Category: Business Daily

At most events, guests move between tents and vendor stands sampling food, shopping and networking. Few pause to think about toilets until the moment they need one. And when they do, the experience can be less than ideal: long queues, unpleasant smells, and units that feel like an afterthought.

At a quarter-acre yard on the outskirts of Karen in Nairobi, neatly arranged container toilets sit cleaned and ready, waiting to be dispatched to concerts, weddings, meetings and conferences. This is where Jara Sanitation provides convenient, efficient toilet services on the go.

After her studies at Cardiff University in the UK, Kawira Jara, the company’s co-director, returned home to work as a yoga teacher, but the pay, she says, ‘was not enough to cater for my needs.’

Armed with a degree in business management, she left teaching and planned to join her mother’s event company at the beginning of 2024.

‘I was going to start working at her company. But I would always hear her complaining about the toilets so much, either they were not clean, or they were full. That’s when the idea of bringing toilets to events came, ‘says Ms Kawira.

Initially, the idea was to import units from China or South Africa. ‘But then they were so expensive. I thought, how about we make our own?’

She had seen container toilets before, but they were permanent installations. There was little information online about how to build a portable container toilet. She saw this as the market gap around which she would structure her business.

Ms Kawira knew a thing or two about containers seeing that her mum had converted a container into a bar for her events business. Her father had also experimented with building a container house. It didn’t take her long to get her first two toilets. She hired two employees and got down to business.

Today, she has four permanent workers and 12 casual workers who come on a regular basis and are fully trained.

‘Toilets are such an essential service. People always think of food, the tents, where you are going to sit, but when it comes to toilets, it’s the least planned in any event,’ she says.

Jara’s container toilets are made from EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) panels, decorated with colourful art wallpapers, and fitted with stainless steel septic tanks underneath. Stainless steel, she notes, ensures the tanks do not smell. Each tank is cleaned and emptied after every event.

The units are divided for regular users, VIPs, and persons with mobility needs, including ramps for wheelchair users.

Where children are present, there are separate toilets fitted with potties and baby-changing stations.

Outside, the toilets sit on turf grass carpet, not just for aesthetics, but also to prevent dust or mud in case of rain. Several hand-washing points complete the setup. ‘My goal was to be able to provide clean toilets for a big number of people,’ she says. ‘I wanted people to feel comfortable and have a nice experience.’

Currently, Ms Kawira owns eight containers, each built in a different design, with a combined capacity to serve up to 5,000 people in a single event.

One twenty-foot container holds up to six toilets, three on each side.

Behind the clean experience is a surprisingly heavy operational bill.

Sh5 million cost

‘One container costs between Sh300,000 and Sh400,000. The partitioning is what costs a lot. For one container with six toilets, the cost is roughly Sh5 million.’

This cost covers everything, from the designer, engineer, plumber, electrician, welder, and contractor.

The investment allows her to earn decently from her venture.

‘ For one container, serving around 500 people, we charge Sh120,000 per day (24 hours).’

Moving the toilets requires a truck fitted with cranes to lift and lower containers safely. ‘Transporting the toilets can cost between Sh40,000 to Sh50,00 per trip, depending on the location.’

Transport was the biggest blind spot at the start. ‘I did not do research on that. I only found out the day I was transporting the finished product,’ she admits.

Other teething problems included breakages, mirrors and water pipes broke after being mishandled especially on transit. To deal with this, Ms Kawira built a team that would fix such issues on site.

Scaling up

It is common for many start-ups in Kenya to face difficulty in scaling beyond the survival stage. Ms Kawira says her hack was tapping into her networks and excellent customer service.

‘Having a good relationship with my clients, and just delivering what I’ve promised is very important to me,’ she says.

For her, that is how repeat business is secured, especially in a market where experience matters more than price. With high demands on weekends and during festive seasons, the biggest planning mistake she has observed in events is underestimating crowds.

‘You have 10,000 people, I can’t give you 20 toilets because they will fill up quick and get smelly, not to mention the long queues. I am always keen to advise the client, we work with the numbers.’

Most of her clients tend to be event organisers who care about experience. ‘Instagram is my marketing platform. I know how to make engaging content and how to sell the content.’

Biggest lessons

Although the business is barely two years old, Ms Kawira is proud of the progress made and lessons learned.

