Category: Business Daily

I and M Group posted a 20.3percent growth in net profit to Sh9.31 billion in the half-year to June 2026, buoyed by increased interest and non-interest income.

The lender’s profit after tax and minority interest rose from Sh7.73 billion in the previous similar period, overtaking Standard Chartered Bank Kenya to the sixth-highest profit in the sector during the half-year. Standard Chartered dropped to seventh after its half-year profit fell 16.8 percent to Sh8.08 billion.

Equity Group emerged top in the review period after its net profit grew 32 percent to Sh43.7 billion, followed by KCB Group (Sh36.86 billion), Co-operative Bank of Kenya (Sh18.02 billion), NCBA (Sh12.5 billion) and Absa Bank Kenya (Sh10.5 billion).

I and M’s net interest income grew 22.5 percent to Sh25.03 billion while non-interest income rose 24.5 percent to Sh8.65 billion, taking its half-year operating income to Sh33.69 billion from Sh27.38 billion.

‘Overall operating income grew strongly, supported by broad-based growth in both net interest income and non-interest income, reflecting continued business momentum and diversified revenue growth,’ said the lender.

The lender said its subsidiaries contributed a third of the Sh13.13 billion pre-tax profit, up from a quarter in a similar period last year.

I and M Kenya’s pre-tax profit remained relatively flat at Sh8.3 billion from Sh8.2 billion as an 18 percent rise in revenue was offset by a 21 percent rise in operating expenses. The group’s bancassurance business in Kenya posted a 56 percent growth in pre-tax profit to Sh425 million.

‘Bancassurance performance continues to gain traction, driven by sustained growth from the traditional client segment and increasing penetration of MSME market frontier,’ said the lender.

Tanzania’s subsidiary returned a gross profit of Sh0.6 billion, an eight percent rise, while the Rwanda operations saw a 53 percent increase to Sh2.4 billion as income grew by nearly a third.

In Uganda, the I and M subsidiary saw its pre-tax profit rise 3.5 times to Sh0.7 billion from Sh0.2 billion. Over the same period, the Mauritius unit posted a three percent decline in pre-tax profit to Sh0.9 billion.

The lender’s operating expenses increased by 27.8 percent to Sh20.56 billion, which it attributed to continued branch expansion, brand visibility and staff capability. Staff costs rose by 23.8 percent to Sh5.91 billion, and loan provisioning rose by 37.7 percent to Sh5.59 billion.

The loan loss provisions rose despite the stock of non-performing loans falling to Sh30.1 billion from Sh34.36 billion.

The group’s asset base closed June at Sh746.31 billion, marking a 26.9 percent rise from Sh588.92 billion. The rise in assets came in the period when the loan book grew 14.8 percent to Sh333.81 billion.

I and M has continued to grow its deposit base, taking the figure to Sh505.16 billion at the end of June, marking a 17.6 percent rise from Sh429.37 billion. The lender said 48 percent of the amount is demand deposits while 43 percent is call deposits.

The group operates 73 branches in Kenya, 12 in Uganda and 20, nine and five in Rwanda, Tanzania and Mauritius, respectively.

I and M has been expanding its focus from corporate and commercial customers into retail and small and medium-sized enterprise lending, helping it to speed up its expansion.

The lender is now increasing its focus on areas such as oil and gas, public sector, leasing, and trade financing on the China corridor.

HFCB Plc Group has reported a 59.9 percent increase in profit after tax for the half-year period ended June, driven by higher earnings from lending and other banking activities.

The mid-tier lender’s net profit rose to Sh998.3 million in the six months from Sh624.3 million in the corresponding period last year.

The firm, whose shares are publicly traded on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), said net interest income increased 29.4 percent to Sh2.64 billion from Sh2.04 billion, reflecting stronger earnings from loans and advances as well as investments in government securities.

Non-interest income, on the other hand, grew 37.4 percent to Sh1.16 billion from Sh844.3 million, giving the group a further boost as it widened its sources of revenue.

‘We are building a more diversified and resilient earnings base that positions our business for sustainable growth,’ HFCB Group Chief Executive Robert Kibaara wrote in a press statement.

Net loans and advances to customers grew 11.5 percent to Sh43.41 billion from Sh38.94 billion, expanding the lender’s core earning assets.

Gross non-performing loans edged down 2.1 percent to Sh11.19 billion from Sh11.43 billion, offering a modest improvement in the quality of the group’s loan book.

The group raised its loan-loss provision by 30 percent to Sh273.9 million from Sh210.6 million, signalling continued caution over potential credit losses.

Customer deposits increased 29.7 percent to Sh68.08 billion from Sh52.50 billion, pointing to stronger mobilisation of customer funds during the period.

The results, however, triggered an unusual trading halt at the Nairobi Securities Exchange after the bourse said it had received the financial report during market hours.

