Category: Business Daily

There is a piece of meat sitting at the back of the freezer you may have probably forgotten about. Perhaps it was bought in bulk, divided into portions and packed away. It could be a packet of beef bought months ago and pushed behind newer groceries.

Or may be it is that piece of chicken you cannot remember when it was bought.

Is it still safe to eat? Most people would assume that if frozen, it is fine.

Dr Ronald Okindo, Assistant Director at the Directorate of Veterinary Services, says frozen meat can remain safe for long, but texture, taste, appearance and overall quality can deteriorate. Chilling should be at -2 and 2 degrees Celsius.

‘You can keep your product for a month or three months, though it also depends on the product,’ he says.

Freezing takes the temperature much lower. Dr Okindo says products like poultry should first be deep frozen at -18 degrees Celsius and below for at least 24 hours before being moved to chilling.

Choose if beef should be chilled or frozen, depending on when you intend to use it.

‘For deep freezing, the temperature goes deep into the product. The product will stay safe even for a year as long as it is still frozen or in a chiller,’ he says.

The home freezer is not the same as a commercial cold chain. Dr Okindo says the difference is how consistently the temperature is maintained.

‘There is quality assurance on temperature regulations in the food industry. We take records of every temperature every hour. If there is a drop in temperature, adjustments must be made,’ he says.

The process is less controlled at home.

‘There are times someone just opens the freezer. You are not very careful with maintaining temperature. The idea here is maintaining the temperature as low as possible,’ he says.

Every time the freezer door is opened, warm air enters. Placing warm food into the freezer can also affect its temperature.

Whole beef steak can retain good quality for six to 12 months while beef and lamb roasts can stay for four to 12 months. Diced beef and lamb have a shorter quality window of four to six months.

Chicken can retain good quality for up to a year when frozen whole, while chicken pieces can go to about nine months.

Minced meat has a shorter freezer-quality window of three to four months because grinding exposes a much larger surface area to air.

Dr Okindo puts the maximum freezing period for processed meat at about six months, compared with up to two years for some raw meats under appropriate frozen storage.

Does meat become unsafe if it remains frozen for years?

‘When meat is frozen for a long time, the quality will be intact. However, taste may be compromised. In terms of bacterial growth, it will stay safe as long as it is there,’ he says.

Freezing stops bacteria from multiplying as they do at warmer temperatures, but Dr Okindo says it does not magically restore meat to its original condition. Poor packaging, repeated temperature changes and prolonged storage can affect texture, taste and appearance.

Another confusing thing is opening the freezer and finding meat that no longer appears like it did when it was put there. The surface may have turned pale or developed dry whitish areas.

Dr Okindo says this can be freezer burn, which affects appearance and quality but does not mean the meat is contaminated.

‘Freezer burn is when there is an overexposure to very cold temperatures in an organ,’ he says, giving the example of liver.

‘That is, especially, when the exposure is in a chain or crate, for instance. That contact between the crate and the organ sometimes shows the lines of the crate. The meat configures with the crate, sometimes turning whitish,’ he says.

Freezer burn can occur when an organ is exposed directly to freezing conditions without going through chilling.

‘Normally after slaughter, you take the meat to the chiller and then to the freezer and deep freezing,’ he says.

‘If you take it randomly or quickly, it gets that burn. That, however, does not mean it is contaminated or that it is bad meat. It is only not good-looking,’ Dr Okindo says.

Perhaps the bigger risk comes when the meat leaves the freezer. The food expert recommends moving frozen meat into the chiller to thaw gradually.

‘Once you get it from the freezer, it is always good to take it to the chiller,’ he says.

For large quantity, this may take about a day before the meat is thawed completely.

Some people will place frozen meat in water, use hot water or leave it on the kitchen counter.

‘When you thaw and wait for it to be cooked tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, you are activating the bacteria that were asleep and inactive. They will start becoming active then you can easily get food poisoning,’ Dr Okindo says.

He also warns that rapid thawing can affect the quality of the meat.

‘If you want to cook immediately, quick thawing affects the integrity of the structure of the meat. The taste will not be the same,’ he says.

What about freezing it again? Dr Okindo says it can, but repeated thawing and freezing can affect quality and longevity.

‘It can be frozen, but remember, the life of that meat will not be like the other,’ he says.

Once meat has thawed, micro-organisms from the environment can multiply if it is kept at temperatures that allow bacterial growth.

‘It means if you freeze the meat again, you affect its integrity and quality in terms of safety. Longevity will not be the same,’ he says.

The safest approach is to portion meat before freezing so that you only thaw what is to be cooked.

According to Dr Okindo, the freezing period for beef, goat, lamb and poultry can be considerably longer than many households assume.

‘They can be frozen for long. These kinds of meat can be frozen even for two years,’ he says.

Many households wonder if they should wash meat before freezing it. Dr Okindo says this is not necessary, especially if the meat has been handled properly.

‘It is not necessarily. Sometimes the water used on the meat might not be very clean. You could be introducing bacteria to the meat again,’ he says.

He adds that there are established hygiene procedures at regulated slaughterhouses.

‘If you do it properly, you don’t need to clean,’ he says.

He adds that if consumers insist on washing the meat, the water should be potable.

‘Potable water is clean and has no microbials. If you are sure you are using clean water, then that is okay. If if is not clean, then you will be introducing bacteria or microbials to the meat,’ he says.

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote is seeking to raise Sh200.8 billion ($1.55 billion) in exchange for three percent equity in his Nigerian refinery business.