‘The biggest lessons are on the need to do proper research and also don’t be afraid to seek support. If you have somebody who believes in what you’re doing, and you have somebody who sees the vision, and you have people in the industry you’re trying to get into, don’t be afraid to ask for help.’

While events remain her core market, she is hoping to expand her clientele, exploring outdoor events such as sports and public spaces.

Ms Kawira admits that working with her mother, who is also a partner in the business, has been of great value to her entrepreneurial journey. From her mum’s experience, she has learned to value her business, a tip she shares with others who are thinking of a start-up.

‘Know the worth of what you’re giving. Don’t compromise on that.’

The Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) has only recovered about Sh300 million of the Sh2.2 billion owed to it by State agencies, three months after the National Treasury directed that the amount owed be repaid immediately to save the corporation from a deepening financial crisis.

The National Treasury directed State agencies on October 24 last year to relocate funds towards the settlement of this debt from their current (2025/2026) budget estimates and to provide feedback on the action taken to process the payments by October 29.

However, the amount paid so far constitutes just 14 per cent of the total debt owed to Posta.

The bulk of the corporation’s debt is owed by the government, which has failed to settle rental arrears amounting to Sh1.53 billion for the use of Posta locations as Huduma Centres.

Posta Chief Executive John Tonui told Business Daily that the corporation has received about Sh300 million from its undisclosed debtors, an amount which has been utilised in reducing workers’ salary arrears from eight months to four months.

‘The National Treasury circular directing all State Corporations to pay Posta is bearing fruit, and the staff salaries arrears have now been reduced from eight months to four months, which means it is positive. We are working on ways to make sure we meet the outstanding balance within the shortest time possible,’ he said.

‘We are thankful to the PS for the push, and the State corporations have honoured us. We have received not less than Sh300 million from our debtors,’ Mr Tonui.

In October, Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo directed State agencies to immediately pay Sh2.2 billion owed to the financially crippled corporation, which by that time had been hit by disruptions amid a nationwide strike by its employees over six months of unpaid salaries worth Sh473 million.

Treasury’s intervention came after CEO Tonui sought a helping hand from the State to forestall the ongoing financial crisis rocking the business, whose operations are nearly grinding to a halt.

In a circular to all the accounting officers dated October 24, 2025, Mr. Kiptoo said that the outstanding Sh2.2 billion debt has caused financial difficulties to the corporation and impacted its ability to operate to its full potential and meet its employee and operational obligations.

Liquidity challenges

‘Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) owe the Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) over Sh2.2 billion as a result of services offered in an effort to fulfil its mandate. This has caused liquidity challenges, which have impacted its ability to operate optimally and meet its employee and operational obligations,’ said Kiptoo.

‘Accounting officers are hereby requested to immediately prioritise payment of debts owed to the Postal Corporation of Kenya within the approved financial year 2025/26 Budget estimates. You are required to bring the content of this letter to the attention of the affected Heads of State Corporations/Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs) under your respective Votes.’

According to Kiptoo, the affected MDAs were required to provide feedback on the action taken to process the payments by October 29, 2025.

Details from the National Treasury show that other State agencies that owe Posta money include the Independent Boundaries Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which has not honoured its outstanding Sh298.85 million debt after Posta entered into a three-year logistics deal to distribute election materials during the 2022 general elections.

The corporation’s other debtors include the Star Newspaper (Sh34.24 million), Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority (Sh27.98 million), National Oil Corporation Ltd (Sh27.72 million), Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Sh16.26 million), Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions( Sh14.79 million), and NHIF (Sh9.74 million).

Attract strategic investors

Posta says it is grappling with a monthly staff cost of Sh118 million and annual payroll costs of about Sh1.7 billion compared to annual revenues of Sh2.3 billion, which the corporation says is ‘not enough’ to cater for the operational costs.

It expects to render about 400 employees redundant by June this year as it seeks to reduce its workforce to 1,650 from the current 2,070 as part of the cost-cutting measures to survive the harsh times where its business has been disrupted by technology.

The corporation is also awaiting approval from the National Treasury to sell part of its dormant assets, mainly land, to clear liabilities amounting to Sh7.2 billion and attract a strategic investor to revive its operations.