HFCB Group published the results in the national newspapers on Friday morning, while the NSE circulated the group’s financial performance statement to investors after 11am.

The NSE, in a statement issued after 12.30pm, said it had halted trading in the shares for the day’s session following the release of the financial results during trading hours.

The exchange said the suspension was intended to allow the market time to orderly disseminate and assimilate the new financial information.

The firm’s Profit before tax climbed 74.2 percent to Sh1.22 billion from Sh702.9 million, reflecting the widening gap between the group’s income growth and the increase in operating costs.

Total operating income rose 31.7 percent to Sh3.80 billion from Sh2.89 billion, supported by higher interest income and faster growth in non-interest revenue.

Operating expenses rose 18.1 percent to Sh2.58 billion from Sh2.18 billion, growing at a markedly slower pace than income and allowing a larger share of revenue to flow into profits.

You can dress like Tiger Woods, swing the best clubs money can buy, and still walk off the ninth hole with nothing to show for it, says Michael Njogu of golf.

“Because the game, like the rest of it, punishes distraction and rewards patience in roughly equal, unpredictable doses,” he says.

He says golf is the game of life, though he’d rather you didn’t ask him to prove it on the course. It gives you, he says, ‘instant satisfaction and instant disappointment in equal measure.’

Lose focus for a second, and it’s gone. It is a fitting philosophy for a man who turns 50 this week, in the same seven days his company, Sense of Africa, a destination management company and a division of Tourvest Holdings, South Africa’s tourism group, hosts its annual corporate golf tournament, the one he built almost from scratch.

He is Group CEO now, but he did not start there. Under him, the company has grown from a single Nairobi office into a regional operation spanning eight African countries, 10 times the size it was when he arrived, weathering a pandemic that nearly finished off an industry already at the mercy of forces no CEO can control.

It’s a great time to be turning 50 for Njogu, having just collected the group’s CEO Award, given not for seniority but for being the best performer across the entire group.

But ask him what the next decade holds and the golfer in him surfaces immediately: ‘the climb is over, you are at the top of the hill,’ he says, and from here it is all the way down.

He is only beginning to wonder what that descent looks like, for his business, his industry under siege from AI, his teenage daughters, his own mortality, and a marriage and family he has spent 25 years learning to balance against a job that rarely allows for balance.

A little bird told me you’re turning 50…

Yeah. [Chuckles] On Saturday. It’s a big five zero, so I’m excited. I don’t know what it brings, but I hear stories from those who are beyond that age. It also coincides with our corporate golf week; we sponsor it every year. Wednesday was Junior Golf, Thursday is club night, Saturday is our corporate day, and that evening my birthday. So it’s a full week before I even get to blow a candle.

What mountains have you moved to get here?

Largely building this business. When I came in, it was small, relatively unknown. I rebranded it, grew the footprint, and I’d say it’s easily 10 times the size it was when I started, even with the bump we took during Covid.

Tourism is a tough industry, especially in our part of the world. You are affected by things nowhere near your control.

What do you look forward to in your 50s?

Two ways to look at that. Professionally, I want to pivot this business into something future-proof, because our model is under siege from AI. If you want to go to South Africa or Dubai now, you just ask ChatGPT and you’re home and dry, which means somebody in my industry has lost a penny.

So, we’re investing a lot in AI, but even as people lean more on systems, on holidays and happy times, people can’t depend on machines. If you’re landing in Nairobi from London, you still want a smiling face in front of you.

Personally, I’m a family man. My wife Evelyn and I have three children, two daughters and a boy; the girls are teenagers now. I’m looking forward to spending more time with them before they go their way. And I count myself part of that family too. I have to look after myself and stay healthy. You cannot run a healthy business if you’re not healthy yourself.

What anxieties come with crossing the midpoint at 50?

You know how it is, you climb a hill, you get to the top, and from there it’s all the way down. That’s the only way now. So, I begin to wonder what that’s going to be like.

I worry about how my children will turn out. The biggest fights I have with my daughters are about their phones. We try to control how much time they spend online, but you know you can’t do that 100 percent.

Health is another one. I’ve seen a lot of people around my age with all sorts of ailments. A golfing friend died last week; found in his house. He was a healthy man who’d played the week before and had even booked to play at my tournament on Friday.

We buried him before the tournament happened. I try to keep fit, do a bit of jogging, riding and biking.

Professionally, it’s imagining what the next five years look like. The world has been so disruptive lately that even planning five years out feels long; there are just too many unknowns.

What’s your identity beyond work, father, husband?

I have friends. I have my golfing buddies. I enjoy travelling, and I’m fortunate that travel is part of my work too, so it’s seamless. My friends find me fun to be around, outgoing; we do a lot together. I like sports generally, even if I can’t play, I go out to watch. At the end of this month I’m off to Cape Town for the Springboks and All Blacks, the greatest rivalry in rugby.