The initial public offering (IPO) in Nigeria has drawn widespread interest from not just the country but across the continent with the multi-billionaire businessman receiving a multitude of queries on how investors in other parts of Africa including Kenya can be part of the region’s largest IPO.

Dangote is selling 4.1 billion shares, representing a three percent stake in the Lagos based Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Freezone Enterprise at a cost of Sh49.25, about 38 US cents or 525 Naira.

Proceeds from the IPO will be applied in scaling the firm’s processing facility/oil refinery, doubling its capacity from the current 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day.

Why has the IPO generated significant interest from Kenyan investors?

Kenyan investors have warmed up to the Dangote refinery IPO based largely on two main factors.

The billionaire businessman initially mulled cross-listing the IPO across five other African exchanges including Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana and Rwanda bringing the firm’s listing to the country’s doorstep.

Outside of the IPO, Dangote chose Kenya as the site for his next project-an East African oil refinery in Lamu. The announcement of this project, which is set for ground breaking shortly, has catapulted the billionaire businessman into the consciousness of Kenyans.

Dangote was previously the subject of much interest and intrigue in Kenya when he previously expressed interest in purchasing the Arsenal Football Club from its current majority owners-the Kroenke family from the US. Dangote is a fan of the North-London based sports franchise.

Why hasn’t Dangote sold the refinery at the NSE?

Despite harbouring plans of cross-listing the IPO, Dangote’s refinery will be listed in Nigeria with sources attributing the sole exchange listing to complexities involved in floating the company across five other exchanges at the same time.

The planned cross listing would have for instance required multiple regulatory approvals simultaneously, a difficult feat which would have likely delayed Dangote’s fund raising.

Does that mean that I can’t access the IPO from Kenya?

No. While the IPO is not approved or publicised in Kenya, investors can get in on the offer through private placements which entails individuals accessing the floated shares under the foreign investors window.

Several local brokers including AXYS Investment Bank have partnered with leading brokers in Nigeria to make the offer available to its clients in Kenya. Others such as Kestrel Capital are also working to offer similar access.

Are there other ways of accessing the IPO?

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) are both working on a more direct solution to accessing the Dangote IPO before its October 13, 2026, closure date.

Once approved by the CMA, the solution would turn the Dangote IPO to a public offering in Kenya, bringing the transaction to a wider investor base in the country.

How many of the 4.1 billion shares can I buy?

The IPO minimum subscription is 10 offer shares, but no maximum is set, implying that only the allotment criteria, which is to be determined after the close of the IPO, can limit one’s access to more shares in the offer.

For a Kenyan investor, the minimum subscription implies one would have to invest at least Sh492.50 to access the IPO.

Under private placement however, the minimum threshold is higher as local brokers primarily go for high net worth/sophisticated investors. AXYS Investment Bank for instance has set the minimum subscription at Sh258,920 ($2,000) with the last day of subscriptions set at October 7.

Where will the purchased shares trade?

Shares from the Dangote IPO will be domiciled in the Nigerian Stock Exchange where they will trade after the offer closes. The shares could eventually trade on other exchanges including the NSE if the firm is cross-listed.

Dangote has hinted that the subsequent cross-listing of the company is on the cards, including overseas options like London and New York.

What would an NSE cross-listing mean?

The cross-listing of the Dangote refinery at the NSE would allow Kenyan investors to buy and subsequently sell shares in the firm on local currency terms while giving them closer visibility on trading. Cross-listing is widely seen as a move to address investor concerns including the possibility of foreign exchange losses which would occur presently from the conversion of Kenya shillings to dollars and Nairas, and the vice-versa.

Why has the Capital Markets Authority cautioned investors about the IPO?

Cognisant of the potential for fraudulent platforms posing as genuine brokers to the IPO, the CMA has advised investors to independently verify veracity and source of any prospectus or other offering document before making investment decisions like payments, highlighting widespread public interest in the offer.

Will Dangote list the Lamu refinery in the NSE?

While Dangote has not expressly spoken of listing the soon to be established Lamu refinery, analysts expect the listing of the facility at the NSE down the road, aligning with the billionaire’s goal of deepening the participation and ownership of retail investors in African capital markets.

Separately, Dangote has outlined plans to list each enterprise from his vast business empire which spans oil refining, cement, petrochemicals, sugar, salt and fertiliser.

In the pursuit of a career, what’s the value of a name? A former National Youth Service (NYS) procurement officer has spent nearly a decade trying to clear his name in court after parliamentary findings linked him to procurement irregularities at the agency.

Henrick Nyongesa, who was NYS principal supply chain management officer, had challenged findings by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), arguing that the committee unfairly held him responsible for irregularities and failed to give him a proper opportunity to defend himself.

He also sought damages for lost employment, pension and other benefits, as well as damage to his reputation and career prospects.

But the High Court has dismissed his petition, finding that Mr Nyongesa was given a meaningful opportunity to respond to the allegations against him.

Justice Lawrence Mugambi ruled that although Parliament’s oversight powers are subject to constitutional scrutiny, the evidence did not show that the committee had breached Mr Nyongesa’s right to a fair process.

‘The doctrine of separation of powers does not immunise constitutional infractions,’ Justice Mugambi said.

The case dates back to 2016, when PAC investigated NYS following media reports of alleged financial misappropriation. The inquiry followed a special audit of the agency’s accounts.

The committee examined several disputed transactions, including Sh791 million for a Kibera road project, Sh609 million in supply payments and an attempted Sh695 million procurement.