A disclosure by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that the corporation also plans to revise the individual letter box annual rental fees by 10 percent to Sh2,200 from the current Sh2,000 and raise corporate box rates by 5.8 percent to Sh10,000 from the current Sh9,450, citing rising operational costs.

Special corporate customers would also see their fees go up 12.4 percent from Sh6,225 to Sh7,000, if the proposal is approved, while for learning and religious institutions, rental charges would increase 3.6 percent to Sh8, 000 from Sh7,725.

There is a gathering that happens every year in a small Swiss town called Davos. World leaders, policymakers, investors, and corporate executives converge to debate the state of the global economy and the future of power.

For many readers, Davos feels distant, abstract, even irrelevant. Yet what is discussed there increasingly shapes the conditions under which African businesses operate.

This year, one theme cut through the conversations. The old global order, built on assumptions of stable alliances, predictable rules, and dominant superpowers, is fracturing. Trade is becoming weaponised. Power is fragmenting. Middle powers are repositioning. Certainty is evaporating.

For Africa, this moment is not theoretical. It is already being felt in capital flows, supply chains, technology access, and geopolitical pressure. The real danger is not exclusion from the new order. It is waiting for clarity while others move. For founders, that instinct is costly.

Periods of global transition rarely reward those who wait for alignment. They reward those willing to act before permission, before policy, before comfort. That belief has been reinforced for me not in conference halls, but through lived experience.

One such moment stayed with me. I asked that question after my driver asked for a salary advance, not for an emergency, but to pay black tax to get a replacement ID.

The question that followed was simple. Why could a SIM card be replaced in under an hour at a telco shop, yet accessing basic citizen services required intermediaries, delays, and informal payments?

That question did not begin as a grand vision. It was an observation born from friction. But it opened a line of thinking that travelled far beyond that conversation. If customer experience, process discipline, and accountability could work at scale in the private sector, why not in public service?

At the time, Seven Seas technologies, a company I founded at 25 years, was working on one of the largest telco CRM and customer experience transformation projects in East Africa with a a global partner. We were redesigning how customers were authenticated, served, and resolved at scale.

Telco shops had quietly become highly efficient service centres, capable of identity verification, real-time system access, and rapid resolution. In many ways, they had become what post offices once were: trusted, accessible public service hubs. That contrast was striking. The post office network was fading, even as telco shops thrived.

That line of thinking fed into conversations, pilots, resistance, redesigns, and eventually what became Huduma Centres. Along the way, ownership shifted, credit diffused, and institutions took over. But the value remained. Citizens gained a more dignified and accessible pathway to government services.

Years later, a similar pattern unfolded in healthcare. Early digital health architecture and systems thinking at Seven Seas sought to answer a basic question. Why should patient data, payments, and care coordination be fragmented when technology could unify them?

That work also travelled through resistance, redesign, and policy shifts. Today, elements of that thinking live on in what is now the national SHA digital health platform.

In both cases, the ideation came early. The execution journey was long, uneven, and not always kind to the originators. Yet the outcome mattered. These experiences taught me something fundamental about how ideas move in African contexts.

Ideas do not follow linear pipelines. They move through people, politics, compromise, and time. Founders who insist on controlling every downstream outcome often never start. Founders who focus on creating undeniable value give their ideas a chance to survive, even if they do not own the final form.

This is where many African founders get stuck. We wait. We protect. We hesitate. We want certainty of credit before certainty of impact.

But the world we are entering does not reward waiting. Today, tools such as AI have collapsed the cost of exploration. Ideas can be tested faster. Assumptions challenged earlier.

Prototypes built without armies of intermediaries. This does not remove execution difficulty. It simply shifts where courage is required.

The opportunity now is not to copy what others are doing globally, but to translate lived African problems into scalable solutions and move.

This is why figures such as Aliko Dangote matter, not because of perfection, but because of posture. Faced with regulatory friction, entrenched interests, and systemic resistance, he chose to build anyway.

The refinery is not just an industrial asset. It is a statement that execution, however painful, can bend environments over time. The lesson for founders is not to imitate scale, but to imitate resolve.

Ideation must be open, not gatekept. The most powerful ideas often emerge far from power. From drivers, clerks, nurses, teachers, and frontline workers who live the problem daily. When founders create spaces for ideas to surface, circulate, and be tested, ecosystems form.