Beyond the professional, I have a good network of friends. I love life; I’ve been fortunate to explore some awesome places. I consider myself a fun person. [Grins]

What have you discovered about yourself while playing golf?

I have played golf for nearly 20 years. I’ve never brought my handicap down to where it should be; I’m playing off 10 now. I always wanted to go single so I could tell my wife I’m single and married at the same time. [Laughter].

But I consider golf the game of life, because it gives you instant satisfaction and instant disappointment in equal measure. You lose focus for a moment, and it’s gone. You can dress up like Tiger Woods, play the best clubs in the world, but if your mind isn’t there, you’re doing nothing.

If there’s one thing golf has taught me, it’s to be patient and stay focused no matter what happens. Even if you run into a brick wall, take your strides and move on. Just like in life, sometimes the things that disappoint you are the least expected.

What city would you not want to be in?

London. There’s just so much going on there; a big, rich city, though the weather isn’t the best. All that rain. But also, a lot of these European cities don’t want us; that’s a reality.

Immigration has become such a big problem, and everywhere you go, especially in Western cities, they don’t want people like us despite their beauty and wealth. They may not tell you to your face, but every time you watch the news, what do you see?

Madrid, in Spain, on the other hand, I’d be in a heartbeat. I love Madrid, maybe because it was the first European city I ever went to, but people there are jovial, very much like us; they enjoy their food and drinks, and they’re happy people.

How was your childhood like?

I grew up in Riruta, went to Holy Ghost Primary School for Precious Blood. I have an older sister and two younger brothers. One is closer to my age, but the last born is my junior by more than 20 years, so there are no memories of growing up together, really. I was more like a second dad to him than a brother.

My other brother lives in the US, Wisconsin. I have good memories playing football with my brother and sister. I was on the school team, kicking a ball wrapped in paper and thread. It was a very different time. We were raised in humble beginnings, not much in terms of big holidays or fancy stuff.

My dad worked for Citibank, my mum ran a clothing shop in town and later became a pastor; she still is one today, so I’m a pastor’s son. We grew up very straight because she was strict. Both my parents are still alive, my mum had me at 20, and she’s 70 now. My dad’s in his late 70s, they’re upcountry, so we don’t see each other that often.

What are you less certain about?

Our political environment. It’s very worrying right now going into the elections. We’re doing a lot of work managing our clients abroad, helping them understand this has nothing to do with them; these are internal affairs that will be resolved. Fortunately, there are a lot of problems in the world, so everybody’s focused on their own.

What’s your biggest disappointment?

Before this company, I worked for a big Swiss company for about eight years. I was commercial director, and all indications were I’d take over as MD. It didn’t happen, and the only reason was that I had the wrong colour. They wouldn’t tell me to my face, but the reality is they went out and looked for someone who had the right skin colour.

That was a very big disappointment for me, but also a big learning curve; a realisation that people aren’t always what they say they are. As long as they know what they’re getting from you, they’ll be your best friends, until it’s their turn to eat; that’s when you realise you’ve been by yourself all along.

What has been your biggest challenge in running a business?

People. There are great ones who come focused and intelligent, but there are those who just look for loopholes; guys who wake up every day looking for “ways to eat.” That’s usually my biggest disappointment, because I tell them, think of it as your own business, the company is rich because somebody put in their own money. It’s not manna from heaven, somebody invested and deserves their return.

Is there such a thing as a perfect work-life balance?

That’s a good question. There is no ideal, is there? Something has to suffer. Maybe in utopia there would be a perfect balance, but I don’t think I’ve achieved it, so I couldn’t tell you for sure if such a thing exists.

Describe the kind of golfer you are, temperament-wise.

Golfers are very humble; I’d never come and tell you I’m a really good golfer. But golf is all of it: patient and chatty in equal measure.

You play a flight of four, and after you hit the ball you walk to the next shot together, so you have to be chatty. But when someone’s playing, you don’t say a word; you let them play.

When they play badly, you don’t remind them how bad the shot was. When they play well, you commend them.

You have to know when to say something and when not to, because if someone’s excited about their third shot, needing just one putt for a birdie, and they miss, ending up two over instead, you don’t say anything that’ll infuriate them further. It’s a balance.

As Kenya enters another season of presidential campaign manifestos, we are once again about to be flooded with grand promises and lofty political rhetoric.

But if there was ever a time for serious, hard-nosed economic debate, it is now.

Presidential candidates must demonstrate a clear grasp of where our economy stands, where it is heading, and how we intend to navigate the headwinds ahead.

We need presidential candidates with blueprints teeming with ambition-blueprints grounded in bold, innovative thinking.

