Category: Business Daily

Primary health facilities in Kenya waited an average of 24 days to receive essential medicines and medical supplies in the year ended June 2025, forcing patients to either buy drugs from private pharmacies at a higher cost or go without treatment.

Supply delivery time or lead time is the total duration from placing an order with a supplier to actually receiving the goods or services, encompassing order processing, production, shipping, and final delivery.

Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority healthcare needs of the populationLatest data shows that the order turnaround time-the number of days between when a facility submits an order and when supplies actually reach the facility, more than doubled the official 10-day target increasing by 14.2 days in the financial year 2024/2025.

This represented about a 43.2 percent increase from the 16.9 days recorded three years earlier.

This worsened to 20.1 days in 2023/24, representing a 10-day delay, before reaching 24.2 days in the year ended June 2025.

The 14.2-day delay represented a 142 percent deviation from the target, signaling systemic problems rather than isolated operational challenges.

‘Targets were not met due to low on-time order integration, especially for program orders that led to long order processing,’ said the State Department for Medical in its sector report.

Consequently, the product availability, measured by the fill rate-the percentage of ordered items that Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) actually has in stock and can supply when facilities place orders, fell below the planned targets.

The performance data shows that only 55 percent of ordered items were supplied to facilities, far below the 90 percent national benchmark.

From 66 percent in 2022/23, already 24 percentage points below target, performance dropped to 62 percent in 2023/24 and jumped to just 55 percent in the next financial year.

This represented an 11-percentage-point decline over three years, with performance at barely half the benchmark that health planners considered essential for functional service delivery.

‘Though the order fulfillment rate for Kemsa Capital essential commodities has been decreasing, this can be attributed to low stock availability occasioned by long supplier payment times, due to strained cash flow/lack of adequate capitalisation,’ read the report.

It also said the low tracer commodity availability to the county was due to underfunding and debts owed to Kemsa by county governments, highlighting systemic financial management problems at the devolved level.

According to the State Department for Medical Services, pending bills owed to Kemsa by the Ministry stand at about Sh1.9billion.

As a result, the availability of essential medicines at the facilities stood at a low of 40.3 percent, meaning that fewer than half of essential medicines were available at health facilities when patients sought care, despite the billions spent on procurement and distribution.

Over the three years, the Authority successfully procured Health Products and Technologies worth Sh113.28 billion and delivered commodities totaling Sh115.11 billion across the country.

These supplies reached an average of 11,540 healthcare facilities and testing sites spread across all 47 counties, ensuring national coverage.

In the din of the controversy over the government’s decision to divest part of its stake in Safaricom, fundamental questions have been oddly muted: How exactly will the proceeds be spent, and who will authorise that spending?

Is the proposed infrastructure fund the product of a coherent, long-term national investment strategy, or is it simply being improvised to warehouse cash from the Safaricom transaction and the planned privatisation of the Kenya Pipeline Company? Where, in fact, did this idea originate?

Recently, in search of clarity, I reached out to a contact at the National Treasury for an off-the-record conversation. He declined-only to later send me by email a document titled By Generations, For Generations: 50 Years of Temasek. Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s sovereign investment holding company, is widely credited as one of the institutional innovations behind the country’s dramatic economic rise.

When you zoom out-when you listen to President William Ruto’s recent public statements about creating a sovereign wealth fund, when you review proposals for an infrastructure fund, and when you digest the drastic structural changes introduced by the newly enacted Government Owned Enterprises (GOE) Act-the conclusion becomes difficult to escape: the current push to divest from large, profitable State enterprises and channel the proceeds into an infrastructure fund mirrors, almost point-for-point, the logic that led Singapore to create Temasek Holdings.

It is the same logic behind President Donald Trump’s 2024 statement that he would use revenue from tariffs to create a sovereign wealth fund for roads, airports, and defence technologies. Around the world, governments confronted with fiscal pressure increasingly view sovereign funds and state-holding companies as tools for development.

But the clearest signal that Kenya is trying to imitate the Temasek model came when the President assented to the GOE Act, 2025. What is the significance of this legislation in the changes unfolding before us?

The centrepiece of the new law is simple but transformative: it repeals the Acts of Parliament that created most of our commercial parastatals. We once had the KPA Act, the KenGen Act, the Ketraco Act, and many more. All of them now stand repealed.

