Category: Business Daily

Kenya’s wealthy art collectors are searching for paintings created and acquired during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Reason? Not solely to hang them on their walls but as an alternative investment.

Art, the latest Knight Frank Wealth and Investment Trends Report shows, is now the most-sought-after collectible asset by Kenya’s high-net-worth individuals, followed by watches and classic cars.

The surge in demand has driven prices sharply higher. Paintings that once sold for between Sh7,000 and Sh10,000 now fetch Sh800,000, Sh900,000, and in some cases over Sh1 million at art auctions, says veteran artist and curator Michael Soi. He explains that the appetite largely centres on paintings and modest-sized sculptures, unlike the monumental artworks.

‘It basically just revolves around paintings and sculptures, but we’re not talking about huge sculptures, just something manageable. It fits anywhere, no space issues,’ he tells BDLife.

The appreciation in value has now transformed art from a house accessory into an attractive asset for affluent Kenyans with excess liquidity.

‘Art has started enticing local Kenyans who’ve got what I’d call excess liquidity into looking at it as a source of investment,’ Mr Soi says.

‘It is a form of investment where I will pay like $150,000 (Sh19.4 million) today, sit on the piece [artwork] for a few years and then put it in auction. Chances of doubling or tripling what you had invested are very high.’

That growing appetite is now reflected in the latest Knight Frank Wealth and Investment Trends 2026 report, which ranks art as the leading ‘investment of passion’ among Kenya’s wealthy, ahead of luxury watches, classic cars, jewellery and wine.

‘This year, 75 percent of respondents indicated that their clients are interested in acquiring art , up from 72 percent in 2025, reinforcing its position as the preferred passion asset within wealthy portfolios,’ the report states.

However, the report shows most wealthy Kenyans are still reserved, allocating less than 10 percent of their investment portfolios to luxury assets. Real estate, equities and fixed income remain the main ways Kenya’s rich investors are building and protect wealth, with a small share put into collectibles, which give them personal enjoyment and the chance of long-term gains.

More art, many galleries

Mark Dunford, Knight Frank CEO, says that the performance of art as the top preferred passion asset has been reflected in both the market dynamics and the changing consumer preferences.

‘There’s a lot more art in this market. Kenya’s expanding creative scene and internationally recognised artists have made collecting attractive,’ he says.

He points to the rising global profile of artists such as Michael Armitage as one of the factors putting Kenyan art on the international stage. Wangechi Mutu’s work has been exhibited across major cities from London and Moscow to Paris. Agnes Waruguru, whose art featured at the 60th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia in Italy, is also helping to boost Kenya’s presence in the global art scene.

Secondary market

For the artists, however, the soaring art prices present a paradox. While collectors celebrate rising valuations, many artists see little of the wealth generated after their original works leave the studio.

‘Unfortunately, for the artists, we don’t seem to be in that equation because of the simple fact that it is always the secondary market that ends up benefiting from it and not the artist,’ Mr Soi says.

He illustrates the point with one of his own artworks. ‘I have once sold my piece to someone who actually bought it for like 1,000 euros (Sh147,410) and then flipped it in an auction in Paris for 37,000 euros (Sh5.5 million). The thing is we are not the beneficiaries. It is the secondary market that seems to benefit,’ the artist says.

He adds that in many cases, artworks are resold privately without the artist’s knowledge. ‘Most of the art will actually be auctioned in secret without your knowledge.’

The disconnect between artists and the secondary market is one of the defining characteristics of the global art trade, where collectors, dealers and auction houses often capture the greatest financial gains as an artwork changes hands over time.

Even so, Mr Soi believes the international success of Kenyan artists has raised the profile of the country’s creative industry and contributed to the stronger demand for local works.

Last year, this growing appetite for art as an investment was in full force when collectors in Nairobi spent about Sh30 million competing for some of East Africa’s rarest artworks. The highlight was ‘Baobab Under the Red Moon’, a 1968 painting by the late Tanzanian artist Francis Msangi, which became the most sought-after piece after selling for Sh3.5 million.

The Kenyan artist with the most sought-after item was Justus Kyalo, whose 2021 painting fetched Sh1 million after three minutes of bidding. Beatrice Wanjiku’s art was also bought for Sh938,200.

However, Mr Soi cautions against equating auction prices with artistic worth. ‘People need to understand that auctions or prices at auctions do not directly tell people how much you sell your work for.’

Instead, he encourages collectors to engage more deeply with artists, galleries and exhibitions. ‘I would urge people to be a little bit more active. Art auctions will never give a complete scope about the artist. It is imperative for people to take their time and travel. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.’

Younger collectors

When it comes to the positive attributes, one development Mr Soi finds encouraging is the emergence of younger Kenyan collectors.

Traditionally, art collecting was associated with older, established business people and expatriates. Today, he says, a growing number of younger Kenyans are entering the market, many of whom have investment motives.

