Category: Business Daily

The market value of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) closed above Sh3 trillion for the first time in the wake of a remarkable rally that began last year and was then turbocharged by Safaricom’s profit announcement on Thursday.

The value of all stocks at the Nairobi bourse rose to Sh3.044 trillion at the close of trading yesterday, up from Sh2.991 trillion on Wednesday.

Analysts say the 2025 market rally has ridden on the back of lower returns on fixed income assets, including Treasury bills and bonds.

This has pushed investors to pour cash into shares, with the NSE posting a return of 56.9 percent since the start of the year and increasing equity owners’ paper wealth by Sh1.1 trillion.

The return beats other asset classes like bonds, real estate and fixed bank deposits.

On Thursday, Safaricom and KCB helped lift the market above the Sh3 trillion mark after threatening for days to hit the milestone.

Safaricom’s value grew Sh16 billion on Thursday to Sh1.213 trillion after its stock rose to Sh30.30 from Sh29.90 from Wednesday’s close on the day it reported a 52 percent jump in half-year profits.

Safaricom’s net income rose to Sh42.7 billion in the six months through September from Sh28.1 billion a year earlier after narrowing losses in its Ethiopian operations and double-digit growth in M-Pesa revenues.

KCB’s share price rose from Sh63.25 to Sh69 on Thursday, adding Sh18.5 billion to the market.

Gains in blue chips, including Safaricom, Equity and KCB, are behind the surge in the market valuation.

Small caps like Sameer Africa, Home Afrika and NSE have chalked gains of 515 percent, 205 percent and 236 percent, respectively.

‘It has to do with investors turning on risk as interest rates come down. As the returns from fixed income fall, investors seeking higher returns have had to re-profile their portfolios towards equities,’ said Wesley Manambo, a Senior Research Analyst at Standard Investment Bank (SIB), in an earlier interview.

Investors have taken advantage of long periods of market undervaluation to pile into stocks on the expectation of a recovery and higher gains.

Corporate earnings are expected to sustain the momentum of stocks into the end of the year and early 2026 in what could favour blue chip counters that are largely preferred by foreign and local institutional investors because of their profits and dividends track record.

Banks are expected to continue growing their profitability on the back of cost containment measures as they find efficiency in digital investments and lower their loan-loss provision costs.

‘For as long as there is liquidity in the market, the demand for stocks will always outstrip supply, sending share prices higher,’ Mr Manambo added.

The return of foreign investors who have remained net sellers for most of the year could also fuel the extension of the rally.

Of the Sh1.1 trillion gain, the top five counters-Safaricom, Equity, KCB, East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) and NCBA -accounted for over 72 percent of the gains.

This reflects the outsized influence of the counters, which makes it difficult to gauge the performance of the NSE.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has raised alarm over the dominance of a handful of counters on the market and has been seeking interventions to ease their stranglehold.

My cousin’s job was winding down, so I met him briefly at Kettle House on Nairobi’s Muthangari Road to offer moral support-with a few beers, of course. He’s not one to lament, this cousin. Very stoic. He talks about losing a job the same way you’d talk about losing a sock-mild inconvenience, nothing personal. And those are the ones to watch; the ones who don’t show emotion.

I hadn’t been to Kettle House since pre-Covid. The last time I was there, a woman was beating a man with her purse outside by the roadside at 2am. That was fun to watch. The whole place has mutated.

There’s now a massive tented section that looks like another bar altogether, flashing lights and a deejay going by the name Me Super Fly. I found parking inside, a big mistake, as I’d soon learn. Cars were packed like sardines. [Pro tip: don’t park inside unless you plan to leave at dawn.

He comes here often, my cousin, and he’d warned me that the place doesn’t pick up until much later. At that hour, the deejay was just stretching, warming up, testing the limits of our patience.

Our waitress was a young Congolese girl with an opaque smile. ‘You are very far from home,’ I told her. She tried to talk us into ordering Ugandan food. The irony didn’t escape me, a Congolese selling Ugandan cuisine in Kenya.

Later, I spotted a friend I hadn’t seen in dog years. She was drinking cider with another lady. They joined our table. Mid-conversation, her friend leaned in and said, ‘That man over there looks familiar. I can’t place him.’