In policy jargon, this is ‘corporatisation’-the deliberate conversion of state-owned enterprises from statutory bodies created by specific Acts of Parliament into companies incorporated strictly under the Companies Act.

The government remains the owner, but only through shares, not statute. In this new structure, the State exercises influence through boards, not through ministers.

The implication is profound: corporatisation quietly unlocks large-scale asset monetisation without Parliament having to vote on each sale. It becomes the legal on-ramp for fast-tracking privatisation.

The pathway to selling equity becomes automatic and administratively streamlined.

If this is the road Kenya has chosen, then the country deserves an open, candid debate-not the shallow shouting match that currently dominates the airwaves. Temasek’s experience offers both inspiration and caution.

Temasek did the hard work first. Singapore stripped ministries of all direct control over commercial enterprises. Ownership was consolidated into a single shareholder: the State acting strictly as an investor, not a political operator. Performance-measured ruthlessly-became the organising principle.

As Kenya enters the public participation period on the Safaricom divestiture and infrastructure fund proposal, we must elevate the quality of debate. The key question is not whether divestiture is good or bad. It is: What exactly is this infrastructure fund?

Is it being set up as a serious, independently managed national investment institution? Or is it merely a temporary parking bay for windfall proceeds from one-off asset sales?

We must revisit the intellectual and legal origins of Kenya’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) idea. The first Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill of 2014, drafted by the Presidential Taskforce on Parastatal Reforms, adhered closely to global best practice.

It conceived a sovereign investment institution owned by the people of Kenya, aligned with the Santiago Principles developed under the IMF. It was to be insulated from day-to-day politics, professionally governed, and accountable.

What came later was a steady dilution. Successive National Treasury teams reframed the SWF as little more than a specialised Treasury bank account at the Central Bank-established under the PFM Act and capable of being dissolved at the stroke of a Cabinet Secretary’s pen.

Which brings us back to the most consequential question of all: Who will decide how the infrastructure fund is spent? The Cabinet? Parliament? Or a professional investment board insulated from politics? Without airtight governance rules, such a fund risks becoming a large and efficient political slush fund-only this time financed by the family silver.

Kenya stands today at the same fork in the road that confronted Singapore decades ago. Do we want a serious national investment holding model built for generations? Or a convenient cashbox for whichever administration happens to be at the National Treasury.

As debates intensify over how Kenya can create quality jobs, strengthen SMEs, and build climate-resilient local economies, development partners are under growing pressure to rethink the way they design and deliver their plans.

For most, the traditional project-based approach has sufficed, with jobless youth, for example, plunged into the deep end of entrepreneurship in a one-size-fits-all approach that assumes everyone is cut for business.

However, Swisscontact Kenya, an NGO, has a different approach known as Market-Systems Development (MSD). Sharon Mosin Urner, the country director of Swisscontact Kenya, talks of how they have used MSD to bring about systemic change.

What is a market-systems development (MSD) approach?

Before we talk about MSD, it’s important to recognise the broader context shaping development today. Around the world, public financing for development is under pressure, and governments-particularly in emerging markets-are being asked to do more with far fewer resources. Kenya is no exception.

With limited fiscal space, the need for solutions that are efficient, scalable, and sustainable has never been greater.

This is precisely where the market-systems development approach becomes transformational.

For nearly three decades in Kenya, Swisscontact has worked from a simple but powerful premise: when the incentives of all actors in a system are aligned, markets become engines of opportunity.

When we enter a sector, we begin by understanding how the system functions-what is working, what is not, and why gaps exist. Take the skills ecosystem, for example. Youth unemployment is not only about the absence of jobs; it is also about the misalignment between what training institutions deliver and what industry demands.

So we bring together students, employers, trainers, and government to examine the ‘transactions’ between them:

What motivates each actor?

What holds them back?

What incentives would unlock the behaviour change the market needs?

This analysis led us to the construction sector and, eventually, to plumbing and electrical trades, where employers consistently cited skill gaps even among diploma graduates. Students want meaningful employment. Schools want strong placement rates. Employers want productivity. Government wants reduced unemployment.

MSD helps each of these actors realise their goals by strengthening the system that connects them.

