soon learnt his third lesson in entrepreneurship: although the watches sold quickly because of their low prices, their poor durability proved a liability. Customers complained that the watches broke easily, undermining confidence in his business.

Going into debt

He decided to concentrate on selling Casio watches, which, although they cost about 10 times more than Chinese brands, were durable. The watches were genuine, but the cost of importing the stock soon pushed him into debt.

‘We even went into debt because the thing with genuine watches is that when a customer buys one, they won’t return for at least five years, so you don’t have recurring clients,’ he says.

Hassanali gives an example of Orient’s Bambino series, known for its domed crystal and longevity. Its durability comes at a cost.

‘Automatic watches are a very old technology that uses a pallet fork to control the movement. They can last forever. If it gets spoiled, it is easy to repair. They can easily be passed on from one generation to another.’

But this did not deter him from the watch business. Before long, more customers began coming, drawn by their reputation for durability.

Five years into the business, Hassanali realised he had found something worth pursuing seriously.

He opened a physical shop in Nairobi’s Central Business District, running the business as a one-man operation. ‘I was the one doing marketing, packaging, deliveries and everything. Now I have six employees,’ he says.

As the business grew, he started scouting for bigger space with good foot traffic.

His fourth lesson in entrepreneurship: you cannot simply walk to a property management company and say you want to set up a competing watch business in a mall. There is only so much room for watch retailers in one shopping mall, and success depends on standing out.

‘Getting a location was difficult. Popular malls already had other watch shops; even though they were not selling the same brands as ours, they did not give us space,’ he says.

‘They asked if we had shops in other malls, our bank balance, ability to sustain the shop in terms of rent and lots of other things. Even though we were big online, the metrics did not matter to them,’ he says.

It took nine months for Hassanali to secure a space at Our Mall, on Magadi Road, where he now has a shop.

Luck strikes

Luck struck, and Titan, an Indian watchmaker, approached Hassanali and appointed Saa Zone as its sole authorised distributor in Kenya. He added the brand to his Casio and Orient brands.

Titan was looking to expand into Africa, and Hassanali’s biggest headache and fifth entrepreneur lesson was selling a brand that was relatively unknown. Until recently, Titan had been solely focusing on the Indian market where they make about 20 million watches annually and are the fifth-biggest watchmaker in India.

Hassanali says Titan has about 3,000 outlets in India but is now beginning to venture into the international market.

‘We had always been known for Casio, but when Titan came along, it even inspired the opening of a physical shop,’ he says of the shop that cost about Sh2.5 million to set up.

He explains that before Saa Zone committed to working with Titan, they tested their products for one year, gauging their durability and design.

‘Once the durability test met our standards, we came into an agreement, and currently we are now their authorised dealer in Kenya,’ says Hassanali.

‘It was a big gamble’

‘We buy from Titan and sell at a price where we can make a profit,’ he says, adding, ‘it was a big gamble that we had no idea whether it would work because we have been an online shop for years. We had that difficult period in the beginning, but the business has started generating profit.’

The lesson he is currently learning to navigate is how to sell to a customer base that often lacks the expertise to distinguish genuine watches from counterfeits, particularly in the entry-level premium segment, where fake watches are prevalent.

He further notes that watch dealing is not a necessity-driven business that guarantees daily customers or consistent revenue. As a result, the business does not always yield immediate returns, requiring him to carefully balance his finances and manage cash flow during slower periods.

‘No one is buying watches every day, and so there are periods when I had to do some side businesses during the starting phase to make ends meet,’ he says.

He argues that the high cost of genuine timepieces, coupled with their relatively slow turnover, explains why few watch shops in Kenya deal exclusively in authentic watches.

‘There are only six authorised dealers of original watches in the country,’ he says.

Betting on collectors

Watch dealers are betting on the emergence of a new class of collectors in Kenya. While local sellers may not deal in investment-grade luxury brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, some buyers are building collections around more accessible brands, including Casio, drawn by vintage designs.

The latest Knight Frank’s Wealth and Investment Trends 2026 report ranked luxury watches as Kenya’s second-most-popular passion investment, behind art and ahead of classic cars.

‘For some, it’s a memory attached to each piece,’ Hassanali says.

Life insurance premiums surged by 33.6 percent to Sh147.46 billion in the six months ended June 2026, pushing them past general covers, fueled by retirement savings channelled via private insurers and a surge in investment-linked products.

Data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) shows gross premiums under long-term insurance business rose from Sh110.39 billion a year earlier.