‘I seem to be having a local kind of market for my work, where I am selling work to very young Kenyans, which is very weird.’

Unlike the earlier generations, these buyers view paintings and limited-edition prints as assets that are capable of appreciating over time.

‘The young Kenyans are buying it for investment. Most of the investment is on paintings and prints,’ Mr Soi says.

Many of these collectors have studied abroad, returned from the diaspora or have been exposed to art through international education systems.

He also credits international schools with helping cultivate appreciation for art among younger generations.

‘Access to good quality education, systems that teach art, teach the importance of art. The international schools are doing that on a very large scale, which is very commendable.’

He adds that visibility has also become just as important as talent in attracting collectors.

‘It is more like the role of the artist himself to make sure that your work is visible. Create your own… make noise about your art, tell people, have exhibitions, give talks. This is how people become visible, especially on social media, platforms like Instagram.’

Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) and Safaricom have been jointly held responsible for a SIM-swap fraud that saw a customer lose Sh4.4 million. A court ruled that both institutions failed in their separate duties to protect the client from the fraud.

Dismissing an appeal by DTB and a cross-appeal by Safaricom, the High Court affirmed a magistrate’s finding that the telco and the lender were negligent, as their failures enabled the fraud.

The court upheld the trial court’s apportionment of liability, which found Safaricom 60 percent liable and DTB 40 percent liable for the loss suffered by customer Mercy Wairimu Kariuki.

In a judgment on June 18, the court also upheld the order requiring DTB to pay Kariuki Sh1,788,601, together with general damages for negligence and breach of confidentiality, costs and interest.

“This court finds that the trial court’s apportionment of liability was neither perverse nor erroneous in law. Both the bank and the mobile service provider had concurrent duties of care to Mercy Kariuki,” the court ruled.

The court held that Safaricom breached its duty of care by completing the SIM swap despite Ms Kariuki’s prompt report that it was unauthorised.

“The customer promptly reported the suspicious activity on the day of the swap, yet the fraud was still executed, and her line was only reinstated the following day. This constitutes a breach of its duty of care and a failure to protect her data,” the judge said.

The court also said that DTB independently failed in its obligation to protect the customer’s money by processing a series of unusual transactions that should have immediately raised suspicion.

The court rejected the bank’s argument that it could rely solely on the correct PIN to validate the transactions.

“A bank cannot hide behind a customer’s PIN when it is presented with a series of transactions that are so glaringly out of the ordinary that a reasonable banker would have been put on inquiry,” she said.

The dispute stemmed from events that began on February 6, 2022, when Ms Kariuki received alerts indicating that her Safaricom SIM card had been swapped without her authority.

She immediately contacted Safaricom’s customer care, where she was informed that her SIM had already been replaced through an M-Pesa agent. She was assured the line would be blocked and advised to visit a Safaricom shop.

Although she reported the suspicious activity the same day, the SIM swap was not stopped. Her line was only restored the following day after she visited a Safaricom customer care centre.

The following morning, at about 5.23am on February 8, 2022, Kariuki woke up to a series of debit alerts from DTB notifying her that Sh4,418,601 had been withdrawn from her account through the bank’s mobile banking application and Pesalink.

The money had been transferred in multiple transactions to different bank accounts and mobile numbers without her authority.

Kariuki sued both DTB and Safaricom, arguing that Safaricom negligently allowed the unauthorised SIM swap while DTB failed to stop a series of highly suspicious transactions despite obvious warning signs. She maintained that she had never disclosed her mobile banking PIN to anyone.

DTB denied liability, insisting that every transaction had been authenticated using Ms Kariuki’s correct secret PIN. It argued that under its banking terms and conditions, successful entry of the PIN was sufficient proof that the account holder had authorised the transactions.

The bank also argued that the disputed transfers were spread over three separate days and therefore did not exceed its daily transaction limit of Sh2 million. It further maintained that the fraud originated from the SIM swap and that Safaricom alone should bear responsibility.

Safaricom, on its part, maintained that the SIM replacement followed its verification procedures after the person requesting the swap correctly answered security questions. It argued that it merely provides telecommunications infrastructure and has no control over transactions conducted through DTB’s mobile banking platform.

The telecommunications company also argued that Ms Kariuki had regained control of her line on February 7, before the disputed withdrawals occurred, and therefore the financial loss could not be attributed to it.

The court rejected both arguments, finding that the fraud resulted from a continuous sequence of failures by both institutions.

“A bank is expected to flag suspicious transactions. In this case, the withdrawals from multiple unrelated accounts and mobile numbers in quick succession constituted significant red flags that the appellant ought to have heeded,’ said the court.

Humans are a social sort. We thrive and have become the dominant apex species largely because of our ability to socialise, combined with our capacity for communication.

A large part of socialisation in our close-knit groups involves the ability to ask others for favours. We ask favours from friends, colleagues, family members, government officials and so on. In fact, we build up a “favour bank” with those around us.

