Category: Business Daily

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has been stopped from terminating a six-month motor vehicle inspection contract with a Chinese firm pending the hearing of a case filed by the company.

High Court judge Josephine Mong’are has also blocked Kebs from enforcing the termination notice issued on September 10 against the World Standardisation Certification and Testing Group (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd in a new Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (P-VoC) tender.

For many people, home and the workplace are the true testing grounds for personality. Whether extroverted or introverted, individuals quickly discover how much these traits influence their success or struggles in careers and relationships.

In recent years, more Kenyans have become curious about personality types, with many turning to tests to better understand themselves.

The KCB Group fired 34 employees in the year to December over allegations of fraud and professional negligence.

The bank’s latest sustainability report, released on Tuesday, shows the sackings in the wake of fraud jumped from 11 cases in the year to December 2023.

The value of unroasted coffee shipped out of Kenya by exporters almost doubled to Sh35.4 billion during the first six months of this year, compared to Sh19.3 billion realised during a similar period in 2024 spelling a boon for farmers in the coming months amid ongoing reforms in the sub-sector.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that this year’s spike bucked a sustained falling trend observed since the period between July and December 2023, when the value rose to Sh23.1 billion, up from Sh21.3 billion during the preceding half.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has followed its previous seven rate cuts with a further 0.25 percentage points reduction in the benchmark as it seeks to further aid the recovery of lending to businesses and households.

CBK’s benchmark lending rate, the Central Bank Rate (CBR), has eased further to 9.25 percent from 9.5 percent, making it the eighth consecutive interest rate cut by the monetary authority since August 2024.

Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury John Mbadi while speaking in Mombasa set out a bold objective; to achieve an investment grade rating.

A sovereign credit rating is an opinion on the country’s likelihood of defaulting on its loans. An investment grade rating such as BBB means a very low risk of default.

Most companies and industries talk about ecosystems within their sectors. When they do so, it seems as if they are firms that are merely a crowd of stakeholders orbiting a popular theme.

Researcher Ron Adner famously asks practitioners to see something more precise within company and industry ecosystems.

He treats an ecosystem as a specific alignment of many stakeholders who all need to work together for a singular purpose. The purpose involves generating value that shows up in the real world through impact and/or profit in the pockets of shareholders.

That mental shift in how to view ecosystems matters. It moves the focus from who is connected to whom to instead what activities must be lined up, in what order should they be, and with which handoffs so that customers receive the benefit intended.

Viewing ecosystems through this lens is simple and very practical. Start off with your value proposition. Then list all your activities that must happen so that the promise to customers becomes real.

Next, identify the internal stakeholders who will do those specific activities. Mark their positions in the process maps and flow charts.

In so doing, map the links where information, materials, money, or influence must move between them.

When you as an entrepreneur or leader do this, you can see whether internal stakeholders and partners are merely present or actually aligned. Being present is easy.

Attending meetings or committees is easy, but often does not add value. Alignment, on the other hand, is the hard part that makes or breaks the outcome of most organisations.

Ron Adner points out that true ecosystems become multilateral. Firms do not exist merely as many separate one-to-one relationships between individuals that is difficult to manage in isolation.

A change in one part of an ecosystem can quietly and quickly undo agreements somewhere else. That is why managers frequently get surprised when a plan looks solid in each bilateral contract yet still stalls out in the field with the clients. The hidden cause is misalignment across the whole chain of activities within an ecosystem.

In as much, two practical risks show up often. The first involves co-innovation risk, which is when an internal stakeholder or partner may want to help but still needs time, tools, or talent to deliver their part. Then the second incorporates adoption chain risk.

An internal stakeholder or partner can deliver but may not see enough selfish benefit to make your priority match with their priorities.

A good ecosystem strategy specifically and overtly names such priority alignment risks early and then budgets time and support to reduce them. Think about your current role. How often does such a discussion occur in your management meetings?

Roles also greatly matter. Every firm needs its own ecosystem strategy that says exactly how it will approach internal stakeholder and partner alignment and secure its place in the system.

Sometimes you lead and set the sequence and rules while other times you follow a credible lead and win by moving fast inside a clear plan. Either way, success depends on willing followership across the stakeholders and partners that sit off your direct path to the customer.

While critical individuals may not report to you, yet their choices decide whether your customer promise lands or fails.

Such an ecosystem view is different from platforms, supply chains, or simple networks.

Platforms only focus on access and governance around a hub, while supply chains focus on reliable bilateral flow, and network maps focus on who is tied to whom.

The ecosystem as a structure view focuses on the activity blueprint that creates value, across many parties, where no single hub controls all the organisation’s moves. It is a complement to classic competitive strategy and corporate strategy.

Where competitive strategy hunts for advantage, ecosystem strategy hunts for alignment and is tragically left out of most strategy documents and planning.

Here is how our leadership teams in Kenya can put ecosystem ideas to work. First, write the value promised to customers in one clear sentence that a customer would recognise and find pleasing. Second, sketch the activity map mentioned above from left to right. List the individuals and departments who must act, including those who are not your suppliers or buyers but still gatekeep the outcomes.