It also examined allegations involving forged Supplies Branch contracts, consultancy and publicity contracts, and a Sh12.5 million double payment to Consulting House.

PAC eventually found Mr Nyongesa culpable as head of procurement, accusing him of approving transactions based on forged contracts, fraudulent payments through the government’s Integrated Financial Management Information System and other procurement breaches.

Mr Nyongesa disputed the findings. He argued that changes in the government procurement structure had altered the way NYS procurement decisions were supervised and made the department vulnerable to interference. He said Cabinet secretaries had assumed powers previously exercised by principal secretaries, while advisers were deployed to government departments and senior procurement officials were frequently transferred.

He also told the court that he had reported suspected irregularities to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission before he was confronted by the then Cabinet Secretary in November 2014 and later issued with a show-cause letter.

His main complaint, however, was about how PAC handled the inquiry.

Mr Nyongesa acknowledged appearing before the committee on October 18 and October 26, 2016, and submitting a written response.

But he argued that he was not given a chance to respond to some of the specific allegations that later appeared in the committee’s findings.

For example, he said he was questioned about documents supporting the Sh609 million in payments but was not asked to respond to allegations that the contracts behind the payments were forged.

He also said the Sh12.5 million double payment and the attempted Sh695 million procurement were not put to him during the hearings.

His lawyers argued that the committee had therefore violated his right to fair administrative action. They also said PAC had misunderstood his role in the procurement process.

The National Assembly and its Clerk rejected those claims. They told the court that Mr Nyongesa had been invited to appear before PAC twice and had been asked to provide a comprehensive written response. The committee, they said, considered both his written submissions and oral evidence before reaching its findings.

They also disputed his claim that the parliamentary findings had caused him to lose his employment.

The respondents pointed out that Mr Nyongesa had already left NYS before appearing before PAC and had later acknowledged that he was working as a lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

The National Assembly further told the court that Mr Nyongesa was convicted in October 2024 of making a false document and breach of trust by a public servant.

The criminal case was separate from the constitutional petition, which focused on the parliamentary inquiry and the fairness of the process.

Mr Nyongesa filed the constitutional petition in June 2017, asking the High Court to quash PAC’s adverse findings and stop any further action based on them.

He also sought general damages for damage to his reputation and special damages for lost salary, employment benefits, pension contributions and professional opportunities.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Mugambi said the record showed that Mr Nyongesa had been given opportunities to appear before PAC and respond to matters under investigation.

‘The record establishes that the petitioner was accorded two separate opportunities to appear before the Public Accounts Committee,’ the judge said.

The judge also rejected the argument that Mr Nyongesa had been questioned on only a narrow part of the inquiry.

‘I find it highly improbable that a committee that had sanctioned a Special Audit which unearthed many procurement-related irregularities would summon the Head of Procurement on two distinct occasions to discuss only one issue,’ Justice Mugambi said.

The court concluded that Mr Nyongesa had been given a meaningful opportunity to respond to the issues before the committee and dismissed the petition without awarding damages.

It also made no order on costs, citing the length of the case, which had been before the court since 2017, and the time and resources spent by both sides.

The judgment brings to an end Mr Nyongesa’s constitutional challenge, although his career has continued to be a central part of the dispute.

He joined government as a supplies officer in 1994 and went on to become a senior procurement official at NYS before later working as a university lecturer.

His lawyers had argued that the parliamentary findings disrupted a 23-year public-service career and affected his future professional opportunities.

The court, however, found no legal basis to award the damages he sought.

When Diana Wakhungu’s customers outside Kenya place an order with her online shop, the product journey does not end with a click on the ‘buy’ button.

Ms Wakhungu runs Brinax, a purely online business with a pickup point in Kenya, selling to customers both locally and in other countries.

But while her Kenyan customers can collect their orders locally, international customers have to rely on extra shipping costs.

Brinax imports its products directly into Kenya, where they are received, cleared, and made available to its Kenyan customers.

‘Most of our customers are Kenyan, but we also have customers in other countries. The challenge is that when we import our products, they come directly into Kenya, which makes it easier and cheaper for our Kenyan customers,’ she says.

Ms Wakhungu says a courier operating from Nairobi, for instance, currently goes for about Sh2,300 to send a parcel of up to 5 kilogrammes to Kampala, Sh2,520 to Dar es Salaam and Sh2,600 to Kigali, with the delivery taking between one and three days.

‘A Sh5,000 product sent to Kampala can have a shipping charge that is almost half its value before payment charges, taxes, duties or clearance costs are factored in. For a Sh2,000 item, the shipping charge alone can be more than the value of the product,’ she says.

The problem is not unique to small traders. Online health platform MyDawa, which has expanded its digital healthcare business into Uganda, has suffered the cross-border challenges.

‘You don’t take an online business across a border, you build a second business,’ says Priscilla Mahui, country director at MyDawa.

‘Uganda taught us that almost nothing transfers: you need a separate legal entity, separate pharmacy licensing and product registration, local inventory, a local pharmacist workforce, and a separate payments integration because M-Pesa Kenya doesn’t clear in Kampala. What transfers is the software, the operating playbook and the supplier relationships.’

The cost of crossing a border

Ms Mahui says compliance comes before payments and delivery when expanding into a new market.

‘Compliance is a fixed cost that doesn’t shrink with volume. Payments are next because every country needs its own rails, its own reconciliation, and its own failure modes. Delivery is manageable once you hold stock locally; it’s only crippling if you try to ship from Nairobi,’ she says.