Many people think they should merely check on someone with daily greetings-saying hi or asking how they are-so that they can then spring a surprise request on someone a few days later.

Decades-old research by Daniel Howard, a US academic and researcher, shows that this technique can increase the likelihood of compliance, making it more likely that your request will be granted.

However, if someone feels that you are being disingenuous and only greeting them as a build-up to asking for something, it undermines the sincerity effect. Earlier researchers believed that friendships had a shelf life and, if not maintained, would wither away.

But Daniel Levin, Jorge Walter and Keith Murnighan found that rekindling old friendships can yield surprisingly beneficial results. In the internet age, keeping track of friends and professional acquaintances and staying up to date with them is easier than ever and requires minimal effort. However, the interaction must feel genuine to the other party.

But how should you phrase the actual pitch for assistance? Recent research by Andrew Chalfoun, Giovanni Rossi and Tanya Stivers gets to the heart of the best way to ask for help or support. You can ask a favour using either an optimistic or a pessimistic approach.

For example, you could ask a friend: “May I please borrow your car for an event on Sunday?” This is a direct request that assumes-optimistically, though perhaps unrealistically-that the car will be lent to you.

Alternatively, you could first ask: “Do you need your car on Sunday?” This is the pessimistic approach because it hedges against the possibility of rejection. Which one, as a faithful Business Daily reader, do you think is more effective? According to the research, the pessimistic approach is more successful in securing agreement.

Interestingly, which approach do people use most often-the bold one or the cautious one? You can choose an optimistic approach, a pessimistic approach, and then decide whether to use a pre-request.

Yet the research shows that a staggering 88 percent of people across cultures and languages use the optimistic approach, assuming their request will be granted without first making a pre-request. Ironically, this approach has the lowest chance of success.

You are far more likely to receive a favourable response if you use a pre-request and adopt a pessimistic approach, acknowledging that the other person may decline and framing your request accordingly.

Researcher Susan Whitbourne, author of The Search for Fulfillment, notes that you can improve the chances of a favour being granted-and strengthen relationships-by giving the other person an easy way to decline. Structure your request in a way that recognises they may not be able to help.

For example: “I know you will probably be busy, and this is a big ask, but could I please use your car for an event on Sunday?”

Finally, confront the unconscious biases that shape how you ask others for assistance.

These biases influence your assumptions about the likely success of your requests. Frame your requests in ways that preserve the relationship, regardless of the outcome, rather than making the favour a make-or-break test of it.

The listing of Family Bank on the Nairobi Securities Exchange on June 23 is a testament to why resilience, not capital or a forgiving market, is the real secret sauce of any successful business.

Founder Titus Muya was turned down for promotions early in his career for lacking a degree, registered a banking company in 1977 that sat dormant for three years due to lack of capital, and was then rejected for a banking licence outright. He switched to a building society instead. It was not until 2007 that the society became a bank, and almost two more decades before this listing.

Replace the banking specifics, and this becomes a familiar Kenyan business story, except that this one had a happy ending, thanks to the founder’s resilience.

Ask any Kenyan entrepreneur why their business failed, and you will hear a familiar list: funding was hard to come by, the regulatory environment was unforgiving, the economy was tight, the market wasn’t ready.

These are genuine reasons. Capital is truly scarce, and the business environment punishes small players. But more often than not, they usually make us avoid asking the harder question: How many businesses failed not because the idea was bad, but because the owner stopped showing up for it too soon?

We rarely interrogate founder resilience the way we interrogate funding gaps. It is easier to blame the bank that declined the loan than to ask whether the founder stayed with the business long enough to learn what wasn’t working.

Yet resilience – the willingness to absorb a setback, adjust, and try again rather than conclude the whole idea was wrong – is arguably the single most decisive variable in whether a venture survives its difficult middle years.

Around the world, almost none of the founders and inventors whose names became shorthand for success got it right on the first attempt. What set them apart, like Muya, was an unusual tolerance for being told no repeatedly without quitting.

Most businesses don’t die in their first ambitious leap. They die in the unglamorous middle, when the first version doesn’t work, and the founder chooses to quit instead of adapting.

I see this all the time, not in a boardroom, but in a classroom.

I run a writing programme that teaches professionals to publish opinion pieces in national newspapers. Cohort after cohort, the same pattern repeats itself: Week One, everyone is present, energised, certain this is their chance to finally get published.

By week two, one or two students send polite apologies for missing class. By week five, fewer than half are submitting their assignments. By week seven, attendance has roughly halved. Many alumni who do complete the course never write again afterward.

It is usually not about their ability, but their willingness to stay with something once the initial excitement dies down. The early weeks reward enthusiasm; the later weeks demand the much less glamorous work of revising a draft for the third time after being told it still isn’t ready. Similarly, it is at the revision stage – when persistence is required – that founders abandon businesses.