What would a truly market-system approach that addresses root causes of youth unemployment look like? And how would you evaluate it compared to the traditional approach?

We are looking at different levels of changes. When we go into a sector, we want to see market-level changes. Changes at the client level are a product of systemic change.

Our project called PropelA – dual apprenticeship is modelled on the Swiss dual apprenticeship. It’s a two-year programme where students spend 75 percent with companies and 25 percent at school. That is different from the current TVET offering where you’re in school then three months of internship.

Our dual apprenticeship model is demonstrating what system-level change looks like in practice.

Companies are investing in young people, paying stipends, contributing to training costs, and shaping the curriculum. Regulators such as NITA are unlocking new mechanisms-like releasing the apprenticeship levy-to sustain the model. Training institutions are expanding programmes because they see the results.

Does the programme prepare youth for fast-changing technologies and future skills?

As industries evolve, the skills required must evolve with them. That is why we are strengthening our training approach to ensure apprentices graduate with both technical mastery and digital fluency.

Digital literacy is no longer optional. It is fundamental to employability and competitiveness, and we are embedding it across all areas of training. Our Future-Fit programme ensures that the skills we teach today prepare young people for the jobs of tomorrow and the technologies reshaping our industries.

What is the proper approach to financing youth-led enterprises and SMEs?

Yeah, that is tricky. You’re right, there are a lot of guarantees and de-risking mechanisms sitting within banks being under utilised. There was a regulatory barrier and that’s why they were under utilised. Banks are regulated and don’t want their books classed as risky.

We approach de-risking and blended finance for SMEs and students by looking at sustainability. Students get stipends but not all can afford school fees, so we are de-risking school fees to get them through school. Our partner financier is not a commercial bank but a specialised school-fees lender. They only recover after the students have been employed or get into business.

Financing is important, but it is only one part of what makes enterprises thrive.

Should Kenya accept that not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship?

Yeah, absolutely. Not everybody can be an entrepreneur. The way we approach development is that when we create a mushroom of small enterprises, we assume we’ve solved the problem. People have similar businesses and wonder why they’re not making progress.

People who can be employed need the right skills.

How do you shield the programme from political risks?

Public institutions play a pivotal role in shaping the systems we work within. Our engagement with national and county governments is anchored in shared development priorities- creating jobs, strengthening markets, and improving service delivery. By demonstrating how limited public resources can catalyse private investment and scale, we build partnerships that endure across political cycles.

Our goal is simple, to support government in delivering sustainable, locally-owned solutions.

How can counties use MSD to build viable local economies?

All these economic transformation plans aim to create robust local economies. Swisscontact is a foundation that was set up by private sector companies in Switzerland, so private-sector approach is in our DNA.

Counties are recognising that real economic transformation comes from unlocking private-sector investment and strengthening the systems that support producers, service providers, and entrepreneurs.

Our role is to catalyse these markets-creating strong supply chains, enabling enterprises to scale, and ensuring communities benefit from emerging economic opportunities. When counties embrace this approach, they build robust, self-sustaining local economies that deliver prosperity far beyond the lifespan of individual projects.

How can MSD create more inclusive, scalable opportunities for women and underserved groups?

An inclusive economy is one that recognises the potential of every citizen. We deliberately design our interventions to ensure women and underserved groups can participate meaningfully in markets – whether through apprenticeships, employment pathways, or entrepreneurship support.

We avoid creating ‘grant-preneurs’. People go from grant to grant but are not doing business. We support people by creating structures that support their business. Seed capital may be there but very minimal. If you need capital, you go through a financial institution.

When systems open up for women, communities prosper, industries diversify, and opportunities multiply. Inclusion is not an add-on to our work; it is central to how we build equitable and sustainable economies.

The government is planning to hand over the modernisation of the country’s driving licence system to a private investor after years of underperformance by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

This is after the NTSA missed the target for issuance of chip-based driving licences (DLs) for the second time in three years, blaming the underperformance on motorists’ growing preference for electronic (system-generated certifications) driving licences.

The State Department for Transport says it is now considering transitioning the underperforming smart driving licence project to a public-private partnership (PPP).

NTSA has issued less than half of the targeted five million smart driving licence cards in eight years.

