Category: Business Daily

As artificial intelligence makes it easier to produce endless streams of content, audiences will increasingly look for signals of authenticity. In a digital environment flooded with polished messaging, trust no longer comes from volume or visibility alone. It comes from clarity, accountability and the people willing to stand behind what a brand says.

This does not mean brand building is losing relevance. Strong brands still matter. Strategy, consistency and clear positioning remain essential. What is changing is how trust is earned. Increasingly, people want to understand the individuals behind institutions. In 2026, that curiosity will shape how brands communicate and how credibility is built.

One reason founder-led content is resonating more strongly today is that the modern content consumer has evolved. Audiences are far more media-literate than they were a decade ago.

Kenyan firms ended 2025 with the strongest hiring performance in more than six years, as sustained demand pushed companies to expand employment at a pace last seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

On introspection, 2025 will be remembered as the year Kenya’s mobility and automotive sector pivoted decisively toward a stronger, more inclusive future. After years of fragmented discussions, pilot programmes, and cautious optimism, the country has moved from conversation to action.

As investor confidence continues to grow and government policy becomes clearer, consumers are demanding safer, more efficient, and environmentally responsible mobility solutions.

The most visible shift has been in e-mobility, where pilots have matured into a functioning market moving beyond experimentation to scale, commercial viability, and ecosystem building. Investment in local assembly and partnerships, and the integration of financing, after-sales support, and fleet solutions, has helped turn e-mobility from a future concept into a practical, customer-ready offering.

The proposed National Automotive Development Bill 2025 offers predictable incentives and renewed investor confidence. Locally assembled vehicles are increasingly getting preference for reliability and total cost of ownership rather than patriotism alone.

The revival of Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM), including reactivated assembly lines for multiple brands, demonstrates what happens when policy, investment, and industrial expertise align. As CFAO Mobility, our acquisition of KVM highlights Kenya’s potential to anchor an East African automotive value chain, create jobs, and transfer technology at scale.

Beyond assembly, Kenya must develop components manufacturing, supplier networks, and technician-training ecosystems. The African Continental Free Trade Area continues to open up regional markets, but long-term policy consistency and targeted incentives are essential to unlock the full industrial potential.

Financing has emerged as a powerful enabler. Consumers, SMEs, and logistics operators increasingly demand flexible solutions that match real income cycles.

However, challenges like currency volatility, high global logistics costs, and the dominant used-vehicle market continue to strain margins. Even as e-mobility gains momentum, infrastructure must scale to meet the rising demand.

As we get into 2026, the lesson we are carrying with us is that mobility revolution is no longer aspirational. It is happening now, powered by Kenyan innovation, resilience, and ambition, and the task ahead is urgent: to sustain the momentum.

The report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicating that the country recorded a surge in demand for trucks, mini-buses and station wagons points to a sector that is ready to take-off.

Cleaner cities, smarter transport solutions, broader vehicle access, and stronger industrial foundations are within reach, and Kenya must build them together.

Sammy Kanyi has resurfaced in the insurance sector as the new CEO of Kenya Orient Insurance, marking a fresh chapter after his abrupt departure from Directline Assurance amid ownership wrangles.

Share registry firm, Image Registrars People Performance Partnership, has won a tussle with rival Custody and Registrars Services Limited over a deal to manage the upcoming sale of the government’s stake in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).

Every year for the next one decade, nearly one million young people will enter Kenya’s labour market, many fresh from universities, colleges and vocational institutions, and some without any formal education or skills, according to the Ministry of Co-Operatives and MSMEs Development.

However, the formal sector – led by government institutions and private firms, can only absorb 20 percent of them.

Corporates, which were once the dependable engines of salaried jobs, are under strain from challenging macro-economic conditions, rising operational costs, supply-chain disruptions and shifting labour market dynamics as more organisations go digital.

On weekday mornings and in the quiet hours of the evening, runners can be found moving through estates, parks and open roads, pacing themselves between work, family and other daily demands. Most are not training for competitions. They are running to stay fit, clear their minds and maintain routines that feel manageable.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has upheld dismissal of a former assistant manager at Diamond Trust Bank, ruling that the lender acted lawfully in firing her for breaching banking procedures involving an unsigned and crossed cheque.

Co-working space provider Kofisi is paring back parts of its Kenyan footprint, shutting two locations in Nairobi in the wake of a $3.2 million (Sh416.7 million) loss in 2024.

When Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) signed a $311 million public-private partnership with Africa50 and Power Grid Corporation of India to develop a major power transmission line, the most salient feature of the deal was not its size, complexity, or even its novelty.

It was how quietly it happened. In a country where large infrastructure projects often provoke heated debate, court challenges, or public suspicion, this transaction passed with relatively little controversy. There were no loud protests, no sustained political resistance, no widespread public anxiety about hidden costs or loss of control over strategic assets.

Instead, there was a broad sense that this was a necessary, sensible and well-structured step forward.

That reaction is not accidental. It is a function of leadership.

From the outset, this project was framed and driven not as a commercial privatisation exercise, but as a development-led partnership.

Africa50; an African infrastructure investment platform promoted by the African Development Bank and African states, sat at the centre of the transaction. Its presence shaped both the structure of the deal and the way it was perceived.

In infrastructure, trust is often more scarce than capital. Kenya does not lack investors interested in roads, power, housing or ports.

What it often lacks is public confidence that these investments are aligned with national priorities, fairly structured, and transparently governed. Without that confidence, even technically sound projects struggle to gain social and political legitimacy.

Africa50’s involvement changed that dynamic. It reassured government, investors and citizens alike that the project was anchored in a development mandate, not just a commercial one.

It signalled that the transaction would be guided by long-term national interest, disciplined risk allocation, and institutional governance standards consistent with multilateral practice.

That reassurance mattered. It shifted the narrative. The conversation moved away from familiar fears about privatisation, foreign control or hidden fiscal risks, and towards more constructive questions about delivery, reliability and impact. In doing so, it created space for consensus.

The result was a rare alignment. Government secured a critical piece of infrastructure without placing additional strain on public finances.

Investors gained access to a stable, long-term asset under credible governance. Citizens gained confidence that the project served a public purpose rather than narrow interests.

This three-way alignment is unusual precisely because it is difficult. It does not emerge naturally from either public-sector planning alone or private-sector initiative alone. It emerges when institutions that straddle both worlds provide leadership.

That is the deeper lesson of the Ketraco -Africa50 transaction. The success of the project lies not only in its financial closure, but in its social acceptance. And that acceptance was not negotiated; it was earned through institutional credibility.

Kenya’s infrastructure ambitions are large and growing. The country needs new transmission lines, new transport corridors, new urban services and new climate-resilient systems. Delivering them will require vast amounts of capital, technical expertise and coordination. But just as importantly, it will require public trust.