The growth lifted life insurance’s share of total industry premiums above half, to about 51 percent, overtaking general insurance, which recorded a slower 9.2 percent rise to Sh141.90 billion from Sh129.88 billion.

The figures reinforced a shift in the industry’s premium mix towards long-term savings and investment products, even as general insurers continue to rely heavily on medical and motor covers.

The IRA attributed more than half of the increase in long-term premiums to two classes of business, being investments and deposit administration. The pair generated an extra Sh19.99 billion, accounting for 54 percent of the Sh37.06 billion increase in long-term premium income.

Investment-linked business recorded the fastest growth, with premiums rising 130.7 percent to Sh21.95 billion from Sh9.51 billion.

The investments class contributed 14.9 percent of long-term premiums, up from a much smaller base (8.6 percent) a year earlier, overtaking group life to become the third-largest contributor to long-term premiums.

The regulator attributed the increase mainly to unit trusts managed under unit-linked and linked-investment products, through which policyholders’ funds are invested in financial assets.

APA Life Assurance and Britam Life Assurance were the largest contributors to the expansion, accounting for 59.6 percent of the increase in investment-class premiums. APA’s premiums in the class rose by Sh3.88 billion, while Britam recorded an increase of Sh3.41 billion.

The performance points to the growing importance of investment-linked products in insurers’ business, combining investment exposure with insurance arrangements.

Deposit administration was the other major driver, with premiums increasing 21.1 percent to Sh43.31 billion from Sh35.75 billion. The class remained the largest contributor to long-term business, accounting for 29.4 percent of premiums.

The IRA linked the continued growth in deposit administration to the contracting out of National Social Security Fund (NSSF) tier II contributions, which are partly managed by insurers through deposit administration schemes. The deal allows employers to redirect part of employees’ pension contributions to an RBA-approved private pension scheme instead of the NSSF. The flow of these retirement contributions has become a key source of premium growth.

Kenindia Assurance and Britam Life accounted for 99.2 percent of the increase in deposit administration, with their premiums rising by Sh3.95 billion and Sh3.54 billion, respectively.

Under the NSSF framework, employers are allowed to channel tier II pension contributions into approved privately-managed schemes rather than the NSSF-managed arrangement. Other long-term insurance classes also expanded. Group life premiums rose 59.1 percent to Sh17.80 billion, while annuities increased 67.2 percent to Sh10.33 billion.

Personal pension business grew 19.8 percent to Sh14.72 billion.

Life assurance, the traditional protection-oriented class, recorded an 18.3 percent growth to Sh29.27 billion. Group credit was the only major class to contract, declining 6.1 percent to Sh10.07 billion.

Over the same period, general insurance premiums grew 9.2 percent to Sh141.90 billion. Medical remained the largest class, accounting for 41.7 percent of general premiums, followed by motor private and motor commercial.

Kenya’s insurance reach rose to an eight-year high of 2.63 percent last year from 2.45 percent the previous year, lifted by a jump in life insurance premiums that saw long-term covers overtake general insurance for the first time.

This marked the fifth consecutive annual increase and put the indicator at its highest level since 2017, when it stood at 2.68 percent.

The sustained growth has been supported by life cover, whose pace of growth has been above that of short-term covers over the past nine years.

Between 2016 and 2025, life insurance premiums more than tripled to Sh236.29 billion, while general insurance premiums rose 1.85 times to Sh225.38 billion.

Two decades ago, an idea that seemed improbable was beginning to take shape in Kenya. Moving money between people and places using a mobile phone almost looks simplistic today. It had not been tried at scale elsewhere, and scepticism was understandable.

It took an in-person demonstration by Michael Joseph to persuade the then Finance minister John Michuki of M-Pesa’s potential.

Today, mobile money has transformed how millions of people transact, save trade. Its significance extends beyond payments. It demonstrated that Africa can develop technology-led solutions to local challenges and scale them into platforms with global relevance.

I was recently invited to participate in a fireside chat during McKinsey’s Tech, Media and Telco Regional Leaders Forum in Nairobi, where the conversation focused on how Africa now stands at the threshold of another transformation, powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

The chance is not simply to adopt technologies developed elsewhere, but to apply intelligence to existing digital infrastructure to unlock new economic and social value.

The continent has a young population, mobile-first consumers, established digital financial ecosystems and a culture of innovation shaped by necessity. These strengths provide a foundation for AI solutions grounded in local realities.