Four men sat at a table nearby. One had that kind of face that you are sure you have seen but can’t recall where. My friend squinted. ‘That’s Sudi,’ she whispered. Her friend groaned. ‘Oh boy.’

The music got better, or maybe it was the drinks. The crowd swelled with night’s usual suspects: everyone chasing something they wouldn’t find. Kettle House, I noticed, isn’t for the fainthearted. It’s for people who take fun seriously, who go home at sunrise, or sometimes, not at all.

Walk into a film set in Lagos, a music studio in Nairobi, or an editing suite in Johannesburg, and you’ll witness something extraordinary: Africa is bursting with creativity.

Young people are telling stories, producing films, animating worlds, and composing music that resonates far beyond our borders. The question is no longer whether Africa has talent; it’s whether we’re doing enough to harness it.

The global creative economy is booming. It contributes over $2.2 trillion to GDP and employs over 30 million people. Africa, with a population of over 1.4 billion, most of them under the age of 25, is uniquely positioned to claim a big share of this opportunity. But to do so, we must invest in our most powerful resource: our people.

For decades, Africa’s film, television, and entertainment industries have been celebrated for their potential but held back by a persistent skills gap.

Passionate creatives often lack access to structured training, mentorship, and the tools needed to bring their visions to life. Without these foundations, talent risks being stifled before it ever reaches the global stage.

Encouragingly, change is underway. Across the continent, organisations are building platforms that nurture the next generation of African creatives.

These initiatives offer hands-on training, mentorship, and exposure to global industry standards. The result? Not just better films and music, but stronger industries that create jobs, drive innovation, and fuel economic growth. Consider the ripple effect of supporting just one filmmaker.

A well-trained director assembles a team of editors, costume designers, set builders, sound engineers, and other professionals.

Each project becomes a small business. Multiply that across the continent, and you have an ecosystem capable of rivalling Hollywood, Bollywood, or South Korea’s K-wave.

But talent cannot thrive in isolation. Governments, private sector players, and educational institutions must collaborate to build sustainable creative industries.

That means policies that support local content, tax incentives for productions, and investments in modern studios and equipment. It also means recognising the creative economy as a serious contributor to national development, and not as a side hustle.

Mindset matters, too. Too often, creative careers are dismissed as impractical or unserious. That must change. When nurtured, these industries have the power to shape global perceptions of Africa, tell authentic stories, and generate significant economic returns.

African music already dominates global charts. Nollywood is one of the largest film industries in the world by volume.

Streaming platforms are commissioning African content at unprecedented rates. The next step is ensuring our creatives are not just participating, but competing.

Technology is a powerful enabler. Digital platforms have democratised access to audiences, allowing creators to bypass traditional gatekeepers.

But access alone isn’t enough. Creatives need training in digital literacy, marketing, and intellectual property rights to protect and profit from their work.

Inclusivity must also be central to this transformation. Women, rural youth, and marginalised communities deserve equal opportunities to lead and create.

Diversity fuels innovation, and a truly competitive workforce must reflect the richness of Africa’s cultures, languages, and perspectives.

The High Court has cleared Stanbic Bank Kenya to auction a Sh3.17 billion edible oil plant that was under construction in Athi River after dismissing financier Fredwoods Traders Company’s attempt to block the sale.

The court lifted the temporary orders stopping the auction, dealing a major setback to Fredwoods’ claim to priority over the asset.

Fredwoods had argued that it deserved first claim on the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) plant, having advanced Sh1.25 billion to Convex Commodity Merchants Ltd in March 2023 to construct the manufacturing plant. The project did not fully materialise due to financial constraints.

The financier claimed it had funded the construction and that a premature auction would render its investment unrecoverable.

However, Stanbic successfully countered that Fredwoods’ financing agreement lacked execution, registration, and proof of funds disbursement.

The bank also revealed that Convex had previously lost identical injunction bids at the High Court and Court of Appeal, accusing Fredwoods of ‘forum shopping’ by concealing this history.

‘The plaintiff’s purported lien, being unregistered and unsupported by any registrable instrument, cannot override the bank’s statutory power of sale,’ the court ruled, citing land laws.