There’s a version of this idea that has been circulating recently in entrepreneurship circles. The fastest way to stay poor, the argument goes, is to keep starting new ventures instead of staying with one long enough to actually master it. The idea applies to any skill – writing, leadership, negotiation, institutional reform – that only pays off after a long, unglamorous middle.

The next time a Kenyan business fails, we should not only ask what it lacked, but also how long its founder stayed with it before deciding to quit.

Francis Ayieko is a Founder of The OpEd Experts and a media strategist. Email: frankayieko@gmail.com.

The government has extended the eight percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel by three months to October 14, in an effort to avert a sharp increase in pump prices in the coming months in the wake of the resumption of the US-Iran war.

The eight percent VAT rate was due to lapse on Tuesday (July 14) but has been extended amid rising global prices of fuel, whose effect is expected to hit Kenyans from the August 14 monthly cycle.

VAT on fuel was lowered to 13 percent from 16 percent on April 15 as the government mirrored other economies in reducing taxes on fuel in a bid to cushion consumers following the start of the US-Iran war in February this year.

A resumption in the US-Iran war last week has already triggered a rally in global prices of refined products, with the government warning that consumers are likely to feel the impact from August.

Consumers are currently smarting from record-high prices of fuel, which have in turn triggered runaway inflation and sparked public outrage over costly goods and services.

A litre of diesel is retailing at Sh222.86 in Nairobi while that of petrol is at Sh214.03 in the current prices lapsing today. The prices had hit a record high of Sh242.92 and Sh214.25 for diesel and petrol, respectively, in June.

‘In order to cushion households and businesses from international market volatility and in consultation with the National Treasury, we have extended the application period of eight percent VAT on petroleum products for a further three months to October,’ Mr Wandayi said on Tuesday.

Steep diesel prices will spark fresh inflationary pressure in what could further fuel public outrage over costly living. Inflation –a measure of the cost of living– is currently at 6.4 percent, reflecting the impact of the costly diesel last month.

Diesel is the main fuel in the Kenyan economy, and it’s used to power farm machinery, industries and public transporters, highlighting why its price is a key factor in determining the inflation rate.

Global fuel prices are on the rise in the wake of the resumption of the US-Iran war, with the government warning that consumers will feel the impact in the coming months.

‘With the restart of the Middle East crisis, international benchmarks have now begun to climb again, and this renewed pressure will be reflected in the pricing cycles that follow,’ Mr Wandayi added.

Extension of the lower VAT rate will also ease pressure on the Petroleum Development Fund (PDL) kitty, which is used to subsidise fuel prices. The kitty is nearly depleted, leaving the government with limited options in efforts to keep a lid on pump prices.

VAT is the second biggest tax on fuel, and the reduction to eight percent has been crucial in helping prevent pump prices from rising by even higher margins.

The highest tax is the Roads Maintenance Levy of Sh25 per litre of petrol and diesel, the Petroleum Development Levy of Sh5.40 per litre of diesel and petrol and Sh0.40 for every litre of kerosene.

Other taxes are excise duty, petroleum regulatory levy, railway development levy, anti-adulteration levy of Sh18 per litre of kerosene, merchant shipping levy and the import declaration fee.

The government has used upwards of Sh20 billion to subsidise pump prices since April this year in the wake of the skyrocketing global prices of fuel due to the US-Israel war on Iran. The steep subsidy has nearly depleted the kitty, which is funded by a levy of Sh5.40 for every litre of diesel and petrol and Sh0.40 per litre of kerosene.

For example, a subsidy of Sh945 million will be applied in the new prices to be set later today as the government grapples with a near depletion of the kitty, which came under pressure from April.

‘The government can only apply what is available,” Mr Wandayi said on Tuesday while responding to a question on the subsidy to be applied in the monthly cycle to August 14.

The National Infrastructure Fund (NIF) can perhaps best be understood through its own origin. The Fund has been seeded from the partial monetisation of two of Kenya’s most successful enterprises – Safaricom PLC and Kenya Pipeline Company.

Its establishment marks one of the most significant developments in Kenya’s economic architecture in recent decades. For the first time, the country has a dedicated institution capable of mobilising long-term equity capital, attracting private investment and developing nationally significant infrastructure through commercially viable enterprises.

The Fund has already been capitalised with approximately Sh347 billion ($2.7 billion) from the partial privatisation of Safaricom and Kenya Pipeline Company, giving Kenya one of Africa’s largest pools of development capital.

By comparison, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), now among the continent’s leading infrastructure investors, began with paid-up capital of about US$1 billion before leveraging that base to finance projects across Africa.

The National Infrastructure Fund deserves attention not simply because of the capital it controls, but because it has the potential to transform how Kenya develops commercially successful enterprises.

If, over time, it consistently develops two nationally significant enterprises each year, brings them to financial close, grows them into commercially successful businesses and ultimately recycles them through Kenya’s capital markets, Kenya will have converted the proceeds from today’s national champions into a perpetual engine for creating tomorrow’s.