Globally, AI development increasingly recognises the value of context. Organisations with distinctive customer insights, behavioural data and deep market understanding can build more relevant solutions. Innovators such as Wonderful AI are adapting AI to local languages, including Sheng, demonstrating why systems must reflect how people actually communicate.

But local relevance alone will not deliver transformation. AI must be supported by reliable infrastructure, quality data and people equipped to use it.

Across industries, automation is changing how work gets done. Historically, technological advances have changed the nature of work rather than eliminated it altogether. AI will test that pattern, making continuous learning and workforce adaptation essential.

The lesson for African businesses is developing talent which must become as important as acquiring technology.

As AI becomes embedded in financial services, healthcare and public services, questions of privacy, accountability and security become more consequential. The same governance principles that underpin trusted financial systems must extend to AI, including clear accountability, auditing and ongoing model monitoring.

Regulation is often presented as an obstacle to innovation. In practice, clear and proportionate governance can create the confidence businesses and citizens need to embrace new technologies. Speed and safeguards need not be competing priorities; trust must be designed into systems from the outset.

Connectivity, affordable devices, digital literacy and relevant services determine who benefits from technological progress. Without deliberate inclusion, AI risks concentrating opportunity among those already connected and advantaged.

Partnerships between business, government and development institutions can extend its reach.

That potential extends to humanitarian assistance.

In partnership with GiveDirectly, Safaricom piloted AI-enabled poverty identification in Garsen, Tana River County. Using consented mobile metadata insights alongside household consumption data, the model supported the identification and verification of vulnerable households, with millions subsequently disbursed through M-Pesa to eligible, enrolled and consenting recipients.

The significance lies not in the algorithm alone, but in translating intelligence into targeted assistance.

Africa’s AI opportunity will ultimately be measured by what it enables people to do, the businesses it helps grow and the public services it improves.

M-Pesa showed that African innovation can move from a local challenge to a transformative platform. AI offers another such opportunity.

Djibouti’s State-owned geothermal agency has offered to pay Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) about Sh129 million ($1 million) as the first instalment towards a five-year-old debt arising from a geothermal drilling contract.

KenGen says in the latest annual report that the Djibouti Office of Geothermal Energy Development (ODDEG) has proposed an initial payment of $1 million against outstanding invoices of $2.13 million (Sh276.03 million), offering a potential breakthrough in the power producer’s debt recovery efforts.

‘The company continued to engage ODDEG to recover outstanding invoices amounting to $2.13 million, and ODDEG has acknowledged the debt and has proposed an initial payment of $1 million as the first instalment towards settlement,’ said KenGen.

The debt dates back to a 2021 contract valued at $6.45 million, or about Sh710 million at the time, under which KenGen was contracted to drill three geothermal wells at the Galla Le Koma field in Djibouti.

The proposed payment would form a partial recovery from the overseas contract. The Office of the Auditor General has previously flagged the contract, saying it had weak contractual terms that did not ‘sufficiently safeguard timely payment.’

The Djibouti project formed part of the company’s push to grow its geothermal drilling capabilities beyond Kenya. KenGen has built technical expertise in geothermal exploration, well drilling and consultancy through decades of developing the Olkaria fields.

Over time, it has turned this experience into a regional business by providing drilling, geoscientific studies and technical services to other countries developing geothermal power. Its international projects have included drilling 10 wells during the first phase of Ethiopia’s Aluto geothermal project, alongside work in Djibouti.

The firm has also undertaken geoscientific consultancy in Eswatini and drilling in Tanzania, extending its reach into areas seeking to tap underground heat for electricity generation.

KenGen’s revenue from diversification sources, which includes drilling and consultancy services, fell to Sh122.1 million in the financial year ended June 2026, from Sh263.6 million in 2025 and Sh759.2 million in 2024.

The firm’s annual report notes that drilling in Ethiopia and Djibouti have concluded, although the company continues to pursue further regional opportunities.

‘The company is also pursuing opportunities in the region and beyond, with ongoing negotiations for drilling and geoscientific works in Djibouti and Zambia,’ said the firm.

In Kenya, KenGen runs several geothermal stations, with Olkaria I power station being the first geothermal power plant in Africa.

The first unit of the Olkaria plant was commissioned in June 1981, with the second and third units coming in November 1982 and March 1985, respectively.

The company’s main business remains electricity generation, with total revenue rising 6.4 percent to Sh59.7 billion in the year ended June 2026, from Sh56.1 billion a year earlier.

Its overseas drilling and consultancy work is intended to diversify income while utilising its technical capabilities in a continent that has untapped geothermal potential.