Stanbic’s manager for non-performing loans testified that Convex had defaulted on loans secured by registered charges over the EPZ land, an all-assets debenture, and directors’ guarantees.

The arrears totalled Sh3.17 billion and $21,904 (Sh2.8 million), triggering statutory sale notices.

The court dismissed Fredwoods’ claim that the property was undervalued at Sh2.2 billion against an independent valuation of Sh7.2 billion, noting that valuation disputes cannot halt a lender’s recovery rights in the absence of proof of bad faith.

‘A chargee’s right to realise security cannot be lightly curtailed,’ the court emphasised, adding that Fredwoods’ alleged losses -being monetary- could be remedied via damages if its case succeeded.

The court upheld the bank’s precedence in enforcing registered securities over unperfected creditor claims.

While declining to strike out the case entirely, the court allowed Stanbic to proceed with the auction, marking a decisive win for lenders amid rising non-performing loans in Kenya’s manufacturing sector.

The dispute stems from Stanbic’s Sh1.5 billion loan to Convex in December 2020 to construct the EPZ processing plant. The owner, James Waithaka, blamed Covid-19 pandemic disruptions for construction delays and financial troubles that saw Convex divert trading funds to sustain the project.

Stanbic moved to recover its debt through Garam Investments Auctioneers in June 2023 after Convex failed to secure repayment moratoriums from both the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Safaricom’s overdraft service, Fuliza, saw the number of active users rising 22.2 percent to 9.1 million in the six months to November 2025, up from 7.5 million in a similar period last year.

According to Safaricom’s half-year financial results released on Thursday, Kenyans borrowed a total of Sh629.2 billion through Fuliza, an increase of 39.8 percent from Sh450 billion last year.

The average loan size also grew by 7.8 percent, from Sh236.20 to Sh254.60, amid consumer reliance on short-term digital credit.

Launched in 2019, Fuliza allows Safaricom customers to complete transactions even when they have insufficient funds in their M-Pesa mobile money wallets, provided it is within one’s assigned limit, which is determined by their M-Pesa activity and history.

The optional service is run in partnership with NCBA and KCB Bank, who act as underwriters, and covers the shortfall for services like person-to-person cash transfer, withdrawal at M-Pesa agents, making payments, or purchasing airtime.

Funds received in the account are then automatically used to repay the outstanding Fuliza amount with interest and fees.

Safaricom charges a one-off one-percent access fee and a daily maintenance fee from Sh5 for loans between Sh101 and Sh500, up to Sh30 for amounts between Sh2,501 and Sh70,000.

However, a majority of Safaricom’s customers have still not opted into the service, as the latest figures represent 17.8 percent of the company’s 51.12 million 90-day total active customers.

Safaricom’s mobile savings and lending platform, M-Shwari, recorded strong customer growth but weaker loan performance.

The number of monthly active M-Shwari users rose 17.6 percent to 7.9 million, up from 6.7 million last year.

However, the average loan size declined 9.7 percent from Sh10,170 to Sh9,186, while total disbursements dipped 1.8 percent to Sh48 billion, down from Sh48.9 billion a year earlier.

Overall, revenue from M-Pesa rose 14 percent to Sh88.1 from Sh77.2 billion last year.

An injustice against a Kenyan soul-funk band more than 50 years ago is being remedied through the digital release of the two groundbreaking albums recorded by the group.

The Mighty Cavaliers released two classic albums, Fisherman in 1976 and Mapendo a year later but the musicians were never acknowledged by the record company.

In 2022, African music collector Dennis Krailing, owner of the German label Want Some Records, bought a collection of albums from Kenya that included a copy of Mapendo. ‘Naturally, the cover artwork immediately caught my eye,’ Krailing told BDLife.

‘When I listened to it for the first time, I thought, ‘I have never heard anything quite like this from Kenya before.’ There was no question that I would keep the record instead of selling it – but the thought remained, ‘How can I share this incredible music with others?’

With his friend Samy Ben Redjeb’s encouragement, founder of the Frankfurt-based label Analog Africa, Krailing undertook to release not just Mapendo, but also its predecessor, Fisherman.