The Fund is more than an infrastructure financier. It is an institution that aligns government, investors, operators and customers around the growth of commercially viable enterprises.

These enterprises become economic anchors around which thousands of businesses invest and expand. As they grow, they stimulate activity across value chains involving manufacturers, exporters, logistics companies, hotels, technology firms, suppliers and farmers that depend on efficient infrastructure and competitive markets.

In this way, the Fund crowds capital not only into infrastructure but also into the wider economy. By removing strategic bottlenecks, improving the ease and cost of doing business, and coordinating reforms, it creates confidence for private investors to commit capital at a scale that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.

The Board has already held its inaugural meeting and begun preparing the Investment Policy Statement (IPS), which will guide how the Fund’s resources are invested. Once completed, the IPS will undergo the governance and statutory approval processes required under the National Infrastructure Fund Act.

Under prudent assumptions, the Fund’s potential is substantial. If it earned an annual cash return of about 12 per cent, it would generate roughly Sh42 billion each year. Even if only Sh34 billion of that income were reinvested annually while preserving and growing the underlying capital, the amount of infrastructure investment unlocked would be unprecedented.

The Fund’s greatest strength, however, lies not in what it invests itself, but in what it enables others to invest.

Institutional investors, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurers and global infrastructure investors, seek professionally managed vehicles with strong governance, diversification and a reliable pipeline of projects. The National Infrastructure Fund has the opportunity to provide exactly that platform.

If every shilling invested by the Fund attracted just one additional shilling of private capital – a deliberately conservative assumption – Kenya could mobilise between Sh70 billion and Sh90 billion in equity annually.

Given that infrastructure projects are typically financed through 30 per cent equity and 70 per cent long-term debt, that equity could support between Sh240 billion and Sh300 billion in infrastructure investment every year, or about $2 billion.

Put differently, Kenya could bring projects equivalent to two expansions of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to financial close every year using only part of the Fund’s annual investment income, without drawing down its core capital.

Yet the Fund’s greatest contribution is not the capital it provides but the development model it enables.

The National Infrastructure Fund has been created to invest in commercially viable infrastructure. That distinction changes how projects are conceived and managed.

Commercial projects repay investors through the revenues they generate. As a result, development begins with customers, markets and demand rather than the physical asset.

The first questions become: Who are the customers? How large is the market? What reforms will expand demand? Which industries will use the infrastructure? Which strategic partners should participate? How can revenues be maximised over the life of the enterprise?

Engineering, procurement and construction then become responses to clearly defined commercial opportunities rather than starting points.

This represents an important evolution in Kenya’s infrastructure model.

Government has successfully delivered strategic infrastructure through public investment, while the private sector has developed commercially driven projects across multiple sectors. Both approaches have made valuable contributions.

The National Infrastructure Fund combines the strengths of both. Like the private sector, it starts with commercially viable enterprises that must succeed on their own merits. As a national institution, however, it can also coordinate policy, regulatory reform, project preparation and strategic risk mitigation in ways individual investors cannot.

This role extends throughout the investment lifecycle. Before financial close, the Fund can strengthen project preparation and improve bankability. During construction, it can align complementary public investments and supporting reforms.

Once operations begin, it can continue supporting enterprise and sector development so that demand, revenues and enterprise value continue growing.

This continuity reduces investment risk, lowers the cost of capital and improves long-term enterprise value.

More importantly, the benefits extend beyond individual infrastructure projects.

As bottlenecks are removed and enterprise risk declines, confidence grows across the wider economy. Hotels expand around airports, manufacturers invest in industrial parks, exporters increase production, logistics companies strengthen distribution networks, farmers move into higher-value agriculture and technology firms establish new operations.

For the first time, government, investors, operators and customers become aligned around a common objective: building commercially successful enterprises. That alignment encourages reforms that improve the ease and cost of doing business while strengthening Kenya’s international competitiveness.

Infrastructure delivers its greatest value not because more concrete is poured, but because more enterprises succeed. As these businesses expand, they attract new investment, create jobs, boost exports, improve productivity and broaden the tax base through stronger economic activity.

The Fund also has the opportunity to recycle capital instead of permanently deploying it. As enterprises mature, investments can be realised through the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Infrastructure REITs, asset-backed securities and other capital market instruments.

Successful exits recycle capital into new projects while giving investors confidence that investments can be originated, developed and successfully realised.

The result is a virtuous cycle. Stronger enterprises attract more investment, which creates jobs, raises productivity, expands exports and strengthens public finances through economic growth rather than higher taxation.

If managed with commercial discipline, sound governance and a relentless focus on enterprise value, the National Infrastructure Fund has the potential to become one of Kenya’s most important economic institutions.

Its greatest legacy will not simply be the infrastructure it finances, but the nationally and regionally competitive enterprises it creates, the industries they anchor, the private investment they catalyse and the productive capacity they leave behind. Those enterprises, rather than the infrastructure itself, will become the enduring foundation of Kenya’s long-term prosperity.