The transport sector regulator signed a three-year, $21.09 million (about Sh2.1 billion at the time) deal with the National Bank of Kenya (which has since been acquired by Nigerian-owned Access Bank Plc) in March 2017 to supply, install and maintain five million second-generation licences.

The NTSA, the report submitted to the Treasury shows, had issued 2.1 million chip-based DLs by June 2025 against a planned five million cards. This comes after the NBK, which subcontracted the supply to another firm, delivered more than four million blank cards.

‘The uptake of smart driving licences has been slow. The project is under consideration for transitioning to PPP,’ the Transport department wrote in its budget proposal report to the National Treasury.

The proposed policy shift comes after NTSA underperformed its target for the chip-based driving licences by 14.38 percent in the financial year to June, shining the spotlight on the multibillion-shilling system to modernise management of the chaotic transport sector.

NTSA printed 342,492 smart driving licences in that period against a target of 400,000, falling short by 57,508 cards.

The performance marked a reversal from the previous year when NTSA surpassed a lower target of 350,000 smart DLs following increased enrolment drives that saw 369,155 motorists acquired the chip-based DLs.

‘The target [was] not achieved due to preference for a yearly electronic driving license as opposed to the 3-year smart driving license,’ NTSA explained in the report.

Embedded chips

Smart driving licences, which are renewed after three years, come with embedded chips similar to those in ATM cards, designed to carry a motorist’s information, photos and offence history under a Demerit Points System under the NTSA.

The Electronic Driving Licence is renewed for three years at a cost of Sh3,050 through the NTSA portal and verified digitally by police via an app.

It is also easier to renew compared with the smart card that requires biometric capture and an in-person appointment at Huduma Centres or NTSA stations. The smart card also costs Sh3,050.

Performance records show NTSA also missed its smart DLs issuance targets in 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years, largely due to frequent breakdowns of the specialised printer needed to personalise the smart cards.

The latest setback underscores the agency’s continued struggle to match its fiscal year 2020/21 performance, when intensified public campaigns propelled issuance to nearly 396,000 cards -about 96,000 above target.

The smart driving licence project had gobbled up nearly Sh1.83 billion by June 2025, with NTSA putting the implementation status at 85 percent.

In her latest report for the year ending June 2024, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu noted that NTSA had printed 1,637,930 smart licences out of more than 4 million blank cards delivered by the supplier, NBK.

Her audit found 572,674 unprinted cards valued at Sh176 million lying unused in NTSA stores, with no clear plan for deployment, exposing taxpayers to potential losses.

‘The uptake for the cards is still slow and the management did not demonstrate efforts to improve the situation,’ Ms Gathungu wrote in her report.

‘In the circumstances, the value for money could not be confirmed.’

As the year draws to a close, BD Life reflects on some of the milestones in the music industry in 2025.

Cultural resurgence

In an exclusive interview with the BDLife a year ago, singer-songwriter, musician, Bien-Aimé Baraza (of Sauti Sol fame) revealed that he was seeking a new edge to his music by exploring the cultural heritage of his roots in Western Kenya.

True to his word, 2025 marked a significant shift in his overall sound and image with the hit single All My Enemies Are Suffering. Propelled by the energetic rhythm of isikuti drums, multi-layered harmonies and a contemporary Afro groove, it set the template for a powerful fusion of global and cultural influences.

Some of the biggest acts of the year, including Okello Max, Coster Ojwang, Watendawili and Charisma, have molded their aesthetics with a strong cultural foundation while still producing music that resonates with a mainstream audience.

Reinvention of classics

Just like the soundtrack to the anti-taxation protests in Kenya last year was Kasongo, a 1977 song by Super Mazembe, 2025 also saw classic songs going viral thanks to topical events.

For instance, the most searched song lyrics, according to Google Kenya’s Year in Search, were for the Jamaican folk song Jamaica Farewell, recorded in 1956 by Harry Belafonte. Interest in the song was sparked by the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who had often mentioned it as his favourite.

The interest in oldies was not peculiar to Kenyans. The No 1 song on video sharing platform Tik Tok in 2025 was Pretty Little Baby, a 1962 song by American singer Connie Francis.