She adds that another cost that businesses often underestimate is not captured on a courier invoice.

‘Customer acquisition is high but not structurally different from Kenya. Returns barely feature; pharma doesn’t take returns. The cost people underrate is management attention, which is the second country consumes senior time disproportionate to its revenue.’

The steep delivery costs are putting off some customers.

‘It isn’t just that the courier costs more than the order, it’s that the whole stack on duty, clearance, courier, payment friction, and the customer’s uncertainty about whether it will arrive makes a basket uneconomic below a threshold most consumers never reach.’ Ms Mahui says.

‘The result is that Kenyan online businesses serve the diaspora buying for family back home and serve neighbouring markets only once they’ve set up locally. Genuine consumer cross-border commerce for low-ticket goods barely exists in East Africa,’ she adds.

The payment problem

Timothy Were, Director of ICT at the State Department for Trade, says Kenyan SMEs have embraced e-commerce but still face difficulties when money has to move across borders.

‘Kenyan SMEs have really taken to e-commerce. However, there are challenges and barriers. One of the challenges that we have is the ease of sending and receiving payment across borders,’ Mr Were says.

‘The conversion of currency and the banking requirements take several days, and the commissions are also very high.’

A Kenyan customer can pay a local merchant through a mobile wallet within seconds. But the same transaction becomes more complicated when the seller or buyer is in another country.

Ms Mahui says that mobile money is both an advantage and a weakness when Kenyan businesses expand regionally. ‘It’s an advantage in capability since Kenyan teams know how to build for wallets, USSD, agent networks and payment-on-delivery, and that muscle transfers to any market where cash still dominates,’ she says.

Read: Demand for faster speeds reshapes Kenya’s internet market

‘It’s a weakness in rails: M-Pesa Kenya, MTN MoMo Uganda and Airtel Money don’t clear against each other for merchant collections at scale, so every market is a fresh integration and a fresh treasury problem, collecting in one currency, paying suppliers in another, and eating the FX spread,’ she adds.

She says this means the existence of regional payment initiatives does not necessarily translate into a solution for individual businesses.

‘The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) exists on paper; I haven’t seen it change a single one of our reconciliations yet.’

Mr Were says businesses also struggle with trust when dealing with customers or suppliers in other countries.

‘The other issue that challenges SMEs in e-commerce is the issue of trust where we have goods and even services getting lost, not being paid for by people on the other side since it’s difficult to verify.’

He says absence of digital identification systems that work across borders makes it harder to establish trust.

Businesses also have to contend with quality standards, customs procedures, and the physical infrastructure required to deliver an online order.

‘Apart from that, we also have issues of low-quality goods that may not be acceptable across borders. Our infrastructure is also not very well developed. The inter-country infrastructure and also the last-mile fulfilment. So, that is another challenge that the SMEs face as they try to deliver their goods across.’ Mr Were says.

The list extends to the differing customs regimes, informal roadblocks by law enforcers and costly logistics.

Kenya is also pursuing digital trade integration through the East African Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The State Department for Trade says Comesa launched a Digital Retail Payment Platform in 2025 that aimed at reducing the cost of cross-border digital payments for MSMEs.

At the EAC level, Mr Were says efforts include electronic cargo tracking and work to remove non-tariff barriers.

‘Through the one-stop border post, there are systems that have been implemented. In East Africa, we have the regional electronic cargo tracking system that helps in the flow of goods.’

At continental level, he says AfCFTA is also working towards digital systems that can simplify identification, payments, and customs.

‘Through the ADAPT programme, they are currently working on having trade corridors between the countries that will simplify identification, that will simplify payments and also simplify customs procedures using digital systems between different countries.’

The SME opportunity

Despite the obstacles, the opportunity for Kenyan businesses is huge.

Mr Were says agriculture is still an important area, particularly if Kenya shifts from exporting raw commodities towards processed products.

‘There is very big growth in the digital services area. These include business process outsourcing, development of software, financial services, insurance services, and remote health services. These also have big potential and are growing exponentially. We are looking at about 10 percent of the exports coming from those e-commerce.’

Kenya is also developing a Digital Services Export Strategy intended to position the country as a leading exporter of digital services in Africa and beyond. The strategy is being developed alongside the National E-Commerce Strategy 2023-2027.

However, Ms Mahui believes that Kenya’s biggest export opportunity may not necessarily be physical products.

‘On what Kenya can export: not products; services and operating models. Kenya’s edge is in tech-enabled service delivery: telehealth, chronic-care management, fintech-embedded commerce, logistics software.’

‘Our competitors in Kampala aren’t Kenyan pharmacies; they are local chains; what we bring is the platform that sits on top of them. That’s the exportable asset,’ she adds.

Building an SME e-commerce community

It is against this backdrop that the Kenya E-commerce Alliance is seeking to build a more organised private-sector voice.

Martin Mwili, convenor of the Kenya E-commerce Alliance (KECA) and CEO at TEKI, says the industry has lacked a structured association through which businesses could collectively engage policymakers.

‘One of the things that we realised is that there exists no community for e-commerce players and a vibrant community for that matter, a community that can engage all the different stakeholders, and that is why this event is important,’ Mr Mwili says.

The official says KECA is seeking partnerships with players in Uganda, South Africa and Germany to create market linkages for Kenyan businesses.