Agricultural firm Kakuzi has lost an application seeking to block the implementation of a gazette notice directing it to cede more than 3,200 acres of its land for the settlement of alleged squatters.

The Environment and Land court dismissed the application seeking to halt the implementation of the gazette notice published in November last year, pending the determination of an appeal it has filed.

In a ruling on July 6, the court said that the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm has not offered any security or stated how it will compensate the residents in case the intended appeal is dismissed.

‘There is no commitment from the Applicant (Kakuzi) that it will expedite the appeal and the said appeal is in good faith and not meant to delay the Respondents in the enjoyment of the fruits of their success. Yet this providing of security is a key plank in the application of this nature,’ said the court.

Kakuzi had argued that it was dissatisfied with the dismissal of its case in April. The company said it was apprehensive that the directive might be implemented and the members of several groups eyeing the land will enter the land, build houses, and sub-divide the land.

The company said if not stopped, it would take considerable time and effort to reverse the consequences of the implementation of the recommendations.

‘It is my finding that the Applicant has satisfied only one of the three conditions necessary for the grant of the order of stay of execution yet all the three conditions must be satisfied together if the Applicant’s application is to succeed,’ said the court.

In a ruling in April, the court dismissed the company’s bid to quash a decision by the National Land Commission (NLC) directing it to cede the land for settlement schemes and an additional 50 acres to the Murang’a county government for public amenities.

In the intended appeal, the company is arguing that the court made a mistake by failing to consider arguable issues arising under various articles of the constitution as raised by Kakuzi while seeking to quash the recommendations.

‘The learned judge erred in failing to consider arguable issues pertaining to the Appellant’s right to property under article 40(1) of the constitution, particularly as the 1st respondent (NLC) had in Mbaris NLC Claims made a determination that private land owners could only surrender land voluntarily or through compulsory acquisition,’ the company said.

Kakuzi ltd further argues that the ELC court erred in making a final definitive and conclusive finding that the NLC had the powers to order the surrender of 3,200 acres.

The residents opposed the application arguing that the allegations of invasion, destruction, banana planting and interference with the suit property have not been supported by sufficient evidence linking them to the alleged acts.

In the April decision, the ELC court had found that the NLC acted within its mandate when it ordered the regularisation of settlement schemes, documentation of public utilities and the surrender of 50 acres to the Murang’a County Government.

The court held that the commission had conducted extensive investigations before reaching its decision.

According to the court, the NLC visited the land, heard the parties, received evidence and submissions, and carried out further inquiries involving relevant government agencies and individuals.

The judge found no evidence that the commission acted in bad faith or was biased against Kakuzi, saying its recommendations were well considered.

The dispute stems from a Kenya Gazette notice published on November 14, 2025, containing recommendations arising from historical land injustice claims lodged against the company by several groups between 2017 and 2021.

The claimants include Kakuzi Division Development Association, Kituamba Kaloleni IDPs, Milimani Community and Hannah Njoki Mwangi.

The NLC directed the Director of Land Adjudication and Settlement, in consultation with Kakuzi and other government agencies, to regularise settlement schemes on the company’s land by facilitating the issuance of title deeds and completing pending settlement processes.

It also ordered Kakuzi to relocate schools and other public facilities facing access challenges closer to residents or, alternatively, provide proper access roads in consultation with affected communities and relevant government institutions.

US-based digital payments company Hurupay has stopped processing cross-border money transfers and cryptocurrencies in the Kenyan market amid increased anti-money-laundering checks.

The tech company has notified Kenyan users that its US dollar-backed services are no longer available in the country, denying local freelancers and businesses access to overseas client payments, as well as payments from friends and family members abroad.

Hurupay provides individuals and businesses with virtual US dollar, euro and sterling bank accounts that can be used to receive payments easily, send money globally, or convert funds into cryptocurrencies such as stablecoins.

The withdrawal of services in Kenya comes months after global payments giant PayPal froze funds belonging to an unknown number of Kenyans and permanently banned other users for failing to prove their employment and residence.

Kenya remains on the list of countries at high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placing the country on its “grey list.”

“We would like to inform you that Hurupay no longer supports USD banking services for customers in Kenya,” an email from the firm to a Kenyan user seen by the Business Daily reads.

“As a result, any payments sent to your SSB bank account will be rejected and automatically refunded to the sender.”

Hurupay did not disclose the reasons for the decision. The Business Daily reached out to the Delaware-incorporated fintech firm for comment.

Besides Kenya, the firm has also removed Nigeria from the list of African countries it serves.

It remains active in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, Zambia, Seychelles, Malawi and Senegal.

Founded in 2023 by Kenyans Philip Mburu, Allan Okoth and James Mugambi, Hurupay is incorporated in the US state of Delaware.