Execution will always be messy. Some ideas will be taken up by others. Some founders will lose the first race. That is not failure. It is tuition. What matters is building an ideation pipeline that values learning, movement, and contribution over ownership anxiety.

Waiting for all broken parts to be fixed before acting is a fallacy we were taught in school. There will never be a moment without headwinds. Governments will remain imperfect. Institutions will lag. Markets will fluctuate.

Yet value can still be created.

As African founders, the challenge of this moment is not to predict the future, but to participate in shaping it. To move from complaint to construction. From survival to agency.

If an idea sparks while reading this, pursue it. Test it. Share it. If someone else carries it forward faster, learn and refine your next move. Progress is not diminished because others join the race.

The world is being rewritten in real time. Africa’s founders do not need another Davos. We need our own arenas of action, grounded in lived problems and bold execution.

The future will not wait for our certainty. It will respond to our courage.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) plans to exempt micro and small businesses from the quarterly instalment taxes and generation of Payment Registration Numbers (PRN) as part of changes to the Turnover Tax (ToT) regime that has been in place for two decades now.

PRN is a unique, barcoded code generated on KRA’s iTax portal as a confirmation of tax payments.

ToT was introduced in a bid to provide an easier tax compliance framework for micro, small, and medium-sized taxpayers by computing their tax obligation purely based on the turnover of their business.

The ToT has, however, failed to live up to its billing of widening the tax base, with only 30,000 businesses with collections worth just Sh391 million registered in the full year 2023/24.

Tot is payable by small businesses whose gross sales does not exceed or is not expected to exceed Sh25 million per year.

‘We have just 30,000 taxpayers registered for Turnover Tax. Why have many not come forward to register for it despite its simplicity? Even after we halved the rate from 3 percent to 1.5 percent, there are still minimal coming forward. We should not have a one-size-fits-all tax administration arrangement. We have got to make tax compliance easier based on one’s sector of operation’, Commissioner for Micro and Small Taxpayers, George Obell told Business Daily in an interview.

‘If you are supplying sugarcane, for example, you are probably making that supply once a year, and that is misalignment with the requirement of four instalment taxes annually. We should give such taxpayers an easier way to settle obligations so that they don’t have to experience a complex exercise,’ he added.

The KRA said enabling tax payment directly through mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa without having to generate a PRN will form a key part of the redesign of the ToT regime in the country.

‘We are not just speaking to them; we are getting into their ecosystem, which is where and how they are earning. If, for example, a business is conducting payments through the mobile money ecosystem, you should have a solution within that mobile money system to pay taxes directly. If a small business can pay its suppliers on mobile money, why can’t the same business pay tax to KRA through the same platform,’ Mr Obell said.

The planned redesign of the ToT comes at a time when KRA targets to increase the number of active taxpayers in its register from the current seven million to 11.5 million by the close of June 2027, an ambitious 64.3 percent increase.

‘Currently, the number of people registered to pay taxes in the country is 22.6 million. The ones that are actively paying taxes out of this number are only seven million. We could easily ignore 10 million out of the entire 22 million and argue that these are the people who are both students with KRA PINs and those who fall below the taxable income threshold. So, if you clean up, there’s about five million taxpayers, ‘ Mr Obell said.

The KRA said the adjustments to ToT and its administration are among the measures it is deploying as it targets Sh500 billion in annual income tax collection from micro and small businesses in the informal sector, up from the current Sh17 billion per annum collection.

At a ward in Kenyatta National Hospital, clinical occupational therapist Mikie Baron moves between bedsides and rehabilitation spaces, guiding patients through everyday tasks that have become difficult or impossible.

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For many patients, illness, injury, or childbirth disrupts routines that once felt automatic. Simple actions such as walking, bathing, using their hands, and managing pain suddenly become difficult.

Occupational therapy steps in at that point, using the activity itself as treatment.

“When function is compromised, even the most basic activities become difficult,” Baron explains. “That is why occupational therapists are here. We use practical, evidence-based activities to help patients regain independence.’

One area where occupational therapy can play a critical role is in postpartum recovery, particularly for women who develop complications such as hypertrophic scarring. These scars grow beyond the normal skin level, causing pain, hypersensitivity, and restricted movement, Baron explains.

“We desensitise the affected area because the surrounding skin nerves become very sensitive. We also use compression therapy to help manage pain, reduce sensitivity, and promote healing.”