Almost every contender identifies public debt as the primary millstone around our necks. There is near-unanimous consensus that managing debt will be the defining challenge for the next administration.

With our debt-service-to-revenue ratio hovering near a crushing 70 percent, reducing this burden by at least half is non-negotiable.

Lowering debt-servicing costs is our best-and perhaps only-chance to restore the fiscal space needed to fund basic development.

Yet, our political class remains trapped in conventional thinking.

We have tried every trick in the liability-management toolkit: contracting new debt to settle maturing Eurobonds, switching domestic paper, and pursuing non-traditional lenders.

Ideas like debt reprofiling and repudiation have been floated, but beyond vague promises to “restructure and renegotiate”, candidates offer zero sustainable solutions.

Where is the presidential candidate bold enough to open a public debate-or enforce a moratorium-on corruptly procured, highly commercial debts?

A look through the official external debt register reveals shocking anomalies. More than two decades later, taxpayers are still servicing billions of shillings for loans tied to the infamous Anglo Leasing scandal.

Why are dubious entities pretending to be creditors-names like Apex Finance Corporation, Midlands and Finance, and Sound Day Corporation-still active in our official debt register?

What exactly are we paying for when every Kenyan knows those projects were total phantoms?

The same applies to the Kimwarer and Arror dam projects. The dams were never built, yet official debt registers show we are still dutifully repaying Intesa Sanpaolo for loans extended to construct them.

Who pocketed these funds, and why is the Kenyan taxpayer perpetually left holding the bag for phantom infrastructure?

On domestic debt, we desperately need long-term institutional reforms. Commercial banks currently hold roughly 70 percent of outstanding Treasury Bills, giving them a virtual monopoly that allows them to orchestrate market boycotts whenever they demand higher yields. Where are the proposals to break this oligopoly?

A serious manifesto must champion deep structural reforms in our government-securities market.

A proposal for a system of primary market dealers has been on the table since 2014. The thinking was that by creating a structured network of market-makers we would eliminate cartel-like behaviour and stabilide government paper auctions.

We also debated the creation of an independent treasury management agency. The idea behind this was that carving out fiscal-agency responsibilities from the Central Bank of Kenya would eliminate the inherent conflict of interest between monetary policy and debt issuance.

We wanted to develop a functioning retail market for government paper. Where are the ideas on how to overhaul M-Akiba to make micro-investment in government paper seamless and genuinely accessible to everyday retail investors via mobile channels.

Beyond public finance, the energy sector demands urgent intervention. High electricity tariffs continue to cripple manufacturing competitiveness and strain household budgets.

Tackling this requires more than platitudes about parastatal corruption. We need an explicit commitment to initiate a new round of renegotiations for expensive Independent Power Producer (IPP) contracts.

Furthermore, energy experts broadly agree that our best path toward immediate tariff reductions lies in converting coastal diesel generators to natural gas.

Why is the proposed Dar es Salaam-Mombasa natural gas pipeline project not being treated with cross-border diplomatic and economic urgency?

Finally, candidates must confront the silent crisis on consumer balance sheets. Millions of Kenyans are now hooked on daily, small-ticket digital borrowing-not for business expansion or mortgages, but through Fuliza overdrafts, Hustler Fund loans, and predatory mobile lending apps to smooth everyday survival.

While instant digital credit offers immediate liquidity, fee-driven structures and endless debt rollovers are quietly trapping households in compounding debt cycles.

We need a regulatory framework that mandates total cost-of-credit disclosures and curbs predatory micro-lending practices before fragile household finances collapse entirely.

An economic manifesto that ignores these core structural choices is not a blueprint for national transformation; it is merely an invitation to another five years of stagnation.

After what seemed like a rebound in 2024, Kenya Airways sank deeper into the red last year, and even deeper this year, after posting a 31.9 percent growth in its half-year loss to Sh16 billion.

While its operations have improved, bringing in more revenues, it is navigating elevated fuel prices and an industry-wide shortage of aircraft, engines and spare parts that has kept some of its planes on the ground and constrained its capacity.

The national flag carrier is also seeking an investor to support its growth plans, while working on its balance sheet and looking at leasing aircraft as a bridge to longer-term fleet expansion.

In this interview, KQ’s acting chief executive George Kamal discusses the carrier’s plan to return to profit, its plans to grow the fleet, the search for an investor and the restructuring of its debt.

KQ’s loss has continued to rise. What is the plan to turn it around?

This year, we have been significantly impacted by the Middle East crisis, which increased our fuel costs by up to 66 percent, year on year.

That’s average prices compared to average prices for the first half last year. But since the beginning of the war, our fuel costs have surged by 72 percent. That is the only reason we made a loss.