The platform has gained popularity among Kenyan freelancers, consultants and businesses because it allows them to receive payments from overseas clients and transfer the funds to local bank accounts or M-Pesa wallets.

These users prefer internet-based money transfer platforms over traditional bank transfers mainly because they offer multi-currency accounts that bypass interbank networks such as SWIFT, which can be slow and carry high intermediary bank fees.

Hurupay allows local workers and traders to receive stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency backed by assets considered reliable, such as the US dollar.

Those who receive stablecoins can have the tech firm convert them into cash deposited into their bank accounts or mobile money accounts.

They can also keep the stablecoins in Hurupay vaults and earn an annual return of eight percent.

Although Hurupay does not disclose its transaction volumes in Kenya, it said in March that it had processed more than $50 million (Sh6.5 billion) in payments across Africa since January 2025.

However, cryptocurrencies and digital payments have been exploited for criminal activities due to features such as pseudonymity and borderless transfers, which make them harder for traditional financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to detect.

This has prompted global financial institutions to subject transactions originating from the country to heightened scrutiny.

The global payments giant PayPal recently froze funds in an unknown number of Kenyan accounts and permanently shut others after demanding additional documentation, including employment contracts, bank statements and proof of residence, as part of enhanced anti-money-laundering checks.

Users who fail to provide the documents have been blocked from transferring their funds to other users or withdrawing them for up to 180 days, while accounts that remain non-compliant beyond that period risk permanent closure.

PayPal is one of the world’s largest digital payments firms, handling payments worth $464 billion (Sh59.9 trillion) between January and March 2026 alone. In Kenya, the platform is also common among freelancers and online workers who receive payments from clients abroad, as well as users who shop online and do not want to share their credit card or bank details.

PayPal has said potential signs of fraud include unusually large transactions and a spike in activity, such as a sudden burst of transactions in a previously quiet account.

The affected Kenyan users can still access account information, including transaction details and balances, but are unable to send or receive payments.

“Before you can withdraw or transfer any remaining funds from your account, we need to hold them for 180 days to cover things like chargebacks or other financial liabilities,” PayPal informed the affected users in an email.

Similarly, the UK-based money transfer platform Wise has also barred some Kenyan users from sending and receiving money. Wise has notified them that it will shut their accounts in the coming months without giving specific reasons for the move.

The company is currently under investigation in Europe over allegations that it failed to adequately identify customers and verify their activities amid suspicions that criminals used the platform for money laundering.

Three numbers tell you everything about where Kenya’s capital market stands today.

One is 204.3-the amount of money, in billions of shillings, that changed hands on our Block Trade Platform this year as Vodacom increased its stake in Safaricom to 55 percent.

The second is one-the number of shares you need today to become a shareholder in any listed company on this exchange.

The third is 27.8 percent-the return delivered by NSE equities in the first half of 2026, outperforming Treasury bonds, Treasury bills, fixed deposits, money market funds, property and land.

A market that can carry a Sh204.3 billion strategic transaction, welcome an investor with a single share, and deliver the strongest half-year return across major asset classes has truly grown up.

The Safaricom transaction is worth dwelling on because it tested every part of our system. It needed sign-off from the public through its representatives in Parliament, from the Capital Markets Authority, the Communications Authority of Kenya, the Central Bank, and competition regulators across the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the East African Community.

After the debate in Parliament, petitioners took their concerns to court, and it took the Court of Appeal to lift the orders allowing the transaction to proceed while the constitutional questions continue to be argued.

Still, the block trade at the NSE on June 30 was a seismic moment. It showed that Nairobi can host transactions of regional and global significance, not as a spectator market but as the arena where serious capital takes its seat.

We saw the same discipline, albeit at a different scale, in March. The Kenya Pipeline Company IPO was Kenya’s first in 17 years, and it succeeded through our own institutions, not through foreign rescue.

The National Social Security Fund became KPC’s largest shareholder. Uganda’s state oil company backed the offer as a regional partner. More than 70,000 ordinary Kenyans applied for shares, many for the first time. That is a distinctly East African success story, and we should say so plainly and proudly.

The performance record now tells the same story. According to MSCI data, the Nairobi Securities Exchange was Africa’s best-performing stock market in 2024 in US-dollar terms, with a 65.3 percent gain.

In 2025, the NSE followed that with another exceptional year, ranking second on the continent behind only Egypt, with a 52.2 percent US-dollar return. These rankings matter because global capital measures performance in dollars. They show that Kenya is no longer merely a frontier market with promise. It is a market delivering globally competitive returns.

That momentum has carried into 2026. In the first half of this year, NSE equities delivered a remarkable 27.8 percent return, outperforming every major traditional investment category by a wide margin. Special funds returned up to 10.69 percent, Treasury bonds returned 12 percent to 14.18 percent, Treasury bills returned 7.4 percent to 9.2 percent, fixed deposits returned 6.8 percent, money market funds returned 7.03 percent, property returned 5.2 percent to 14 percent, and land returned 1.1 percent to 1.3 percent.