Tik Tok’s Year in Music Recap released this week reveals that the song’s popularity was due to its use as the soundtrack for videos on family, pets, relationship and flowers leading to more than 68 billion views. Its popularity was not just confined to one platform; it has 133 million streams on Spotify.

Francis who died in July 2025 at age 87 expressed surprise at the success of the ballad she recorded 63 years ago: ‘To tell you the truth, I didn’t even remember the song,’ she told the People Magazine in May.

Streaming

Music streaming platform Spotify has now made Wrapped a much-anticipated fixture of the end of the year with fans sharing personalised revelations about their music preferences, from genres to artistes, of the past year.

The data is mind boggling. For instance, Spotify listeners streamed over 163 billion hours of music in 2025 with social features like Collaborative Playlists and Friends Mix accounting for 782 million hours of shared music during the year.

The older generation of Kenyans, those who grew up on physical formats like the vinyl and CDs, are gradually discovering the world of streaming; the over 55s registered the highest growth in listening this year at 74 percent, followed by the 45-54-year-olds whose streaming grew by 56 percent.

Top songs

The East African collaboration between Tanzanian star Marioo and Kenyan artist Bien, Nairobi, tops Apple Music’s 2025 Year-End Charts in Kenya, followed by Tanzanian Joel Lwaga’s worship anthem Olodumare and the South African amapiano/Afrobeats hit Isaka (6 am) by Ciza, Jazzworx, and Thukuthela.

The popularity of the latter, along with other isiZulu hits like Ngishutheni by Goon Flavour, confirms isiZulu as one of the top three most-streamed musical languages in Kenya, just behind English and Swahili, according to Spotify data.

Documentaries and biographies

If you missed any of the outstanding music films and publications in 2025, there is no better time to catch up on them than this holidays season.

The most talked about music documentary of 2025 is the recently released Sean Combs: The Reckoning which investigates the murky events surrounding the life and career of US producer and music mogul, also known variously as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, who is currently serving a 50-month jail term.

Earlier in the year, Avicii: I’m Tim offered a very personal portrait of the much-loved Swedish Electronic Dance Music DJ/producer who died in 2018.

One Shot with Ed Sheeran is a pure musical experience as British singer-songwriter walks the streets of New York City with his guitar spontaneously entertaining fans with a repertoire of his songs as a film crew shoots the unfolding events in one take.

If you don’t want to fight for the TV remote control with members of your household then get your hands on Truly by Lionel Richie, the 2025 memoir of one of the biggest pop stars of all time.

Read: 10 nuggets from Lionel Richie’s memoir ‘Truly’

Lionel shares his story with wit, self-deprecating humour and juicy nuggets of his interactions with everyone from Michael Jackson to Quincy Jones.

Transitions

Some big names that left the stage for the last time in 2025, including Roberta Flack, she of Killing Me Softly with His Song fame, who died in February at the age of 88.

Teddy Osei bandleader of the legendary Ghanian group, Osibisa, who found global fame in the 1970s and 80s with hits like Woyaya and Sunshine Day died in January at 89.

Two Jamaican reggae icons died this year, Cocoa Tea in March at age 65 and Jimmy Cliff in November at age 81. US neosoul pioneer D’Angelo passed in October at age 51.

Safaricom has borrowed $138 million (Sh17.8 billion) from Standard Bank to fund the expansion of its subsidiary in Ethiopia.

Africa’s largest bank by assets, operating in Kenya as Stanbic, is the sole arranger and lender of the loan. Safaricom will invest the capital towards expanding digital infrastructure and services in Ethiopia.

‘The two businesses worked side by side in the development of the financial solutions that were bespoke to the business while responsive to the market’s needs,’ Standard Bank said in a statement. Safaricom entered Ethiopia in 2022, with Standard Bank as its advisors and financiers. The company has since then invested $2.27 billion (Sh292.77 billion) in telecom and digital financial services infrastructure in the country.

‘We are honoured to have partnered with Safaricom again in enabling and supporting their ongoing vision to drive digital transformation and inclusion in Ethiopia,’ said Anthony Ndegwa, Executive Vice President for Telecoms, Media and Technology at Stanbic Kenya’s Corporate and Investment Banking.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said: ‘We are guided by innovation and strategic partnerships as we aim to transform lives at scale; empowering youth, entrepreneurs, and underserved communities to fully participate in Ethiopia’s digital economy and realise the promise of shared prosperity by 2030.’