Bassist Bonny Wanda, one of three surviving members of the band, says the reissue of the albums is about honouring a group of musicians who were then in their early 20s and were purely motivated by their passion for the music.

‘As most of my fellow musicians were young and gullible, we could easily be fooled by them,’ explains Bonny, who lives in London, UK. ‘We were focused on making new and innovative music, and paid too little attention to the business side of things.’

At the time, musicians in Kenya, were offered the choice of receiving a one-off payment for their studio recording sessions or waiting for royalties, for which they had to be registered with the Music Copyright Society of Kenya.

Krailing discovered that the copyright for both albums was registered under the name of Daudi Kabaka, and therefore, he had to obtain a licence from his son, heir to the legendary Kenyan musician.

Apparently, two years after the original release of Fisherman, it was reissued by a French label with a picture of Kabaka on the sleeve, who was named as the writer of all the songs. Worse was to come for the Mighty Cavaliers on their next project.

The recording of Mapendo was financed by Englishman Siegfried Aron, who owned the Zambezi Motel (the building that later became the PCEA Training School, Kikuyu), where the Mighty Cavaliers played occasionally when they were not at their regular haunt, the iconic Starlight Club. When the album was released, to the horror of the band, their names were missing from the record.

Disillusioned, the Mighty Cavaliers disbanded, with each member pursuing other interests.

Five decades later, Want Some Records has remastered and re-released these two discs, giving due credit to all the rightful musicians.

Besides Bonny, the other members of the Mighty Cavaliers were vocalists Rashid Salim and Juma ‘Bazwaley’ Njuguna, guitarists George ‘Fox’ Otieno, Athmani ‘Guitar Boy’, and Elijah Tallian, and keyboardist Eddie Rimber. The saxophonists were Albert Tsuma and Vuli Yeni, and the drummer Mohamed Mdowe.

The group’s inspiration came from the original Cavaliers, a band that was fronted by musician and actor Joe Omari. Incidentally, Omari was manager of the Starlight Club when the Mighty Cavaliers were engaged as the resident band when it was located where the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters sits today.

They were among the bands that benefited from the patronage of the late politician J.M. Kariuki, a regular at the Starlight Club, who offered financial support to some musicians of that generation.

Incidentally, Bonny wrote the soulful Fisherman, a cryptic reference to politicians who failed to deliver on their promises, a pretty bold statement to make at a time when any murmuring of dissent was crashed.

The album’s standout track is Dunia Ina Mambo, a funky groove full of catchy horns and irresistible guitar riffs, which is still widely played and was even given an electro-hip-hop makeover by the group Just a Band in 2012.

Also noteworthy is the title track of the album, Mapendo, written by lead singer Rashid, an infectious fusion of soul with elements of rumba, a sparkling guitar arrangement, and, the signature horn section and Mambo Bado, a distinct Fela Kuti-inspired arrangement

The songs are also a reflection of the socio-political era in which they were recorded, such as Bonny’s Barua Ya Soweto, a protest against the apartheid regime in South Africa, inspired by saxophonist Vuli Yeni, a refugee from South Africa who had grown up in Tanzania.

Vuli himself wrote the bluesy Mama Come Home – about longing to see his mother again in a liberated South Africa. (In the 1990s, Vuli spent five years as a member of Lucky Dube’s band (The Slaves). Lead vocalist Rashid penned Africa Tuungane, a call on Kenyan youth to rally with all the forces fighting for the liberation of all African countries.

The two albums by the Mighty Cavaliers will have pride of place during the Mega Record and CD Fair in Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, from November 14 to 16, 2025, an event celebrating African records, reissued classics, and new releases.

A credit rating firm wants the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to compel commercial banks to publicly disclose the average risk premiums on their loans under a new credit pricing model.

Augusto and Co, one of four local rating agencies, wants Kenyan banks to publish the average of their risk premium – labelled as ‘K’ – in addition to the base lending rate recently unveiled by the CBK.

Under the new model, the total lending rate will be the interbank rate plus a premium, or K, which will be different for each borrower.

The interbank market rate refers to the rate at which commercial banks borrow and lend money to each other on a short-term basis and is widely relied upon as a gauge of the market’s liquidity.