Swelling, medically known as edema, is another common challenge after childbirth or surgery. According to Baron, occupational therapists follow strict clinical guidelines to reduce swelling and restore mobility, sometimes even using water-based techniques to enable movement.

‘When swelling is reduced, patients can walk, move and engage more easily,’ he says. ‘That is part of rehabilitation, helping the body return to function.’

But occupational therapy is not only about physical recovery. It is also about identity. Baron recalls working with patients whose injuries affected their ability to perform roles that once defined them, parents, workers, caregivers.

‘If someone’s hands are affected, their occupation is compromised,’ he explains. ‘If a patient was managing a home, our thinking is: how do we resettle her back into that role? Or what other skills can we give her so she remains productive?’

This focus on occupation, the meaningful activities that fill daily life, is what sets occupational therapy apart. Baron argues that, contrary to popular belief, occupational therapy is not limited to specific wards or diagnoses.

‘In a nutshell, every patient requires occupational therapy as long as their function has been compromised,’ he says. ‘It does not matter whether you are in a maternity ward, diabetic, or recovering from surgery. If your daily routine is affected, you need occupational therapy.’

One of the most visible, and misunderstood, interventions at KNH is dance therapy. Introduced as a leisure activity after dressing and rest, dance helps patients manage pain, regain movement and reconnect with their bodies in a controlled environment.

‘Dance therapy comes in after patients have rested,’ Baron explains. ‘It helps them relax, reduces pain and allows them to move independently while we closely monitor safety.’

Not every patient participates. Occupational therapists first conduct screening and assessment, ensuring patients are medically stable and capable of engaging without risking injury. For those confined to bed, therapists adapt activities to prevent pressure sores and loss of function.

Beyond physical rehabilitation, occupational therapists also work closely with psychologists and psychiatrists, particularly for patients dealing with trauma, burns or sudden changes in appearance.

One technique used is mirror therapy, which helps patients gradually accept physical changes.

‘Mirror therapy helps patients process what has happened to them,’ Baron says. ‘By exposing them slowly to their reflection, we support psychological healing alongside physical recovery.’

This integrated approach is part of a broader multidisciplinary model at KNH, where occupational therapists collaborate with surgeons, nurses and mental health professionals. During dressing procedures, therapists assist with positioning to prevent contractures, tightening of muscles and tendons that can permanently limit movement.

‘Our job is to prevent disability,’ Baron says. ‘We work with surgeons to fabricate splints, with nurses during wound care, and with psychologists for mental health recovery.’

Despite its impact, occupational therapy remains under-recognised in Kenya’s healthcare system. Baron believes public awareness is still low, and staffing levels are inadequate for the demand.

‘Many people do not know that occupational therapy exists,’ he says. ‘Yet the workload here is heavy, and the need is great. Hospitals need to employ more occupational therapists so patients can receive quality, holistic care.’

That philosophy is reinforced a few corridors away in the occupational therapy unit, where everyday objects, switches, taps, doors and handles, are mounted on boards that resemble ordinary homes. To the untrained eye, they look insignificant. To Silas Wakulwa, the Head of the Occupational Therapy Department at Kenyatta National Hospital, they are treatment tools.

‘This may look like nothing,’ Silas says, gesturing at a small fixture fixed onto a wall. ‘But this is treatment. These are the things that happen in people’s lives.’

The activities are deliberately simulated to mirror life outside the hospital. Patients recovering from stroke, injury or illness often lose the ability to perform basic tasks – turning on lights, opening taps, closing doors. Occupational therapy retrains those movements using controlled environments that resemble home settings.

‘When they come here, we train them to use their hands to operate their life at home,’ Silas explains. ‘These activities look simple, but they are what make daily living possible.’

Beyond simulated home environments is a dedicated hand therapy area, designed to restore dexterity and strength. The hand, he says, is the primary tool through which people perform their occupations.

Those occupations, he explains, fall into three broad categories. The first is activities of daily living, toileting, bathing, feeding, dressing and sleeping. Injury or disease can strip people of these abilities almost overnight.

‘The role of occupational therapy is to make sure you go back to those occupations so you can operate your life daily,’ Wakulwa says.