If fuel costs remained stable and we’re operating at full capacity, we would have reported a completely different number. Because we have seen a growth in demand. Our cabin factor increased by 9 percent, but our capacity was down.

And despite that, we recorded a growth in revenue. The second highest half-year revenue in the history of KQ. That tells you we have a viable business.

Without the rising fuel costs and the constrained capacity, would you have made a profit?

Absolutely. You know, our fuel costs rose by up to 72 percent, but we’re only allowed to put a fuel surcharge of up to 20 percent on fares.

The rest we have to absorb. I cannot pass it all to the customer. I cannot do that.

So this year we had multiple challenges. Rising fuel costs and the capacity constraints.

If you look at the impact they’ve had on us, yet we posted a growth in revenue, that tells you where we would have been if not for the challenges.

Is the capacity problem unique to KQ, and do you expect it to persist into next year?

It is not only a Kenya Airways’ issue. Globally, the leading original equipment manufacturers Boeing and Airbus have a huge backlog of over 16,000 planes. With this backlog, those OEMs pull out most of the spares to put in the new aircraft so they can deliver. So I can’t find any in the market, unless I look for them in the secondary market, which we don’t do.

At the same time, the same shops that work on their own engines to assemble them are the same shops I need to do my overhaul. That’s why the turnaround time went from 90 days to 120. Now it goes even beyond 120. But why does it appear more visible in KQ? Because the number of aircraft is very limited.

When do you expect the capacity constraints to ease?

We’re planning that by Q1, and that’s conservative, we should have our 787s up and flying. All of them. There’s no other discussion, except for the normal maintenance. Usually January is not a very high-season month, so you use it for maintenance. That’s normal maintenance, which takes 30 days up to three months. That’s it, and then it’s good.

Am I going to have the capacity I’m looking for? No. Because I’m looking for a bigger plan. Think big, you grow big. I’m looking to bring new aircraft and grow the capacity.

What are you doing to expand the fleet?

First of all, let me assume that I’m looking at buying. The earliest I can get the aircraft is 2032, 2033. That’s the minimum. This leaves me only with the option of leasing. Leasing a new aircraft is a bridge solution to the operating aircraft. We will use that bridge solution to get the capacity required to achieve 60 by 2030. Today we are 42.

But this 60 is not cast in stone. It is not a silver bullet. It might be a little bit higher, might be a little bit lower, depending on the availability of an investor and the investor appetite.

What kind of investor are you looking for?

All options are on the table. We have people approaching us from the beginning of the year. At first it was one, all of a sudden it became three and four.

Now we have to do the governance process. The governance process starts with an IM (Information Memorandum). You set it out in the market, you say this is what we are open to, then you go to the IM, you show the interest, then all of them come in.

Everybody can come with his own ability. You cannot dictate. I cannot say it’s equity or not. One can say, ‘I can give a loan.’ Another says, ‘I need equity.’ Another says, ‘I have aircraft and I can take equity by putting my aircraft in.’ And so on and so forth.

We are open to everything and everybody. Very transparent process because we are publicly listed. No hidden agendas. Everything is on the table.

How can an investor invest in a debt-ridden company?

An investor will not invest in debt. The investor is coming to invest in growth. We are in the process of discussing with all the shareholders. You saw that the support from the government is very strong. We are having discussions. What we’re looking at today is restructuring the balance sheet at some stage when there is an investor coming in, and we’re looking at different options.

Will the government take up all the debt?

No, I don’t think the government will take on any debt. As I understand it, restructuring will only happen if there is an investor. Why? Because the investor will come and take part of it, converting it into equity in the company. But the government will not be able to take on that debt.

Where would they get the money from? Who will pay for it? Yes, there will be restructuring and so on. Restructuring only occurs when the investor is in a position to support it.

Younger generations aged 18-44 years are the strongest newspaper readers in Kenya, driven by digital access to news, a new survey has revealed.

The Communications Authority (CA) said that up to 20 percent of Gen Z (ages 18-27) and up to 22 percent of Gen Y (ages 28-44) adults read newspapers across the 2025/26 fiscal year-the highest level among all age groups.

Gen Y and Gen Z read newspapers using both traditional formats (print and e-editions) and online formats (website and app articles).

‘Newspaper reading in Kenya shows a noticeable difference between men and women, with men consistently reporting higher readership than women in all quarters. By age, people aged 25-34 years are the most active newspaper readers, recording the highest levels of readership,’ the CA said.

‘In contrast, newspaper reading is lower among teenagers aged 15-17 years and adults aged 45 years and above, suggesting that print media appeals most to young and mid-career adults.’

Gen Y (Millennials), born between 1980 and 1996, account for about 22 percent of Kenya’s population while Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, represent 33.42 percent.

Millennials are mid-career adults who strive to read newspapers and other material to stay informed about professional and economic trends as well as other public affairs.