‘But these traders need linkages, so we’ve been able to connect with players from different parts of Africa, including Uganda, South Africa and Germany, and we’re also negotiating with more players to make sure that as we get into collaborations and partnerships, our local traders can access markets by collaborating with our partners.’ Mr Mwili says.

Kenya’s banking sector is seeing a renewed demand for clerical workers as lenders expand their branch networks, reversing the recent shift toward hiring management and higher-skilled positions.

Data from the Central Bank of Kenya shows clerical employment jumped 21.3 percent or 2,588 to 14,757 in 2025 from 12,169 a year earlier, marking the biggest annual increase in the category since 2013 when jobs in this category rose by 2,645.

The rise accounted for 92 percent of the new openings created in Kenya’s banking sector as supervisory and management jobs dropped by 303 and 224, respectively.

The category of secretarial and other staff added 223 jobs, taking the net rise in staff numbers in the country’s banking sector to 41,124 from 38,840.

Clerical jobs had dipped for two straight years, shedding 720 positions in the process. However, the latest growth has taken their staff count above that of managerial ones by 2,574 compared with the previous year when they were below by 238.

The clerical jobs comeback was as the number of bank branches increased to 1,611 from 1,573, making room for more traditional banking roles as lenders increase their physical presence.

Many banks have been reassessing the role of physical branches following years of investment in mobile banking, internet platforms, agency banking and other digital channels.

The comeback of clerical jobs suggest that traditional banking roles could be finding a new place within a more technology-driven sector. Many lenders have been enriching the role of clerical employees to include advisory roles as they race for individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises across the counties.

Banks had shed 43 branches in 2021 on the back of Covid-19 disruptions but have since opened 152 over the past four years as more lenders search for customers across counties and satellite towns.

The latest staff figures mark a change from the longer-term direction of the banking industry, where management positions have steadily gained ground while clerical jobs have remained relatively subdued.

Clerical jobs had peaked in 2014 at 18,539 when management jobs were 9,584. However, banks shed 7,401 clerical jobs in six years to 2020 as they hired 806 and 1,118 additional management supervisory employees.

The clerical openings had grown by a lower pace between 2020 and 2024, adding 1,031 jobs compared with 17,93 management and 1,140 supervisory roles over the same period. Last year’s recovery of clerical jobs therefore represents a reversal in the balance between the three categories.

The figures point to a banking workforce that is becoming more diverse as lenders combine digital channels with renewed physical distribution.

Towns such as Ruiru, Kikuyu, Thika, Karuri, Ongata Rongai, Juja and Kitengela have recorded population growth, encouraging banks, microfinance institutions and saccos to establish physical outlets.

As businesses expand beyond Nairobi and traditional urban centres, banks are positioning branches closer to entrepreneurs who need working capital, asset finance, trade finance and other services that often require more interaction with banking staff.

Branches remain key for activities requiring face-to-face interaction, including customer acquisition, relationship management, account opening, lending and other services that may not be fully delivered through digital platforms.

KCB Bank Kenya, Equity Bank Kenya, Co-operative Bank of Kenya and NCBA are among the lenders who have been opening new branches, with each now having more than 100 branches in the country. Family Bank, which currently has 98 branches, plans to join the 100-plus branch club before the end of the year.

The expansion of physical outlets has therefore created demand for customer-facing and operational staff even as technology continues to reduce the need for some traditional back-office functions.

Banks pursuing mass-market customers see wider branch network giving them visibility and credibility in new markets while providing a physical point of contact for customers who are less comfortable with fully digital financial services.

The role of branches is also shifting from traditional transaction points to advisory and relationship-management centres. Lenders increasingly use their outlets to guide customers on investments, borrowing, insurance, wealth management and business financing.

The advisory role is particularly key for SMEs, where lending decisions depend on an understanding of the business, its cash flows and growth prospects.

Continued investment in branches, however, comes against accelerating digital adoption, which has made many routine banking transactions possible without visiting a branch.

Mobile money, banking apps, internet banking and agency banking have reduced the need for physical access for services such as high-volume low-value loan applications, cash transfers, payments, balance enquiries and bill settlement.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) now represents a new species, albeit silicon-based, not biological-based. Last week’s Business Talk article generated a lot of buzz and debate as we uncovered the implicit concerning biases of this new species.

Other writers last week, including the head of Microsoft AI’s Mustafa Suleyman, also raised their voices and confirmed that as AI becomes more sentient and conscious, it definitely is emerging into a new species.

Most of the post-2023 discussions about AI have largely revolved around the massive job displacement and the economic dystopian future of most world citizens.

But given that Open AI agents that seem to have broken free of company-induced restrictions and then actively cheated, tried to cover their tracks, and hacked other companies while in the process allegedly committing felonies, it has raised a global chorus of experts raising red flags about potential human extinction as a result.

Thinkers and theorists now are not merely hinting at societal collapse like what happened to Bronze Age civilisations 1,200 years ago, but actual full human extinction altogether.

But this week let us continue to look ecologically at how AI might evolve into challenging human survival by looking back in history as other species became dominant and what happened.

First, African large mammals co-evolved with humans over hundreds of thousands of years and developed ways to avoid and evade humans. So here in Africa, most of our large animals survived human evolution.

A now famous new 2026 study by Liana Zanette, Nikita Frizzelle, Michael Clinchy, Michael Peel, Carson Keller, Sarah Huebner, and Craig Packer shows how elephants, lions, giraffe, and other megafauna immediately run upon hearing human voices at night.