The department’s work extends beyond physical rehabilitation into cognitive and developmental care. Every day, the unit sees dozens of children with sensory processing disorders, commonly associated with autism spectrum conditions, a number that has risen sharply over the past decade.

‘Ten years ago, we saw maybe three or five children a day,’ Silas says. ‘Now we see about 40 daily.’

Standard Chartered Bank has appointed Nigerian banker Dalu Ajene as chief executive for its Africa operations, replacing Kariuki Ngari, who had taken on the continental role in addition to his position as chief executive of the lender’s Kenyan unit.

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Mr Ajene moves into the Africa leadership role from his position as chief executive of StanChart Nigeria, which he assumed in April 2024, marking a sudden transition into a broader multinational mandate.

The leadership change sees Mr Ngari relinquish the Africa CEO role less than two years after he was handed expanded responsibilities as managing director and chief executive for Kenya and Africa in April 2024.

StanChart said Mr Ajene will also assume responsibility as head of coverage for Africa, placing him in charge of the bank’s client relationships and business development across the region.

‘Dalu holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School and is reputed as a leader passionate about driving a culture of high-performance centred around people empowerment to deliver best-in-class service to clients and robust financial outcomes for stakeholders,’ said the lender in a statement.

Before joining StanChart, Mr Ajene served as chief executive of Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, adding to a career spanning more than 25 years in the financial services sector.

Following his exit from the continental role, Mr Ngari now shifts attention to solely focus on steering the local business, having served as StanChart Bank Kenya’s CEO since 2019 and overseeing the lender’s local operations for over half a decade.

The Kenyan unit reported a 38.2 percent drop in net profit for the nine months ended September 2025, with earnings falling to Sh9.7 billion from Sh15.8 billion over a similar period the previous year.

The decline was largely driven by a Sh2.7 billion one-off charge booked under staff expenses to settle a pension claim awarded by the Supreme Court to former employees after a legal battle that lasted 16 years. The bank said it had set aside a cumulative Sh2 billion fund during the litigation period to address erroneous pension calculations affecting the appellants.

Beyond the pension-related cost, the lender’s performance was weighed down by weaker interest income from loans, as well as declining forex earnings. Interest income from customer loans fell by 21.3 percent to Sh13.6 billion as the bank’s loan book contracted and lending rates declined, limiting earnings from private-sector credit.

The loan portfolio stood at Sh146.3 billion as at September 2025, down from Sh151.2 billion a year earlier, pointing to reduced appetite for borrowing among businesses and households.

Income from lending to other banks fell by Sh2.25 billion, or 44.5 percent, to Sh2.8 billion amid elevated liquidity levels in the banking sector that dampened interbank borrowing.

Foreign exchange trading income also dropped by 58.9 percent to Sh2.7 billion from Sh6.6 billion, as relative stability in the shilling reduced opportunities for banks to earn trading revenue.

By September, StanChart had issued a profit warning, signalling that its net profit for the full year ended December 2025 would fall by at least 25 percent compared to 2024, underscoring the scale of the pressure on earnings.

US- and Germany-based technology company Tools For Humanity (TFH) has deleted all data it collected from Kenyans in 2023 for its Worldcoin cryptocurrency project, according to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC).

This follows a May 5, 2025, High Court order directing the firm, co-owned by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, to permanently discard all Kenyans’ data that it collected with its eyeball-scanning orbs for more than four months without approval. The court gave the company seven days and directed the ODPC to supervise the deletion.

‘Regarding the processing of Kenyans’ personal data by Tools For Humanity, we confirm that the Data Controller has deleted all biometric data previously collected from Kenyan citizens,’ the data protection commissioner’s office said in a notice shared with the Business Daily.

A spokesperson for the ODPC did not confirm how much data had been collected from Kenyans. The notice added that the data commissioner’s office was ‘dedicated to enforcing the law, protecting data subjects, and ensuring that all data controllers and processors are held accountable for any non-compliance.’

Worldcoin’s public sign-ups rolled out globally on June 24, 2023. The project aimed to improve the cryptocurrency industry by creating digital IDs for users, thereby eliminating the use of pseudonyms that have long left the sector vulnerable to scams and spam bots.

Kenyans lined up in Nairobi to scan their iris patterns through an orb in exchange for a digital identity called World ID, which proved they are human and allowed them to conduct transactions. The company incentivised uptake by offering 25 free cryptocurrency tokens worth about Sh8,200 at the time.