‘Through this partnership, we are given the opportunity to pursue this goal and grow further to digitally enable Africa,’ Mr Ndegwa said.

Safaricom has over 10 million active customers in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous market.

The telco says its 4G network now covers more than half of the 136 million population, with 3,141 live sites deployed across over 150 towns and cities.

Last week, the telco introduced a network-agnostic M-Pesa app called Lehulum, just two years after introducing the mobile money service in Ethiopia. It marked a major step in the country’s digital payments landscape, allowing any mobile user, regardless of their network operator, to download the app and use M-Pesa services.

This includes sending and receiving money, making payments, and accessing digital financial tools – services that have helped M-Pesa grow in double digits in Kenya since its 2007 launch. But the company has already reported restricted access among users of the state-backed telco Ethio Telecom, the country’s biggest player with 83.2 million customers as of June.

‘M-Pesa Lehulum is currently not accessible on smartphones using mobile data services managed by Ethio Telecom, leaving our customers unable to log in, transact, or retrieve their funds,’ Safaricom said in a December 5 statement.

In the six months to September, Safaricom recorded a smaller loss in Ethiopia, which contributed to a 52.1 percent rise in profit to Sh42.7 billion ($330 million).

Ethiopia’s losses dropped by 59 percent to Sh15.2 billion from Sh19.4 billion in the first half of last year.

This was heavily impacted by a depreciation of the birr currency. Safaricom expects to make a profit in the country in the year ending March 2027.

KCB Kenya has received Sh19.5 billion ($150 million) financing from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), allowing it to expand its lending, especially to women-led entities and green businesses.

The country’s largest lender, by asset base, said Sh12.9 billion of the funds will be subordinated debt. Subordinated debt is classified as tier two capital and contributes to a bank’s total capital position that determines the amount of lending a bank can do.

KCB capital positions were above regulatory requirements as at the end of September. However, an increase in total capital ensures growth of its loan book, especially with the uptake of large ticket green projects.

KCB said it will use the funds for onward lending projects under renewable energy, infrastructure, and agriculture. Environmental awareness has seen businesses increasingly lean towards projects that are classified as green, including the installation of solar power and renovation of their buildings, creating opportunities for banks to grow their loan book.

‘We are looking to strengthen our capacity in supporting customers focusing on green projects,’ KCB Bank Kenya MD Annastacia Kimtai said.

‘This partnership marks a significant milestone in our sustainability journey as it reinforces our commitment to scale up green lending and enable us to deepen our impact, catalyse private investment and support Kenya’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050,’ she added.

KCB has been piling funds for lending to projects that prioritise environmental sustainability and high social impact, especially in energy, infrastructure, agriculture, health, and education sectors.

For example, in February, the bank received Sh12.9 billion ($100 million) from the British International Investment (BII) for lending to climate-related projects, which came on the back of Sh27.5 billion received from different international lenders last year.

Last year, KCB disbursed Sh51.8 billion ($402 million) in green loans, growing its green portfolio to 21.32 percent from 15 percent in 2023. The loans were largely extended to green products designed to foster energy transition, including initiatives in the blue economy, e-mobility, and climate change adaptation.

KCB was part of the consortium of banks that funded Safaricom’s Sh30 billion sustainability-linked loan. KCB partnered with Absa, Standard Chartered Kenya, and Stanbic to extend the loan to Safaricom in two tranches of Sh15 billion each, the first being in 2023 and the second one last year. KCB is pushing to allocate 25 percent of its portfolio to green initiatives by 2031.

‘KCB has demonstrated strong leadership in sustainable finance, and we are confident this collaboration will deliver measurable climate impact and inclusive development for Kenya and the region,’ said AfDB Director General for East Africa Alex Mubiru.

KCB will use Sh6.45 billion to deepen its presence in international transactions, with the AfDB providing a guarantee to other banks receiving letters of credit and similar trade finance instruments from KCB.

Trade finance helps the bank earn commissions off the balance sheet. KCB has been a key player in trade finance, including its role in the government-to-government (G-2-G) oil deal.

KCB Kenya contingent liabilities, which capture letters of credit, guarantees, swaps, and options issued under trade finance by the bank, were at Sh295.9 billion at the end of September 2025.