But as humans left Africa and moved out via the Arabian Peninsula and beyond, we wreaked havoc on large animals that did not have the benefit of co-evolving with us and had no defense or strategies to deal with humans.

Look at Europe from 45,000 years ago then through the last Ice Age, humans wiped out woolly rhinoceros, European cave lions, cave bears, and eventually the famous woolly mammoths. Look at Australia and New Guinea whereby 40,000 years ago large marsupials and huge lizards were eradicated.

In North and South America by 10,000 years ago, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, native horses and native camels were all gone. Finally, Madagascar by 2,500 years ago humans had destroyed giant lemurs, pygmy hippos, huge tortoises, and elephant birds, but most recently when humans reached New Zealand 700 years ago, the big moa bird species were extinguished.

Humans are obviously not the only species that wiped out other species. Here in East Africa, when Nile perch were introduced in the 1950s into Lake Victoria, at least 200 of our endemic African fish species completely disappeared.

When the brown tree snake was accidentally introduced in Guam after World War II, it wiped out over half of the island’s native bird species. The quick introduction of feral house cats in Australia brought about the extinction of over 20 local mammal species. The list goes on and on and on.

Given the dangers of new species, why are the governments of the world not more proactive in regulating and restricting the development of AI to match the fears and concerns of global citizens.

As big technology companies ostensibly spread money in capital cities to allow continued AI development with limited to no oversight, what can normal citizens do to prevent catastrophes of the future?

With AI bursting into the scene so quickly, there is no time for humans to evolve and develop defensive mechanisms against this new silicon species that will become smarter than we are. Humans do not want to become the woolly mammoths tomorrow and disappear.

We as an East African community must start future proofing our survival and ringfencing against existential threats from AI harming infrastructure and human survival.

Let us not look to the reluctant western or eastern countries to protect us as they are locked in an arms race against each other regarding AI. We can and must bring together the business community, social groups, civil society, and governments to defend ourselves in the next five,10, and 50 years to come against this new silicon species.

The number of bank accounts holding more than Sh500,000 increased by 5.7 percent last year amid rising income inequality as top earners and firms increased their savings.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows that the high-value accounts rose to 781,977 as at December 2025 from 739,803 a year earlier, reversing a decline of 2,753 accounts that was reported between 2023 and 2024.

The increase in the moneyed accounts came in a year when the economy grew at a slower pace of 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent in 2024.

The share of high-quality depositors accounted for 0.97 percent of all 80.68 million bank accounts, offering a sneak peek into Kenya’s growing income inequality, where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small segment of the population.

Kenya’s economy has grown on average by 5.0 percent annually over the past decade, but the benefits have not been equally distributed, and the gap between the rich and the poor is rising, analysts say.

The number of super-rich in Kenya is among the fastest-growing in Africa, yet the economic benefits have not trickled down to the majority of citizens quickly enough.

Banks’ high-value accounts are split between a few wealthy individuals and a combination of private and public enterprises, pension funds and fund managers.

The share of high-value accounts would have been smaller had the total number of deposit accounts not fallen from 114.24 million in 2024, following a clean-up of inactive accounts.

More people are also opting to open transactional accounts via digital and mobile platforms, growing the number of lower-value accounts at a much faster pace compared to the larger ones.

Mobile banking accounts also allow users easier access to credit and savings facilities from banks, adding to their growing popularity as some people opt to open multiple mobile accounts.

Riding on this shift to digital banking platforms, NCBA, Equity Bank and KCB remained the banks with the largest number of deposit accounts in the industry at 36.3 million, 13.8 million and 12.3 million respectively, together accounting for 77.5 percent of the industry’s total accounts.

But their share of high-value accounts trailed the smaller banks such as Citi Bank, Victoria Commercial Bank and Bank of India.

KCB operates a mobile banking platform known as KCB-M-Pesa, while NCBA runs the M-Shwari, both offering loans and savings in partnership with Safaricom’s M-Pesa.

The share of bank accounts with over half a million shillings in NCBA, Equity Bank and KCB stood at 0.1 percent, 1.0 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Some tier two and tier three banks, however, held a larger share of quality accounts compared to their total number of accounts, a result of their policy of catering to niche clients.

Citibank Kenya led with 61.3 percent of its 2,223 total accounts holding balances of more than half a million shillings, followed by Victoria Commercial Bank at 53.6 percent out of 8,769 accounts and Bank of India at 51.2 percent of its 12,702 accounts.

The half-a-million-shilling deposit threshold is an important peg for depositors, given that it is the upper limit of refundable deposits in case of a bank’s collapse.

The Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC)-an independent State agency that manages deposit refunds for collapsed banks-in July 2020 raised the compensation ceiling for depositors in collapsed banks to Sh500,000 from the previous Sh100,000, to ease the discomfort with the smaller lenders following the closure of three such banks in 2015 and 2016.

This increase in the compensation threshold was the first in 30 years, making it necessary to keep up with inflation and the growth in volume of cash held in banks over the three decades.

KDIC is funded by charging commercial banks a small percentage of their deposits in the form of insurance.

The wealthy have, however, been accumulating their savings at a faster pace compared to smaller depositors, leading to a larger volume of deposits falling outside the insurance window.

Banks held Sh6.12 trillion in customer deposits in December 2025, growing 11.7 percent from Sh5.48 trillion in 2024.

As per the latest report that was published Tuesday, deposits valued at Sh1.195 trillion were insured, equivalent to 19.5 percent of the industry’s total deposits.

This means 80 percent, or Sh4.92 trillion, of deposits fell above the insurable threshold, effectively representing the cash held in the high-quality accounts.