Both Gen Z and Gen Y are digital communities and use their phones for most tasks, including reading newspapers in formats such as e-editions and newsletters. Most Kenyans rely on smartphones as their main means of accessing the internet, highlighting the central role these devices play in staying connected and accessing information.

CA data shows that internet use in Kenya is highest among young people aged 15-24 years, where more than 70 percent are online. Internet use then steadily decreases with age, with the lowest levels seen among those aged 45 years and above, where fewer than 40 percent report using the internet.

‘High internet access in Kenyan urban areas is largely due to strong digital infrastructure, including wide broadband coverage and reliable mobile networks. Urban residents also benefit from higher income levels and better access to digital devices, making it easier for them to adopt new technologies,’ CA said.

‘In addition, internet use rises steadily with higher Living Standards Measure (LSM) levels, showing a clear connection between income, education, and digital participation in Kenya’s evolving media landscape.’

In the CA survey, newspaper readership in Kenya is significantly higher in urban areas compared to rural regions.

‘Urban dwellers consistently show greater engagement with print media, reflecting better access to distribution channels and higher literacy levels,’ the regulator said.

CA said that in the fourth quarter of 2025/26, newspaper readership was highest in the Lake region at 21 percent, followed by Rift at 20 percent, indicating relatively stronger engagement with print media in these areas.

‘Most other regions recorded modest recovery or remained broadly stable, while North Eastern had the lowest readership at eight percent, highlighting a generally soft but regionally varied newspaper consumption landscape,’ it said.

For most Kenyan filmmakers, getting a film into local cinemas is considered a victory. But with barely a handful of functioning cinemas in Kenya, producing a feature film can feel like investing in a business with almost no market.

For producer and screenwriter Jinna Mutune Odede, that reality forced her to rethink everything she knew about distribution.

Instead of making films solely for Kenyan audiences, she began imagining stories that could travel across Africa and eventually around the world.

After years of painstakingly building relationships across continents, she is taking her latest project, Cocoa Dreams, on a multi-city international tour-a journey she says reflects a conviction that African stories should never be confined by Africa’s limited cinema infrastructure.

What makes Cocoa Dreams stand out?

Cocoa Dreams exists as both a TV series and a feature film. What we’re premiering in cinemas is the film version because we’re targeting two markets-the cinema audience and television viewers. It’s already difficult getting African content out there, so you have to maximise every opportunity.

What makes producing African films so challenging?

The biggest challenge is funding, finding people who believe in African stories. Then there’s distribution. Kenya has only about 14 cinemas and perhaps, five are consistently operational. Recovering your investment through theatrical release alone is almost impossible. That’s why I always say you can’t just make a Kenyan film. You have to think of it as an African film.

Film is a game of numbers. Bollywood serves more than a billion people. Hollywood’s domestic market alone is over 300 million people.

African filmmakers have to think similarly by building Pan-African audiences.

‘Cocoa Dreams’ received support from African No Filter. How did that come about?

We went through a competitive pitching process. This was actually my second pitch because I always develop multiple ideas. I’m also interested in migration and the African diaspora because I have lived abroad. That curiosity inspired Cocoa Dreams.

After I got married, my husband and I lived in Kisumu for two years.

I realised most Kenyans have little understanding of the city and its dynamics. At the same time, I became fascinated by the Sugar Belt around Muhoroni and the untapped agricultural potential beyond colonial crop systems.

As a storyteller, I asked myself: How do I package this in a way that people will actually engage with?

Chocolate became the entry point. Everybody is interested in chocolate. So we use cocoa as the hook while exploring bigger conversations around agricultural diversification and indigenous crops. Many people don’t realise cocoa can actually grow in Kenya.

There are farmers already growing it in Meru, Thika and Kilifi, often intercropping it with bananas under an existing government initiative.

Was agriculture already an area you were working in?

No. It came from research. As a storyteller, I enjoy exploring different African stories shaped by my experiences. Cocoa Dreams asks whether African farmers should continue relying on traditional “cash crops” that no longer generate the returns they once did, or diversify into crops that are better suited to local realities.

Is cocoa farming profitable?

Very much so. It’s becoming even more lucrative as West African countries increasingly negotiate together. When Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon negotiate as a bloc, as with the deal they made with United Arab Emirates in July, they strengthen their bargaining power and secure better prices.

That reflects something I strongly believe: we all have our tribal and national identities, but for certain challenges we also need a Pan-African identity. Some solutions cannot be achieved through a purely national mindset.

Who wrote the film?

I co-wrote it with Oyunga Pala, who also served as our cultural consultant.

How long did the project take to develop?

After submitting the proposal, we were greenlit in October. By November, I knew I needed a writer who deeply understood Luo culture and human relationships.