Third, highlight and mark the fragile links where a yes from one party depends on a yes from another party. Those are your organisation’s adoption chain risks.

Fourth, name the role you will play and who must follow you on down the chain. If leadership is unclear, then convene a short alignment session that sets sequence, responsibilities, and proof points for each party.

Then thereafter manage the work within the ecosystem with objective realism. Fund the stakeholder and partner tasks that unlock the next gate, not just your own tasks.

Share simple dashboards that show progress on joint activities across multiple individuals and department, not only your own internal milestones on the dashboard.

Then stage launches so that the pieces that rely on outside adoption come online only after downstream readiness is real and not just assumed will be there like how many entrepreneurs optimistically think.

Reward your team for moving external partners into position within the ecosystem, not only for building internal features.

In summary, the payoff for ecosystem thinking involves fewer ugly surprises and faster time to get real impactful work moving.

When you treat the ecosystem as a structure to align and not just a community to sit back and count, then you see the work that actually creates value for your customers. You give your teams a plan that matches how the world outside your walls really works

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the global economy, accounting for the majority of businesses and generating over 50 percent of jobs worldwide. This makes them an essential driver of economic growth.

Yet, most entrepreneurs who start a business lack the knowledge needed to operate it successfully. This, coupled with limited access to capital, remains a key obstacle to the growth and sustainability of SMEs-especially in Africa and other developing regions.

As financiers continue to improve access to capital for SME entrepreneurs, it is crucial that they also provide technical assistance to increase their chances of success. Technical assistance-expertise, advice, and support aimed at resolving operational challenges, building capacity, or improving business processes-can be the difference between stagnation and sustainable growth.

However, technical assistance is not a one-size-fits-all service. Since SMEs differ in the products and services they offer, they also face unique challenges and have distinct ambitions.

This means that technical assistance must be tailored and customised to each SME’s specific needs to yield meaningful results in the long term. Despite its value, technical assistance is not always welcome or easy to implement. Financiers often encounter resistance from SME owners who seek financing alone.

This resistance often arises from a lack of understanding of what technical assistance entails, as well as fear of the changes that may result from such interventions.

Additionally, because technical assistance is typically offered on a cost-sharing basis-where the owner contributes a portion of the cost to ensure alignment-many entrepreneurs prefer to allocate those funds elsewhere, such as purchasing software or equipment.

To overcome this resistance, financiers should engage SME owners in visualising the bigger picture of what their business could become when financial support is combined with technical assistance. When well positioned, technical assistance can be catalytic, particularly for businesses facing a wide range of operational challenges.

The most effective interventions are often gradual, with disbursements linked to progress, milestones, and frequent adaptations over time.

For high-impact SMEs, areas such as corporate governance and human capacity development are often the most pressing, particularly because many of these businesses are family-owned and operated.

The availability-or absence-of the right type of technical assistance can determine whether an SME thrives or fails. When coupled with access to capital, tailored technical support opens doors to critical resources and strengthens business resilience.

Together, these twin pillars-financing and technical assistance-form the foundation for sustainable SME growth, job creation, and broader economic development.

We also structure the funding in such a way that they do not feel the pinch as they pay for the technical assistance. With time the SMEs we work with see the value of technical assistance as they are also able to identify the gaps in their business operations and more often than not even request for more of it.

GBF works with a network of experts to provide the specialized technical assistance that is required across board from legal to regulatory support and others. One of the challenges SMEs have is that they start to raise money when it is too late. There is a need to start fundraising early considering the time it takes to get the right funder and to complete the process.

Additionally, it takes money to make them look attractive to a funder yet that is what they are looking for.

Our technical assistance also looks at this aspect to prepare the SMEs to start fundraising for the next refinancing that they require to grow the business.

This means teaching them to be fundraisers and to fix the operational issues they have by putting in the right processes and structures in place to enable them qualify for funding.

Three months into the implementation of Kenya’s Finance Act 2025, the landscape of retirement benefits has undergone a significant shift.

The Act repealed long-standing age-based tax exemptions, replacing them with clearer and more favourable conditions. Now, tax exemptions apply only if a member has reached the scheme’s retirement age, completed at least 20 years of membership, or is retiring due to ill health.

To add to that, gratuity earned after July 2025 is now tax-free, and withdrawals that meet the new criteria can enjoy full exemptions. For retirees, this means more certainty, fairer treatment for long-serving members, and in many cases, more money in hand. Previously, retirees had to navigate strict caps and partial exemptions – for example, a tax-free allowance of Sh300,000 per year on pensions or Sh600,000 on lump-sum withdrawals, with the balance taxed.

Under the new framework, the focus shifts from amounts and age thresholds to service and scheme rules. This offers broader relief and simplifies the process.

In practice, long-serving members stand to gain the most.