KCB had the largest size of contingent liabilities in the banking sector, signaling its dominance in trade finance. It earned Sh9.8 billion from fees and commissions, which were not loan-related in the nine months to September, pointing to the lucrativeness of trade financing.

Although over 60 companies are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), most investors struggle to track the companies’ earnings calendars and key activities. This challenge stems from persistent underinvestment in Investor Relations (IR), which is often viewed as a minor, reactive function within Finance.

Consequently, market activity is concentrated in a few blue-chip stocks, such as Safaricom and banks like Equity, which account for over 70 percent of daily trade turnover, leaving many other listed firms invisible, illiquid, and unable to attract the global capital needed for NSE’s strategic growth.

A stock that trades only once a week isn’t ‘fundamentally weak,’ it is simply invisible. A market with dozens of invisible companies isn’t ‘small,’ it is underdeveloped, and cannot attract global capital. This lack of professional transparency has led to tangible consequences. The market is currently experiencing a historic withdrawal of international capital, with foreign participation in equity turnover averaging just 30.12 percent in Q3 of this year, a 15-year low. This retreat resulted in a net portfolio outflow of Sh 3.84 billion for the quarter.

Foreign investors are not leaving Kenya because companies are fundamentally flawed. They are reallocating due to inadequate communication.

When investors cannot reliably know ‘when earnings will be released, whether guidance is coming, how management interprets quarterly performance,’ they do not invest. They wait, and prolonged uncertainty leads them to exit the market.

Also, retail investors are projected to increase with NSE targeting 9 million participants by 2029 through the introduction of fractional share purchases. If listed companies do not provide effective IR, they create information asymmetry, discouraging this growing retail base from sustained, informed participation.

Addressing the lack of mandated professional investor communication structures is no longer optional. A world-class market cannot be built on silence and spreadsheets alone.

However, recognition without action is insufficient. IR is a strategic communication tool that creates value through transparency. It bridges management’s vision and market confidence, and serves as an investment that improves valuation, attracts capital, and drives liquidity.

The solution is for listed companies to urgently elevate the IR function from a compliance checklist item to a strategic, board-level priority. To beat this crisis, listed companies must take specific, non-negotiable actions.

First, they must announce and strictly adhere to an annual IR calendar, clearly outlining the dates for earnings releases, dividend declarations, and Annual General Meetings at the start of every fiscal year.

They should also appoint and empower a single, named point of contact for investors on the company website, with dedicated phone and email channels, replacing the current fragmented approach.

Third, listed companies must exceed minimum legal disclosure by adopting Integrated Reporting and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) disclosure guidelines. This approach communicates the company’s holistic value creation strategy to socially conscious investors, both global and local.

Fourth, the Capital Markets Authority(CMA) should mandate annual Board review of the IR strategy and link senior management compensation (CEOs/CFOs) directly to performance on key IR metrics, such as investor satisfaction scores and stock liquidity. This ensures IR is treated as a profit driver rather than a compliance cost.

For the Kenyan retail investor, always demand transparency.

Use your vote at Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to challenge boards on their lack of professional IR, disclosure standards, and the allocation of resources to this critical function. Stop accepting the bare minimum. Only by holding boards accountable for their silence will the market’s basement issues be truly fixed.

We often discuss rights in terms of education, healthcare, or access to clean water. While these are all critical to our survival, and indeed our development, one of the most powerful enablers of dignity and opportunity is access to credit. Unfortunately, this is rarely framed as a human right, and yet, it should be.

Credit is not merely a financial instrument. For millions of Kenyans, it is the difference between survival and progress; between operating at the margins of the economy and building a livelihood with dignity.

Without access to finance, a farmer cannot expand production, a small trader cannot stock inventory, and a young entrepreneur cannot scale an idea into a thriving business.

Kenya has made strides in financial inclusion. According to the 2024 FinAccess survey, 84.8 percent of the population now has formal financial access, with credit usage rising to 64 percent of the total population.

Yet beneath these gains lies a stubborn gap: Many Kenyans, especially women, and those in the informal sector still depend on unregulated sources like chamas (savings and investment groups), relatives, or even shylocks.