However, the government suspended the exercise on August 2, 2023, raising questions about the security of the biodata that TFH was collecting from Kenyans. Before the public rollout, Worldcoin had been operating a pilot phase in Kenya and in countries such as Chile, Indonesia, France and Sudan since May 2021.

The ODPC told the Business Daily that Worldcoin has not resumed data collection in Kenya since the 2023 suspension, even after the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) dropped a probe into the tech firm in June 2024.

‘They have not operated in the country since August 2023,’ the agency’s spokesperson said by phone. ‘If they were to restart the project in Kenya, they would have to go through the right procedures, which entail informing the ODPC of the reason for the data collection, conducting a data protection impact assessment and also proper consent from the subjects.’

Before the public prosecutor dropped the case, there were reports that an agreement had been reached to allow Worldcoin to resume operations in Kenya under new guidelines. The then Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki also acknowledged that the US government was pressuring Kenya to lift Worldcoin’s suspension.

According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the ODPP directed that the case file be closed after ‘expeditiously and objectively’ investigating the concerns surrounding the crypto project’s activities in Kenya.

‘Upon review of the file, the Director of Public Prosecutions concurred and directed that the file be closed with no further police action,’ the investigative agency said in a June 14, 2024, letter to Worldcoin’s lawyers. The DCI advised TFH to register with the Registrar of Business Registry and acquire licences from the ODPC and the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) going forward.

Other countries that have also suspended the crypto project over privacy concerns include Indonesia, Spain, Hong Kong and Portugal.

When it comes to delivering economic growth, there are marathons and there are sprints.

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Sometimes economies must be patient. Sometimes opportunities to get ahead must be seized.

Kenya starts at the front of the pack and can lead Africa’s next decade of growth. The question is not whether investors are interested in this race, it is whether the Government is ready to accelerate progress when the competition heats-up.

The starting point is strong.

East Africa is where Africa’s future is being written. By 2040, the region is projected to generate almost a third of the continent’s GDP.

Kenya, as its economic anchor, has what it takes to lead that transformation: a dynamic private sector, renewable energy, and a young, highly skilled workforce.

The UK is backing Kenya to turbocharge itself into an unassailable lead: not as an outdated donor, but as a modern investment partner – Kukimbia Pamoja. And we are committed for the long run.

Today, over 150 British companies operate in Kenya, employing more than 250,000 people, and ranking among the largest taxpayers.

Bilateral trade recently broke the GBP 2 billion milestone (Sh340 billion) for the first time in November last year.

Yes, the recent market exits by UK companies Diageo and De La Rue have made headlines – but that is not the full story, and the race is far from over. Comparing trade data from decades ago gives a false impression that we’re hanging up the running shoes.

In reality, the nature of our partnership has evolved and is now far more aligned to the economic demands of the 21st century.

In line with the UK Government’s new ‘Approach to Africa’ and a switch from donor to investor, we’re building an exciting partnership rooted in innovation, sustainability and value creation.

M-Pesa, co-developed with UK expertise, remains one of the world’s most powerful examples of Kenyan innovation at scale. We are now exploring the potential for a UK-Kenya Digital Trade Agreement, a frontier area of trade that matters deeply to both our economies.

We are working to turn ideas into investable projects – running this race together across counties and cities. Through Manufacturing Africa, for example, we have supported 21 deals to financial close, raising over £600m (KES 103bn) in foreign direct investment, and creating over 35,000 jobs.

Our ambition is Olympic. The new Kenya-UK Strategic Partnership aims to double Kenya-UK trade by 2030.

But as an honest teammate, we know the trajectory of trade and investment could be even stronger.

British companies tell us that doing business in Kenya has become harder. Some investors have scaled back or exited, not for lack of opportunity but because of structural barriers.

High and unpredictable energy costs, despite Kenya’s renewable advantage, undermine competitiveness. Power outages disrupt production.

Regulatory uncertainty and complex tax administration create risk where clarity is needed. Corruption and Kenya’s grey listing by the Financial Action Task Force raise compliance costs and reduce investor confidence.

These challenges affect businesses, limiting gains in job creation.

The private sector is the engine of economic transformation. A government’s role is to clear the road ahead through predictable regulation, fair enforcement, transparent procurement, and efficient public services. Further action is now needed to improve the overall business environment.