I came across one of Oyunga Pala’s podcast interviews and immediately felt he understood grief and human emotion in a profound way. I reached out, and we wrote the screenplay between December and January before shooting the film this year.

How is the project structured?

The feature film runs for one hour and 37 minutes. We have also developed it into a four-part limited television series.

Tell us about your lead actress.

I first noticed Kitt Kiarie Nyang’aya during the Covid period after listening to a podcast she appeared on. I didn’t have a project for her then, but I remembered her.

When Cocoa Dreams came along, I felt she embodied exactly the kind of woman I wanted-an empowered African woman with authentic Luo features.

I deliberately wanted to move away from conventional beauty stereotypes (light skinned and skinny). She still auditioned for the role and had previous stage acting experience.

How has your experience as an immigrant influenced your filmmaking?

I lived in the US for four years and studied in South Africa for two. While in America I staged theatre productions within immigrant communities, in places like Houston and Massachusetts. I also screened my first feature film, Leo, there. Leo follows a Maasai boy who believes he’s a superhero. We shot it in Kenya in 2010 and 2011 before releasing it in 2012.

It then took eight years to market internationally across 16 cities. Eventually, it reached Amazon, screened on airlines including Emirates and Kenya Airways, and was shown at institutions such as Harvard, the University of Southern California, and Berlin University. That experience taught me just how difficult it is to market African stories globally.

There are still significant gatekeepers, especially when Black African filmmakers are telling their own stories.

Has that changed today?

Not significantly. Unless you already have an established international profile, the barriers remain. That’s why I believe Africa must build stronger regional film markets.

Imagine if every major film automatically opened in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Add audiences in Brazil and the African diaspora and suddenly your commercial prospects improve. Those audiences immediately understand our humour, family dynamics and cultural references. They don’t need everything explained.

Tell us about the international tour.

We are planning screenings in Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, as well as Massachusetts, Houston and Seattle, between late August and early September. Some of those screenings come through relationships I built while promoting Leo.

Others have come through referrals. African No Filter also helped facilitate promotional opportunities through its partnership with Trace TV.

How can filmmakers access African No Filter opportunities?

The easiest way is to follow African No Filter’s social media channels because that’s where they announce new grant opportunities. One thing I appreciated about working with them is that I was able to tell the story I wanted to tell.

What’s fascinating about Cocoa Dreams is that it is also inspired by the story of a Kenyan female nuclear physicist based in Vienna, showing how African stories can connect science, agriculture and identity in unexpected ways.

If you are going to do another rooftop bar, do one like Dijo, over at Mandrake on Westlands’s Ring Road. Have a long, generous bar while you’re at it.

Make it elegant. In fact, make it a gastro bar. Make it look out over Nairobi’s skyline, over Westlands, over Uthiru and the airport….as far as the eye can flirt with the city.

Keep the music low. The type that merely brushes against your face. People come to dinner wanting two things: to eat and to talk to other people. Let them do both. And make the place sexy enough to be photographed – which is really just another way of saying make it sexy enough for people to look sexy when they photograph themselves in it.

But the bar has to be excellent, especially for guys like me who don’t understand French cuisine but do understand a great gastro bar, and love to sit at the counter. There is something about sitting at the bar.

You get to see the room from the room’s own point of view. You see who is arriving, who is lingering, who is waiting for someone and who is pretending not to wait. You see who is trying to be someone else. Which is something we sometimes do, right?

At Dijo there were plenty of expatriates at dinner, and a number of Kenyans, mostly women in pairs or small groups, enjoying cocktails, a meal and a laugh. There were couples too, mostly on dates.

Which reminds me: you never really see men sitting at dinner by themselves.

The bar counter was young and fast. Sitting there felt like being at the pit stop of a Formula One race: a blur of figures and moving hands. Everything seemed to happen at once, but nobody looked hurried.

A young, spirited barman called Jackson served us. He knew the menu, knew his drinks and, more importantly, seemed to enjoy both.

Later, as he handed us the bill, he brought out their special Dijo drink, reserved for first-time visitors. White and dark rum, honey, lemon and cinnamon. Sweet, warm, slightly wicked. A little barman’s kiss before we left.

Kenyan businesses face higher costs to interact with customers online as Meta begins charging for messages firms send on WhatsApp in response to customer queries.

Beginning October 1, the US tech giant will introduce a 52-cent charge for each message where firms are responding to customers through its WhatsApp Business platform.

WhatsApp will charge Kenyan businesses $0.0040 (Sh0.52) per delivered message, adding to the features Meta has recently monetised globally. Last year, the company began billing businesses for WhatsApp marketing messages.

Regional peers including Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda will be charged at the same rates per message.

Kenya differs from Nigeria, where the charge is Sh0.87, South Africa at Sh0.98 and Egypt at Sh0.47.

