Category: Business Daily

For decades, British companies sat in the front row in Kenya’s economy, straddling key sectors such as manufacturing, energy, agriculture, banking and finance.

Recent years have not been kind to the UK firms, with their grip on the Kenyan economy being loosened by new players from China, Japan, India, South Africa and Nigeria.

Funeral insurance is slowly catching on in Kenya, but fundraisers are still doing the heavy lifting. It is often said that no one needs roses when the sun has gone down. Yet for the family and friends left behind, the pressure for roses keeps coming-along with a long list of expenses to bury their loved ones.

With or without funeral insurance, a largely unseen economy thrives on death. What was once a modest communal affair has grown into an industry with professional undertakers, casket makers, hearse fleets, printers, caterers, florists and event planners – each with a price tag. Few households are prepared for the combined cost when death strikes.

Kenya’s mobile industry is bracing for another regulatory showdown in 2026 as current rate phone operators charge each other for calls made across networks near expiry, reopening debate over voice charges and competition in the market.

The mobile termination rates (MTRs) are a key influence on the cost of calls across Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom. When a customer on one network calls a user on another, the originating

For 27 licensed banks, New Year’s Eve will come and go as any other night.

But for about 10 banks, December 31, 2025 marks a crucial day as they are required to finalise capital boosting initiatives where each shall have a core capital of Sh3 billion or risk losing its Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) licence.

For decades, Africa’s trade and logistics networks were oriented toward Europe and North America. Ports, railways, and road networks were designed to facilitate the export of raw materials to Western markets, often leaving intra-African trade underdeveloped.

Today, a quiet but significant shift is underway. With strategic investments, infrastructure, and partnerships, China is reshaping trade corridors across the continent, signalling that Africa’s economic future may increasingly run eastward, toward Asia, rather than west.

The foundation of this shift lies in connectivity. Chinese-backed ports, rail lines, and highways are linking production hubs to regional and global markets more efficiently than ever before.

From the Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway in Kenya to the Bagamoyo port project in Tanzania, investments are not only creating physical infrastructure but also redefining the economic geography of East Africa.

These corridors reduce the cost of moving goods, shorten transit times, and make African exports more competitive on a global scale.

Trade patterns are changing as a result. Historically, African countries exported primarily raw commodities to Europe and North America, capturing only a fraction of the value chain.

Today, access to Asian markets through Chinese-financed corridors allows African nations to diversify exports, increase industrial capacity, and integrate into global supply chains.

Goods such as processed agricultural products, textiles, and manufactured items are now moving eastward, reflecting a shift from dependency towards industrialised trade engagement.

China’s role is not limited to physical infrastructure. Financing, technology transfer, and technical expertise accompany these projects. Ports and logistics hubs are designed with advanced management systems, customs facilitation, and operational efficiency in mind.

Industrial parks adjacent to these corridors enable local processing and value addition, ensuring that Africa’s exports are not limited to raw materials but include higher-value products. This combination of infrastructure and industrialisation is redefining Africa’s economic potential.

Moreover, eastward trade corridors enhance regional integration. Efficient transportation links not only connect African countries to Asia but also strengthen intra-African trade.

Landlocked nations gain access to ports, regional economies become more interconnected, and supply chains for essential goods become more reliable. These improvements reduce trade bottlenecks and encourage investment, contributing to a more resilient and diversified African economy.

Critics often argue that reliance on Chinese investment risks overdependence. While caution is warranted, it is important to distinguish between dependency and strategic partnership. African governments actively negotiate projects, select priority sectors, and manage operational terms.

The corridors are not unilateral impositions; they are tools African states can leverage to achieve economic objectives, enhance competitiveness, and expand market access.

The eastward orientation also has geopolitical implications. By diversifying trade relationships, African nations gain leverage in global negotiations, reducing reliance on Western markets and creating alternative growth pathways.

The result is a more balanced, multipolar approach to global commerce that enhances Africa’s bargaining position while providing concrete economic benefits.

Equally significant is the impact on local communities. Improved transport links facilitate access to jobs, education, and healthcare, while industrial zones along corridors create employment opportunities and stimulate regional economies.

In this sense, infrastructure projects are not abstract engineering feats; they are transformative social and economic interventions.

Africa’s trade future is being reshaped by eastward corridors that connect the continent to Asia and integrate domestic production into global value chains.

China’s role in financing, building, and enabling these corridors is substantial, providing the technical know-how and investment needed to realise this potential. Far from being a simple directional change, this shift represents a strategic reorientation-toward diversified trade, regional integration, and sustainable industrialisation.

If Africa is to fulfil its economic potential, it must embrace these corridors, manage them wisely, and ensure that trade flows benefit both governments and citizens.

Mother tongue teachers have found a new revenue stream; children and adults seeking to learn vernacular languages. From holiday language boot camps to paid storytelling sessions and weekend online classes, these tutors are hired mostly by millennials who want their children to learn Kikuyu, Luo, Kalenjin, Luhya, Kisii, among other languages, or by adults who want to master these languages.

Growing up, the older generations could speak, read, and talk in their mother tongue, as the school curriculum included these classes early on. But today, very few Gen Zs can speak their mother tongue fluently, and even fewer Gen Alphas can say simple greetings.

President William Ruto has raised the alarm over explosion of piracy and armed attacks in the Indian Ocean amid concerns it is pushing up the cost of goods and may deter some importers from bringing cargoes to the region.

A presidential report to Parliament shows that there were increased incidents of Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing, maritime trade disruption and a resurgence of piracy, and inland water security incidents.

It is clear, from statements by various political actors, that Kenya aspires to be an internationally competitive economy, comparable to Singapore. But the tax and regulatory policies imposed by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) cannot be the key enablers in transforming Kenya.

KRA’s directive that receipts not issued on the eTIMS platform will be disallowed for tax purposes, and that certain expenses will not be recognised is a death warrant for thousands of small-scale traders, contractors and unincorporated businesses without capacity or scale to embrace such new digital change.

As Kenya enters 2026, the economy will be shaped less by a small group of individuals whose decisions sit at the intersection of politics, capital, regulation and corporate power.

With the 2027 General Election looming, economic policymaking will increasingly be filtered through political urgency, even as fiscal space tightens and public patience wears thin.

In late November, I spent a week in South Africa immersed in conversations with technology entrepreneurs that, in many ways, mirrored debates taking place across the continent.

The questions were familiar and increasingly urgent: how do we build digital infrastructure that is not just fast, but inclusive; not just modern, but resilient; not just national, but regionally and globally relevant?

Against that backdrop, I sought to find out what the leadership of South Africa has in its plans, and the collaboration between Huawei and Broadband Infraco (BBI) stood out as one that aligns directly with the country’s national broadband strategy, SA Connect, and carries implications well beyond South Africa’s borders.