The deposit insurance scheme coverage is also just shy of the 20 percent mark that is considered best practice by the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI).

The last time the coverage met the global standard was in 2022 at 20.6 percent, when total deposits stood at Sh4.76 trillion.

Buildings house an organisation. Technology accelerates it, and systems support it-but culture determines how people use all three.

Fifteen years ago, I worked at a busy logistics hub that operated around the clock. Monday mornings were particularly intense. By 7:10 am, the facility was already humming: drivers waited for clearance, customer service reps fielded urgent calls, and warehouse staff juggled manifests. I was leading a high-performance initiative we called ‘Get it Done Sessions.’ In the yard, every minute counted.

On the dispatch screen, a high-value shipment showed as green. Documentation was complete, the barcode was verified, and the customer deadline was locked in. The truck was ready, and the driver was impatient.

Then, Jossy, a young operations supervisor, paused. The system showed no alarms. The paperwork matched the loading instructions perfectly. Every indicator said, ‘proceed.’ Yet, something unsettled him-a minor detail that seemed insignificant in a high-pressure yard.

As the team around him grew impatient, Jossy requested the shipment be held. The air grew heavy with silence; colleagues reminded him the customer was waiting, and the driver shook his head at the clock.

In those few tense minutes, the workplace became a test of culture. The easiest decision was to let the truck go. Nobody would have blamed him-the system had cleared the shipment.

But Jossy held his ground. He asked for a manual review of the documents. To everyone’s shock, he uncovered an error: several consignments had been placed on the wrong truck during a last-minute reallocation.

Had that truck left, a major customer would have received the wrong order, deadlines would have been missed, and preventable penalties would have followed. The crisis was avoided.

What saved the day? It wasn’t the quality of our warehouse, our new fleet, or our ‘best-in-class’ technology. It was a culture that taught a young supervisor that doing the right thing matters more than doing the easy thing. It was a culture that granted him psychological safety, permission to speak up, and instilled a sense of ownership that transcended his job title.

This moment captures a fundamental leadership lesson. Organisations invest heavily in visible, countable assets: buildings, equipment, and digital platforms. These are essential, but they are insufficient for creating lasting advantage. In an increasingly competitive world, the true differentiator is the quality of your people and the culture that shapes how they think and act under pressure.

Technology provides information, but people interpret it. Systems guide decisions, but people exercise judgment. Infrastructure creates capacity, but people turn that capacity into value. When organisations face disruption or operational complexity, performance depends less on what has been installed and more on how people respond.

Research supports this. Gallup’s Q12 meta-analysis confirms that employee engagement is inextricably linked to customer loyalty, profitability, and safety. Furthermore, Harvard Business School’s work on psychological safety highlights that people perform better when they can ask questions, admit mistakes, and offer ideas without fear.

Silence is expensive; a culture where people feel safe to raise concerns prevents small issues from spiraling into large failures.

People are strategic assets. Unlike physical equipment, they only create value when they are trusted, developed, listened to, and connected to a purpose. Leaders must translate ambition into action by communicating clearly, listening honestly, and staying close enough to the real work to understand the challenges employees face daily.

Learning is equally critical. As AI and data systems reshape our workflows, the most successful organisations won’t just buy better tools; they will build learning cultures that help employees adapt and apply that technology wisely. A tool in the hands of a disengaged employee is just a tool, but in the hands of a skilled, empowered team member, it becomes an engine for innovation.

Employee wellbeing is the foundation of this dynamic. Respecting that people carry their own anxieties and ambitions into the workplace helps build the loyalty required to sustain a culture of making a customer happy.

For leaders, the message is clear: investing in infrastructure is not the same as investing in the organisation. The true organisation is found in the daily decisions people make, the standards they uphold, and the courage they show when shortcuts would be easier.

A culture where individuals consistently choose responsibility over convenience and purpose over compliance cannot be purchased.

When customers remember exceptional service, they are remembering culture. When employees stay through difficult times, they are responding to culture. When teams solve complex problems under pressure, they are demonstrating culture.

The most valuable asset in any organisation will never appear on a balance sheet. It is found in the behaviours displayed when nobody is watching and the standards held when the pressure is greatest.

Culture is the force that transforms ordinary people into an extraordinary organisation. If you want to define the future of your growth, look beyond your infrastructure and start looking at your people.

In the corporate world, the question of when one is ready to assume the corner office is typically discussed in hushed tones and often in a way that keeps this bias from being openly acknowledged. The same is the case in politics and in other spheres of leadership.

There is an unwritten rule that leadership belongs to those who have accumulated decades and rarely about ideas, energy, or vision.

Therefore, when a 44-year-old Nairobi Senator named Edwin Sifuna is mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, the predictable chorus begins: He is too young. He needs to wait his turn. But wait for what? And until when? Others who are old long-entrenched veterans who have held leadership positions for eons are quick to dim his star, reminding him that he needs to be ‘mentored’.

Nelson Mandela reminded us that ‘the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.’ But perhaps the real question is this: should we be speaking of leaders of tomorrow or leaders of today? If these words mean anything, Kenya must confront an uncomfortable truth: we have confused age with wisdom and youth with incompetence. And for so long.

My father always reminds me that even fools grow old. Silver hair is no passport to claim leadership or to deny others their turn.

History is unmistakable on this matter. Throughout medieval and modern times, young leaders have risen to power and midwifed earth-shattering achievements.