The scoreboard is not whispering. It is ringing the bell.

Not every deal on our boards, however, is finished business. Asahi’s agreement to acquire Diageo’s stake in East African Breweries is still working through regulatory approval amid a series of challenges in court. South Africa’s Nedbank’s proposed acquisition of part of the NCBA Group is also in progress.

Here is the truth worth sitting with. Vodacom committed Sh204.3 billion to take its seat at Safaricom’s table. Asahi is committing $2.3 billion to take its seat at EABL’s.

A matatu sacco depositing its Friday collections, a teachers’ sacco topping up monthly savings, or a chama built around three siblings and their parents-none of them needs billions to sit at that same table. With a mobile phone and a registered SIM card, anybody can start small, own a piece of Kenya’s best companies, and participate in the same market that multinationals are spending a fortune to enter.

To our regulators and courts: the rigour you bring is why this table is trusted at all. But thorough and slow are not the same thing.

A transaction that has met every disclosure requirement and sits before a regulator for months, hearing nothing back, is not being handled with diligence. It is drifting, and drift is a risk markets price just as readily as bad news.

Four institutions reviewing a deal one after another does not multiply the rigour. It multiplies the wait. If Kenya wants to be trusted with the next transaction of this size-and there will be a next one-the standard must be higher: a published timeline and institutions willing to be held to it.

As Kenya and East Africa attract the attention of companies from across the world, including Europe and the Far East, it does no good to our competitiveness if transactions are held up by parochial interests. Capital is patient when rules are clear. It is far less forgiving when the process becomes fog.

Nairobi is the third-oldest continuously operating stock exchange in sub-Saharan Africa, after Johannesburg and Zimbabwe, and Kenyans have owned a stake in it since 1963. Sixty years on, that market is attracting global strategic investors, delivering some of the strongest investment returns on the continent, and opening its doors wider than ever before through technology that allows anyone to start with a single share. The invitation has never been wider or more compelling.

This is your table. Come and take your place.

The prices of detached houses in Nairobi’s middle-income neighbourhoods such as Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Kileleshwa, Kilimani and their surrounding areas recorded the strongest growth over the past year, pointing to a shift in Kenya’s residential property market as buyers increasingly favour larger homes over high-end urban apartments.

New data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Residential Property Price Index shows that the standalone house index in Nairobi’s middle-income segment rose by 20.4 percent between the first quarter of 2025 and a similar period in 2026, marking the highest annual increase among all residential property categories.

Standalone houses in other regions such as the coast also posted strong gains, with prices rising by 12.5 percent, while detached homes in Nairobi’s upper-income neighbourhoods such as Runda and Karen increased by 7.1 percent.

Houses in Nairobi’s other areas, including Nairobi East and Mavoko, also appreciated, recording a 2.9 percent increase over the period under review.

The index growth measures how much house prices in a specific market segment have changed over the period under review. A higher index indicates that property prices in that category have increased, while a decline signals falling prices.

‘With respect to standalone houses, the index for all strata increased during the review period, indicating an increase in prices of standalone houses between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026,’ said KNBS.

Standalone houses have been a key driver of both the property and land markets as demand for new units continues to outpace supply, buoyed by a growing middle class and improving economic activity.

The growth in standalone house prices has been attributed to demand from wealthy local buyers, expatriates and investors seeking larger homes in gated communities.

This suggests that buyers are increasingly prioritising space, affordability and long-term ownership, reshaping demand in Kenya’s residential property market.

‘The supply of standalones has been very low, and that is because it is very capital-intensive as they need huge tracts of land-there is demand but low supply, which is driving the prices,’ said HassConsult Co-CEO and Creative Director Sakina Hassanali.

The rise in standalone house prices contrasted with the performance of high-end apartments in Nairobi, where values declined over the same period.

Apartment prices in Nairobi’s upper-income segment fell by 4.8 percent, while those in the middle-income segment declined by 3.3 percent. The index for apartments in Nairobi’s Upper region fell to 90.1 in the first quarter of 2026 from 94.1 a year earlier, while Nairobi’s Middle apartments declined to 85.3 from 88.2.

However, apartment markets outside Nairobi’s prime neighbourhoods continued to register growth. Apartment prices in Nairobi’s other areas increased by 4.2 percent, while those in other regions rose by 7.5 percent, suggesting demand is gradually shifting towards more affordable locations.

Analysts say improved road networks linking Nairobi to satellite towns have also boosted demand for larger suburban homes.

‘Expansion of infrastructure and road projects in satellite towns is easing pressure for Nairobi land property development,’ said Ms Hassanali.

Developers have increasingly shifted focus to gated communities targeting affluent buyers seeking privacy, security and larger living spaces, while the luxury segment has remained attractive to diaspora investors seeking long-term capital appreciation in prime residential neighbourhoods.