The intent of the new rules is to encourage early retirement planning as well as preservation of benefits until retirement age. This is good for long-term financial stability, but it also presents immediate challenges for members and schemes.

Many will now find that resigning early comes with a heavier tax burden than they expected. Without proper guidance, this can lead to confusion, resentment, or rushed financial choices. Trustees and administrators cannot afford to stand back. This is a moment to lead.

The first responsibility is communication. Members will want to know what these changes mean for them in practical terms. Will they receive less if they leave before retirement? How much less are we talking? What are the scheme’s rules?

Trustees, with the support of administrators, must provide clear answers. Instead of long explanations filled with technical terms, practical examples will do.

They will need to show a 40-year-old what happens when he withdraws after 10 years of service compared to someone who retires at 60. Such real-world illustrations turn abstract law into something members can understand. When schemes share this information openly, they build confidence but when they delay or keep communication vague, they create uncertainty. Words alone are not enough. Members need tools that help them see the impact of their choices.

Administrators can provide benefit illustrations whenever a member considers withdrawing. A simple breakdown showing the gross benefit, the tax deduction and the net payout goes a long way.

Digital calculators can also be created to show members what they stand to lose or gain depending on when they access their savings.

Trustees should make sure these tools are integrated into member engagement. When a member logs into a portal or receives an exit statement, the tax implications should be clear. This level of transparency empowers members to make informed decisions.

The Finance Act has made early withdrawals less attractive. But this does not have to be a negative. Trustees can turn it into a chance to highlight the benefits of preservation. For example, a young worker who resigns at 42 may be discouraged by a large tax deduction.

But if they preserve their savings until retirement age – say 65, not only do they reduce the tax hit, they also benefit from years of compounded growth.

The new rules are not just about members. They also demand strong governance from schemes. Trust deeds, rules, communication materials and administrative systems must be updated to reflect the new reality. Trustees and administrators should work closely to ensure compliance and smooth operations. Any misstep in calculating tax or paying benefits could damage trust.

We are not looking at a mere a tax adjustment. The new act is a test of leadership for the retirement benefits sector. Members will remember not just how much they received, but how they were guided through these changes.

Therefore, it is an opportunity for trustees and administrators to show that they are not only custodians of savings but also partners in financial security.

As it is said, in moments of change, trust is earned through clarity and care. The challenge has been set and now it is up to trustees and administrators to rise to it.

When Rosemary Kimunya started the Kenya Flower Festival six years ago, she wanted it to bloom into something similar to the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in London.

She envisioned a local event that would bring together flower lovers in Kenya, but never imagined that it would attract visitors, designers, and florists from around the world.

‘I just wanted a space where people who love flowers could meet and share ideas,’ she recalls. ‘I never thought it would go this far.’ This year’s event was at the Nairobi National Park. The festival brought floristry into the wild by combining two of Kenya’s greatest treasures: its flowers and its wildlife.

‘It was risky,’ she says. ‘We even worried that baboons might eat the flowers overnight. But it worked beautifully.’

Hosting it in the park was not just about the location; it was also about flower tourism.

‘We also wanted to return flowers to their natural context and remind everyone that, long before they became commercial products, they were wild things that grew freely under the African sky. There’s something symbolic about bringing art and business into a conservation space,’ Rosemary says.

‘It reminds us that sustainability isn’t just a trend; it’s our responsibility.’

She was also looking to attract flower tourists, having priced the tickets in dollars.

‘When we first priced tickets in dollars, I wasn’t sure anyone would come,’ Rosemary says. ‘But then the bookings started coming in. That’s when I realised we’d truly gone global.’ South African floral designer and educator Mabel Maposa was at the event. ‘Flowers in the wild remind me that beauty doesn’t always ask for permission,’ she said.

To Ms Mabel, Kenya is not just a floral powerhouse, but a place where cultivation meets nature’s poetry and flowers represent both business and way of life. Her journey with Kenya began in 2019, when her curiosity led her to her first flower festival.

‘It was mysterious,’ she recalls. ‘I was drawn to Kenya, I call it the home of garden roses. No other country is quite like it.’

However, her initial visit was merely the beginning. She has returned repeatedly-in 2021, 2022, 2023, and now 2025.

‘This country is warm,’ she says.

‘The people, the culture, the way it has evolved, everything about it keeps drawing me back. But one of the things that troubled me during my first year was hearing Kenyans talk about how their beautiful flowers were being shipped off, leaving little behind for them. But that has changed. Witnessing that evolution has been powerful. I can’t stop coming back.’

At this year’s festival, Ms Mabel witnessed this transformation more clearly than ever before. For the first time, the programme included visits to flower farms.

‘I learned so much. I’ve worked in this industry for 15 years, but this was the first time I truly understood the difference between breeders and growers, how far apart their processes are, what it takes to create new varieties, and how it all connects back to us florists,’ said Ms Mabel.

‘Kenya shouldn’t just be known for exporting flowers,’ Ms Kimunya said. ‘We should also be known for celebrating them, for making flowers part of who we are.’