While these informal systems are important, they cannot provide the scale or sustainability required to unlock long-term opportunity. For women, rural communities, and micro-enterprises, the barriers are even higher.

This exclusion is not trivial. It systematically denies people the agency to grow, invest, and participate fully in the economy.

A key way of boosting financial inclusion is the adoption of lending models tailored to women, youth, and informal workers. Products designed for chamas, agribusiness collectives, and youth start-ups have made it possible for those without traditional collateral to access financing.

These inclusive models matter in a country where women-led enterprises face a $2 billion credit gap, youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, and the informal sector employs over 80 percent of Kenya’s workforce. Credit, designed inclusively, is the bridge.

The future of credit is not only inclusive but also green. Increasingly small loans are already being extended to households and small enterprises for solar home systems, clean cooking solutions, and water access projects. These not only reduce emissions but also cut household energy costs and improve resilience.

As Kenya positions itself as a green economy leader, community-level green lending will be critical. A small loan for a solar irrigation kit may seem minor in the national balance sheet, but for a farmer, it is the difference between food insecurity and surplus. For a village, it can mean the difference between vulnerability and resilience.

Access to credit must be reframed as a human right. If we can guarantee education, water, or healthcare, why not guarantee financial access-the very thing that allows individuals to pay for these services and improve their lives?

As Kenya works toward inclusive growth and climate resilience, the ability of ordinary people to access and use credit must be treated not as a privilege for the few but as a right for all.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has cut its inflation outlook further for the next 12 months as it sees continued stability in consumer prices and the exchange rate.

The apex bank said on Wednesday that it expects the cost of living to fall steadily to reach lows of 3.7 percent in June 2026, having previously forecast inflation to fall to 4.3 percent in the same month.

Inflation dropped to 4.5 percent last month compared to 4.6 percent in October.

The expected low inflation rate will give the CBK further room to cut interest rates if it deems the move as appropriate in driving the recovery of private sector credit.

‘Our focus for inflation going forward for the 12 months up to November 2026 shows that inflation will remain below the midpoint of our target range and will not exceed the five-percent rate all the way,’ CBK Governor Dr. Kamau Thuigge said.

CBK has a mandate to keep inflation low and stable at no more than 7.5 percent but not less than 2.5 percent by deploying monetary policy tools including interest rates.

Previously in August, CBK had projected inflation to run hot, touching a high of 5.2 percent in March next year.

Core inflation or non-food/non-fuel inflation which contributes to an approximate 81 percent of the overall inflation rate is expected to anchor the slow growth in consumer prices over the next 12 months.

Non-core inflation which covers food and fuel prices is expected to rise over the next quarter on expensive vegetable prices but fall at the onset of the heavy rains season which is expected to start in April.

‘Non-core inflation especially for vegetables remains elevated for the next two to three months and then it does come down starting with the long rains around April,’ Dr Thugge added.

The November 2025 Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Market Perceptions Survey and Agriculture Sector Survey shows that inflation expectations remain anchored within the 2.5 to 7.5 percent target range in the near term.

Respondents to the agriculture survey noted they expect improved food supply following recent harvests particularly of maize, stable pump prices and exchange rate stability to support a stable inflation rate in the near-term.

Seasonal factors associated with December festivities and higher prices for some food items especially vegetables are however expected to apply moderate upward pressure to overall inflation.

‘The November 2025 MPC Market Perceptions Survey shows that inflation expectations in the near-term remain anchored within the target range, mainly due to exchange rate stability, improved food supply, and stable global oil prices which are expected to keep local pump prices and transport inflation stable,’ CBK said.

The apex bank cut its benchmark rate for the ninth straight MPC meeting on Tuesday in a move to support the recovery of bank lending on the heels of both stable inflation and exchange rate.

Private sector credit growth hit a 19-month high in November mirroring recovery in lending on falling borrowing costs after a prolonged contraction period in the past year.

‘Growth in commercial banks’ lending to the private sector continued to improve and stood at 6.3 percent in November 2025 compared to 5.9 percent in October and a contraction of 2.9 percent in January,’ CBK said in a statement on Tuesday.

‘This mainly reflects improved demand for credit in line with the declining lending interest rates.’

CBK can cut its benchmark rate further if both inflation and exchange rate stability holds.