The premium K will be a factor of a bank’s operating costs related to its lending business, the expected return to shareholders, and the borrower’s risk premium.

While the risk premium is tailored to each customer, Augusto wants banks to calculate and publish their average premiums so customers can compare the cost of lending across banks.

‘If you look at the United Kingdom, one of the things that is required is that banks must publish the weighted average premium for customer comparison,’ said Yinka Adelekan, the managing director Augusto and Co, in a press briefing on Thursday.

‘So customers with lower risk must have a lower interest rate compared to customers with higher risks. In the UK, they have to disclose this.’

The interbank rate has limits in terms of volatility because it operates within limits fixed on the CBK benchmark rate to ensure the benefits of monetary policy are transmitted to the real economy.

The limit current stands at plus or minus 75 basis points of CBR.

This means that the interbank rate cannot rise above 0.75 percentage points of the Central Bank Rate (CBR) of 9.5 percent or a maximum of 10.25 percent, and not less than 8.75 percent.

CBK has renamed the interbank to Overnight Interbank Rate to Kenya Shilling Overnight Interbank Average (Kesonia), which now stands at 9.2476 percent.

CBK officials note that disclosures based on Kesonia will start being published next month as the country transitions into the new lending framework.

Kenya Bankers Association Head of Research Samuel Tiriongo said all banks will be ready to roll out the new pricing regime anchored on Kesonia at the end of this month. The total cost of the credit portal will be revamped to cover more facilities beyond mortgages and personal loans.

‘By November 30, all banks should have their models ready and approved. The beauty is that this time, only the board is approving the framework. Once the board approves, each bank can proceed to implementation,’ Dr Tiriongo said.

‘All banks have to publish the average premiums for all products that they have within their books.’

The financial regulator replaced the CBR with Kesonia after it emerged that commercial banks were not passing on the benefits of lower policy rates to borrowers.

Each commercial bank must design a risk-based credit-pricing model and related policies and procedures within three months of CBK issuing the final revised framework and obtain board approval.

Banks must submit their board-approved model, policies and procedures to CBK within 15 days of board sign-off and no later than 15 days after the three-month deadline.

Although banks have begun publishing average lending rates, analysts fear many may withhold the weighted-average premium (‘K’), hiding the true cost of credit and possibly masking negative premiums.

Ms Adelekan noted that in Sub-Saharan Africa – in Morocco and South Africa – banks publish the weighted risk premium.

‘The (Kenyan) banks have to be transparent. They have to move from collateral-based lending to now look at entities based on their creditworthiness and their capacity to meet obligations,’ she said.

She added that banks should have an internal scoring model to assess counterparties.

Besides Augusto, other rating agencies licensed by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) include Metropol Corporation Limited, Global Credit Rating Company, A.M. Best Rating Services Limited, and CARE Ratings.

Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) has reinstated managing director Hillary Wachinga after two months of suspension over allegations that he had unprocedurally dismissed two employees.

The reinsurer’s board said on Thursday in a notice that Dr Wachinga has been restored to his position. The board did not disclose the findings of the ‘preliminary review of internal matters’ that had prompted his suspension.

‘The board has lifted the suspension of Dr Hillary Wachinga and restored him to his position as the managing director of the corporation,’ said the board in a notice.

‘The board of directors remains focused on overseeing the execution of the corporation’s long-term strategy and furthering the interests of all its shareholders and stakeholders.’

Dr Wachinga’s reinstatement comes barely a month after he withdrew the case in which he had sued Kenya Re board for unprocedural suspension and invitation for a disciplinary hearing.

The law suit revealed that Dr Wachinga had been suspended over what the board termed as ‘not complying with instructions’ in the handling of a disciplinary matter involving two of the reinsurer’s staff.

Dr Wachinga was first suspended on September 3 for 21 days before the board extended this for a further 21 days that ran from October 2.

Kenya Re’s share price at the Nairobi Securities Exchange dropped 8.38 percent on the day Dr Wachinga was first suspended, closing as the day’s top loser at Sh3.17.

On Thursday, the stock opened at Sh3.13, which was 8.6 percent below the Sh3.62 level it traded at before the suspension.