‘Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for utility messages sent in response to users (within an open 24-hour customer service window). These messages have not been charged since July 1, 202,’ Meta said in an announcement.

Meta said the 24-hour customer service window is calculated from the time each user message is sent.

WhatsApp Business is a standalone version of the popular messaging application designed for small business owners to connect with customers.

The platform offers additional features such as product catalogues, automated replies and broadcast messaging.

It also has paid API (application programming interface) services for larger enterprises, which allow high-volume messaging and integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

Meta will only charge businesses for the messages and the fee will apply when the text has been received by the recipient. Customers seeking information from the businesses are spared the charge.

The messages, which are now attracting a fee, are split into two, including service and utility messages.

A service message is a WhatsApp text where a business is responding to customer questions, such as replying to a question from clients.

A utility message are texts where businesses update customers on the status of their goods, such as confirming payment for orders.

Service messages are either from a customer service representative or a third-party artificial intelligence (AI) tool.

The two services have been free since WhatsApp Business was launched in 2018.

Meta has been charging a higher fee for firms using WhatsApp to promote their goods and services.

The promotional or marketing messages in Kenya cost $0.0225 (Sh3). The message costs Sh7 per message in Nigeria, Sh5 in South Africa and Sh8 in Egypt.

Meta said the 24-hour customer service window is calculated from the time each user message is sent.

WhatsApp Business is a standalone version of the popular messaging application designed for small business owners to connect with customers.

The platform offers additional features such as product catalogues, automated replies and broadcast messaging.

Currently, Meta only charges for marketing and Business Agent messages.

Meta Business Agent, an AI assistant built natively into Meta’s platforms – including Messenger and Instagram – was introduced in June to automatically handle customer service and sales conversations 24/7.

The agents can answer customer questions, recommend products, negotiate prices, book appointments and escalate conversations to human staff when necessary.

Meta Business Agent messages are charged per text through a bundle.

The global rate is $2 (Sh259) per one million tokens. One message typically consumes 20,000-25,000 tokens, translating to approximately five US cents or Sh6 per message.

Simple responses consume fewer tokens and cost less, while complex responses are more expensive.

For instance, a query such as ‘At what time do you open your Nairobi CBD branch?’, which can be addressed in four messages, can consume 80,000 tokens, translating to $0.16, or about Sh21.

More complex enquiries, such as taking a customer through selecting and checking out goods from an online catalogue, can consume about 10 messages, or 250,000 tokens, translating to up to $0.50, or about Sh65.

In Kenya, thousands of small enterprises use WhatsApp Business as their primary customer communication channel. Many depend on automated replies that can answer simple questions like a shop’s working hours or share external links to the business’s catalogue.

‘For any businesses that do not have a payment method on file by September 30, Meta will stop delivering service messages as of when they become charged on October 1,’ Meta said.

Oil firm TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya’s net profit for the six months to June 2026 grew 21.2 percent, lifted by higher product sales despite expensive pump prices following disruptions from the Middle East conflict.

The listed oil marketer reported a net profit of Sh1.33 billion in the half-year to June compared to Sh1.1 billion posted in a similar period in the previous year.

This followed a 19 percent increase in revenues to Sh84.4 billion, coming in a period when global fuel prices climbed significantly due to the US-Israel war against Iran, which disrupted key trading channels, including the Strait of Hormuz.

‘Despite volatility in the global energy markets, the company delivered a strong performance with profit before tax increasing to Sh2.16 billion from Sh1.41 billion in 2025,’ said the company in a public notice.

‘Gross profit rose to Sh6.14 billion from Sh5.32 billion, supported by higher sales volumes across all business segments,’ it added. Total’s indirect taxes and duties rose by 2.6 percent, slower than the 19 percent growth in revenues, signalling lower remittances at a time when the government halved value added tax levied on fuel to eight percent.

The oil marketer’s profit before tax grew at a faster pace of 53.2 percent compared to net earnings, indicating a higher tax charge for the business.

Its cost of sales rose by 26.7 percent to Sh57.7 billion, capturing the higher fuel sourcing prices.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows diesel and petroleum use increased by an average of nine percent despite pump prices rising past the Sh200 mark.

Diesel prices in the first six months of 2026 averaged at Sh192.77 per litre, up 15.8 percent from last year’s Sh166.48, while that of super petrol was roughly Sh194.87, up 10.2 percent from Sh176.76.

Total’s other income increased to Sh868 million compared to Sh753 million a year earlier, driven by continued growth in shops, food and services and third-party partnerships.

The company also benefited from lower financing costs, which declined 17.1 percent to Sh550 million as a result of lower borrowing rates in tandem with declining interest rates in the market.

Management of the oil marketer did not announce an interim dividend despite the profit growth.