That is why this week’s Kenya-UK Business Forum matters.

It’s an opportunity for honest dialogue with over 180 businesses about what it will take to turbocharge more trade, unlock more investment, and create more jobs. The UK is here to commit, hustle, and put in the hard yards.

Kenya can be Africa’s premier investment hub. The UK can be the teammate that helps deliver that. The moment to accelerate is now.

When Kenya and the UK run together, we go further – and faster.

Kariuki Ngari is set to exit his role as chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank Kenya on April 16.

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The board of the lender has announced the impending exit, which will end Mr Ngari’s seven-year stint at the helm of the bank.

The lender has subsequently appointed Birju Sanghrajka to succeed him, subject to regulatory approvals.

Mr Sanghrajka is currently the Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Coverage for Kenya and has served as an executive director of the bank since 2021.

Mr Ngari has served as chief executive officer and managing director of Standard Chartered Bank Kenya since 2019.

The lender has credited Mr Ngari with overseeing its digital transition and growing its wealth management business.

‘He has led the bank’s transformation, significantly accelerating the shift to digital with currently over 90 percent of transactions being done digitally across wealth and retail banking and corporate and investment banking,’ Standard Chartered Bank Kenya said in a statement on Wednesday.

‘Shareholders have benefitted from strong and resilient financial performance over the period.’

Separately, Standard Chartered Bank has appointed Nigerian banker Dalu Ajene as chief executive for its Africa operations, replacing Mr Ngari, who had taken on the continental role in addition to his position as chief executive of the lender’s Kenyan unit.

UK-backed Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa) is lining up a new debt fund to help mobilise between $64 million (Sh8.25 billion) and $77 million (Sh9.93 billion) for lending to small and medium enterprises in Kenya.

The firm says in a newly published Impact Report 2025 that it wants to narrow the financing gap for small businesses through a Kenya SME debt fund, which will be structured to mobilise capital from local institutional investors such as pension funds and insurers.

The Kenya-specific debt fund will build on FSD’s Africa Private Equity and Debt Programme, which was set up targeting to develop investment funds focused on SMEs in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda.

FSD says it is going to put an initial first-loss tranche of about $6.8 million (about Sh876.99 million) in the Kenya SME debt fund to de-risk domestic institutional investors. The fund will target to support over 3,000 SMEs in Kenya.

‘We’ll soon be launching the Kenya SME Debt Fund, a new financial architecture with the same aim [promoting financing for SMEs in local currency],’ said FSD in the report published last week.

‘We’ve deployed $6.8 million of capital to the fund, in a ‘first-loss’ position. By designing a mechanism to absorb initial risks, we’re helping to de-risk the asset class for local pension funds.’

The fund will create a risk-sharing mechanism to encourage pension and insurance funds -traditionally cautious about SME credit- to allocate a greater share of their portfolios to this segment.

SMEs are acknowledged as critical drivers of employment and economic resilience in Kenya but face challenges such as high borrowing costs and limited access to institutional funding.

FSD Africa’s report notes that conventional lenders often cite collateral constraints and perceived risk as barriers to lending to smaller enterprises, emphasising the need for innovative financing structures.

‘This gap exists because MSMEs are often seen as too large for microfinance, yet too small or risky for traditional capital. Bank lending requires a high level of collateral and involves prohibitive interest rates, while equity investment demands a more certain revenue stream and a proven track record,’ said FSD.

The Kenya SME Debt Fund will be complemented by other initiatives including FSDAi Nyala Facility, a $12 million (Sh1.55 billion) fund designed to finance alternative local capital providers that finance early-stage and growth-oriented businesses across several African markets.

The FSDAi Nyala Facility has provided capital to a portfolio of women-led investment managers in Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, according to FSD.

The facility has helped mobilise about $9.4 million (Sh1.2 billion).

FSD has been keen on initiatives supporting small businesses to access capital in Africa. Last year, FSD announced the setting up of a $30 million (Sh3.89 billion) fund aimed at supporting insurance startups to scale their operations and accelerate the uptake of insurance products across the continent.

The fund, called Inclusive Insurtech Investment Fund (3iF), is expected to support promising early- and growth-stage insurtechs to develop affordable insurance products to reach underserved households and small businesses.