Dr Wachinga had moved to court on September 22, 2025, accusing Kenya Re of violating his constitutional rights through a disciplinary process that he said was ‘in bad faith’ and risked violating his rights to ‘fair hearing, fair labour practices and fair administrative action.’

In his court filings, Dr Wachinga argued that he had received two letters -a suspension letter dated September 2, 2025 and a show-cause letter dated September 3, 2025- which he described as contradictory.

He had been invited to a disciplinary hearing on September 23, 2025. However, the session did not proceed after the court issued a temporary freeze following Dr Wachinga’s application.

Court records show that both parties filed submissions -Dr Wachinga on September 24 and the reinsurer on October 6.

The case was scheduled for a ruling on October 23 after a mention hearing on October 7. However, before the court could pronounce itself on whether the disciplinary process should proceed, Dr Wachinga filed a notice to withdraw the entire case.

As governments worldwide race to modernise their tax systems, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is emerging as a regional leader in digital transformation.

From manual filing to auto-populated returns, and ultimately, real-time tax compliance and reporting, the future of tax compliance is being shaped by technology and businesses must adapt or risk falling behind.

In developed economies, revenue authorities are pushing the boundaries of digital transformation.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, over 80 percent of tax administrations have developed Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to integrate tax systems with third-party platforms.

Around 60 percent offer full prefilling of personal income tax returns, and nearly 40 percent can prefill Value Added Tax (VAT) returns. Estonia, for example, enables near real-time tax refunds, while the United Kingdom uses digital IDs (Digital Identification) for secure access to tax services.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being deployed to enhance compliance management, detect fraud in real time and improve taxpayer services.

Exemplifying this is Italy’s revenue authority which has developed an algorithm known as VeRa; a tool tasked with cross-referencing tax filings, property records and bank data to identify discrepancies and flag high-risk taxpayers.

Big data analytics tools are being deployed by tax authorities to forecast revenue, identify trends and personalise taxpayer engagement.

Poland’s STIR (System Teleinformatyczny Izby Rozliczeniowej – Teleinformatic System of the Clearing House in English) analyses daily banking and clearinghouse data to detect potential carousel frauds in near real time, enabling swift enforcement by the National Revenue Administration.

Blockchain is being explored for tamper-proof audit trails. In China, blockchain-based electronic invoicing uses smart contracts and encrypted algorithms to ensure secure issuance, storage and transmission of documents. The system offers complete traceability and tamper resistance, making post-fact data manipulation virtually impossible.

Natural Language Processing is also gaining traction, helping tax authorities and businesses monitor legislative changes and automate compliance workflows.

While Kenya may not currently match these capabilities, it is rapidly narrowing the gap. Prior to migration to the iTax platform back in August 2015, tax compliance in Kenya was a paper-heavy, time-consuming process.

Today, KRA has embraced digital innovation, collecting Sh2.57 trillion in the 2024/25 fiscal year and targets Sh2.75 trillion in ordinary revenue for the 2025/26 fiscal year.

With new tax law changes introduced by the Finance Act, 2025 forecast to yield only about Sh25 billion to Sh30 billion in additional revenue, KRA is expected to rely heavily on technology-driven tax administration efforts to meet its ambitious growth and compliance objectives. This means tightening enforcement through digital means to raise the budgeted revenue without imposing significant new taxes.

The rollout of platforms like GavaConnect-an API-driven solution that integrates tax compliance into everyday business operations, and eTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System), which has revolutionised VAT reporting, reflects a broader shift toward proactive enforcement. These tools not only improve efficiency but also enhance transparency and taxpayer trust.

Kenya’s digital tax transformation is part of a wider East African trend. Neighbouring countries are implementing similar tech-driven initiatives to modernise tax administration and improve compliance within their jurisdictions.

For example, Tanzania’s excise revenue jumped over 80 percent since introducing the Electronic Tax Stamp System (ETS), while Uganda saw a 30 percent rise in collections following its rollout of e-invoicing and ETS.

Rwanda’s flexible e-invoicing system, tailored to businesses of all sizes, has achieved near-total VAT invoice capture and is considered a regional model.