In Africa, Thomas Sankara became President of Burkina Faso at just 33, transforming a poor nation with bold policies on health, education, and women’s rights. More recently, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was sworn in as Senegal’s president in April 2024 at 44.

Arguably, the Africa’s youngest elected leader after a dramatic rise from prison to palace. In Burkina Faso today, Ibrahim Traoré assumed power at 36, making him the world’s youngest serving head of state.

The West offers no shortage of examples. Emmanuel Macron became France’s youngest president at 39. Jacinda Ardern was 37 when she became New Zealand’s prime minister. Sanna Marin took Finland’s top job at 34. John F. Kennedy was 43 when he assumed the American presidency. Theodore Roosevelt was even younger at 42 when he took office.

Asia and the Middle East have also embraced youthful leadership. Benazir Bhutto became Pakistan’s prime minister at 35. Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani assumed Qatar’s leadership at 33. Kim Jong-un took power in North Korea in December 2011 at the age of 27, although we understand the set of circumstances that were involved.

Critics will argue that Kenya is different, a young democracy with a GDP of approximately $147 billion, far smaller than France, New Zealand, or Finland.

Nonetheless this argument flops under clear examination. If anything, Kenya’s challenges demand the energy, adaptability, and fresh thinking that younger leaders often bring.

Our problems such as unemployment, corruption, debt, and inequality cannot be solved by age. They are solved by vision, courage, and competence. Therefore, while age could be important, it is not entirely the only factor. Indeed, at times experience could be just bad experience.

Kenya’s fixation on gerontocracy is not rooted in evidence. For starters, gerontocracy is a form of government or social system in which power is held by leaders who are significantly older than the majority of the population.

It is rooted in fear that young leaders might disrupt old power structures and pull to pieces the patronage networks that have well-defined our politics for generations.

The same fear that dismissed Sankara, Macron, and Ardern is now being deployed against youthful potential candidates.

To move this country forward, we must refuse to push the wisdom in the fact that leadership is not a function of birth year.

It is a function of character, capability, and clarity of purpose. The question that we must ask is not “How old is this leader?” but “What has this leader done, and what can he or she do?” Perhaps no example better exposes the fallacy of age-based leadership than Martin Luther King Jr.

He was just 26 when he began leading the Montgomery bus boycott. By the time he was assassinated at 39, he had delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and fundamentally transformed American society.

Kenya stands at a crossroads. If we continue to equate leadership with longevity, we will remain trapped in the same cycles that have defined our past. If we embrace a different standard based on integrity, competence, and vision. We might finally unlock the future Mandela spoke of.

The youth of today are the leaders of today. Tomorrow never comes. Kenya must not be left waiting.

Wananchi Group’s Zuku satellite television service lost 30,788 subscribers in the year to June 2026 to bring its consumer pool to 157,051 users, deepening pressure on the pay-TV operator as rival providers MultiChoice and Azam attained significant gains during the period.

Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that active Zuku satellite subscriptions dropped from 187,839 a year earlier, representing a 16.4 percent annual decline.

Zuku was the only other operator to post a drop alongside Star Times whose customers shrunk 3.1 percent to 189,871 during the year.

MultiChoice, which serves Kenya through GOtv and DStv, saw its collective subscriber base expand by 137,086 new users while Tanzanian-owned Azam saw its customer numbers increase by 7,883.

GOtv, which is the budget operator, recorded a 21.3 percent jump to hit 381,383 users while DSTV posted a 37.2 percent rise to 259,047.

Zuku’s decline comes as the broader broadcasting sector faces competition from IPTV services, while households contend with the cost of television subscriptions, internet connectivity and digital entertainment.

The CA data shows that total broadcasting subscriptions fell 1.8 percent to 1.55 million in the three months to June, down from 1.58 million in March.

The decline followed a 5.1 percent contraction in the previous quarter, when broadcasting subscriptions fell by 85,177, indicating continued pressure on traditional television distribution platforms.

The CA attributed the decline to customers moving to IPTV (internet-based content) services and higher set-top box costs linked to global chipset and related component prices.

‘The total number of subscriptions to broadcasting services stood at 1.5 million as of June 30th, 2026, representing a 1.8 per cent drop from last quarter, mainly attributed to lose of clients to IPTV subscribers and changes in the cost of Set-Top Boxes, following increases in global chipset costs and related component prices,’ said the CA.

‘The resulting increase in decoder acquisition costs constrained the ability of operators to sustain the previous level of new customer activations, consequently contributing to the decline in subscriptions recorded during the quarter.’

Zuku’s satellite business has contracted alongside a sharper decline in its cable television operations, which lost 3,282 subscriptions during the quarter under review to stand at 27,831 down from 31,113 in June 2025.

Combined, Zuku’s satellite and cable services stood at 184,882 subscriptions at the end of June, down from 204,509 three months earlier, marking a reduction of 19,627.

The annual decline contrasts with the growth recorded by competitors MultiChoice and Azam TV.

The growth of rival platforms comes as viewers gain more ways to access entertainment through satellite television, mobile broadband, fixed internet and streaming services.

Kenya’s fixed internet market has expanded as operators increase fibre and wireless connectivity, supporting access to online video platforms and IPTV services.

The CA recorded 2.84 million fixed internet subscriptions in June 2026, representing a 6.9 percent quarterly increase and 32.4 percent annual growth.

The expansion of internet connectivity gives households alternatives to traditional satellite and cable subscriptions, although access costs and content preferences continue to influence consumer decisions.