As KRA intensifies its digital oversight, businesses in Kenya are increasingly recognising the need for a dedicated tax technology function as a strategic capability that blends tax expertise with digital innovation.

In Kenya’s fast-digitising economy, the KRA is setting the pace for revenue authorities across Africa, driven by a bold vision to emulate the best practices of advanced economies. Through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies ranging from real-time data integration and AI-driven risk analytics to tamper-proof systems, KRA is redefining tax administration.

In this new era, tax technology is no longer a back-office function, it is a strategic enabler.

Companies that invest in robust tax tech capabilities are better positioned to navigate regulatory changes, leverage tax optimisation as a growth catalyst, avoid penalties and unlock new operational efficiencies.

Kenya has good economic strength and is strategically located as a gateway to African trade. Nevertheless, to maximise its export potential and increase global edge, Kenya needs to take a holistic approach to the matter that will incorporate fiscal reforms, industrial policy, and international benchmarking.

One of the reasons why it is important to strengthen exports is that they will enhance production, employment rates and long-term economic stability in the domestic market, not only by enhancing the balance of trade and payments but also by boosting production.

The foundation of export growth lies in diversification and industrial upgrading. Kenya’s manufacturing contribution to gross domestic product remains below eight percent, significantly lower than the 15 percent target envisioned in Vision 2030.

Expanding industrial capacity, especially in agro-processing, textiles, automotive assembly, and ICT services, will enable the country to increase its export basket’s complexity and value.

Establishing specialised export processing zones and industrial parks closer to raw material sources can cut logistics costs and enhance production efficiency. Increasing the level of quality, investing in the logistics infrastructure, and local industries to comply with global standards will play one of the key roles in gaining the privileges to high-value markets.

The effect of government policy is definitive in determining competitiveness in exports. President William Ruto’s administration has identified a set of ambitious proposals to make Kenya an export-driven economy with the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

The focus of this plan is on industrial parks, export processing zones, and enhancement of reach to the market via trade agreements like the African Continental Free Trade Area and bilateral agreements with the United States and the European Union.

The Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency and the Kenya Investment Authority should be empowered to coordinate aggressively in market intelligence, export promotion, and investment attraction.

This will have to be effected with good implementation, which will involve lean bureaucracy, transparency and policy implementation uniformly to earn investor confidence.

An expanding tax regime can be used as a boost to exports. Kenya needs to diversify and streamline tax concessions to firms involved in export business by making sure that they promote innovation and local value addition instead of just providing relief.

Reduction of export taxes imposed on intermediate goods, tax holidays in the strategic industries, and alignment of county levies will reduce the cost of production and increase competitiveness.

Simultaneously, the Kenya Revenue Authority should streamline compliance procedures and capitalise on the digital solutions to make compliance efficient and not to undercut revenue collection.

Japan offers a compelling model for Kenya’s export transformation.

Post-war Japan’s economic miracle was built on three pillars: government-industry collaboration, technology-driven innovation, and a disciplined export strategy anchored in quality.

By combining the efforts of the government and industry, Japan fostered individual competitiveness sectors through investments in research, technology transfer and developing their skills.

Kenya can replicate this template by establishing special export promotion agencies that would integrate the academia, the government, and the private sector, with the end goal of spurring innovation.

A growing and long-term vision that focuses on productivity, quality control, and exportation of the brand will allow the Kenyan products to compete in the world not on prices alone, but on merit.

An enhanced export base will generate a profound multiplier effect across the economy. More production to supply the world will directly employ people in manufacturing, logistics, and agribusiness and increase demand in local service provision through transport, banking, and information and communications technology.

An increasing export base makes the shilling strong, cuts the current account deficit, and improves Kenya’s credit position in world markets.

Kenya’s journey toward global export competitiveness demands coordinated action, anchored on government facilitation, tax reforms, industrial diversification, and sustainable production.

By adopting strategic lessons from global exemplars like Japan, implementing predictable fiscal incentives, and accelerating infrastructure development, Kenya can transition from an export-dependent to an export-driven economy.

President Ruto’s export-oriented agenda provides a timely blueprint. What remains is steadfast execution; transforming policy intent into measurable outcomes that elevate Kenya as a formidable player in global trade.