Category: Business Daily

Kenya has earned global recognition as Africa’s “Silicon Savannah”, building a reputation as a leader in innovation, entrepreneurship and digital transformation.

Digital platforms have played a significant role in that journey by connecting people, creating income opportunities and helping businesses reach more customers. Preserving this momentum requires a regulatory environment that is predictable, balanced and responsive to the realities of a fast-changing digital economy.

As ride-hailing and delivery platforms expand across East Africa, governments are understandably reviewing how best to regulate the sector. Discussions around pricing models, licensing requirements and operational standards are both necessary and timely.

The challenge is ensuring that new rules protect consumers and drivers without undermining the innovation and flexibility that have fuelled the industry’s growth.

One example is dynamic pricing, which adjusts fares according to real-time demand and supply. While often debated, it helps maintain service availability during peak periods, encourages more drivers onto the road when demand is high and improves reliability for passengers. Any regulatory approach should consider how such mechanisms contribute to a well-functioning transport ecosystem while safeguarding fairness for all users.

Similarly, discussions about the operation of digital platforms at transport hubs such as airports provide an opportunity to improve access, competition and the overall travel experience. As Kenya continues to position itself as a regional tourism and business destination, seamless mobility remains an important part of that experience.

Kenya’s success as a digital hub has been built on policies that encourage innovation and investment. Clear, practical and consistent regulations can reinforce that reputation by giving businesses the confidence to invest, expand and create jobs. Regulatory certainty benefits the entire ecosystem, from drivers and small businesses to consumers and investors.

The question is no longer whether digital platforms should be regulated, but how regulation can strike the right balance. Effective regulation promotes accountability, safety and consumer protection while preserving the flexibility that enables innovation and economic participation.

Digital platforms have become part of the infrastructure supporting modern economies. They facilitate transport, commerce and employment while creating opportunities for thousands of Kenyans. As policymakers shape the next phase of regulation, there is an opportunity to develop frameworks that encourage responsible innovation and inclusive growth rather than constrain it.

By adopting smart, forward-looking regulation, Kenya can strengthen its position as Africa’s digital leader and provide a model for the rest of the continent-one that delivers lasting benefits for drivers, passengers, businesses and the wider economy.

The birth of my first child in 2018 revealed how unreliable electricity can undermine healthcare in rural Kenya. Frequent power outages disrupted vaccine storage, forcing families to travel long distances only to discover vaccines were unavailable. While I could sometimes find alternatives, many mothers could not afford the extra transport costs or time away from caregiving.

My experience as a technical manager in a rural hospital had already exposed me to the challenges healthcare workers face in preserving vaccines and other temperature-sensitive medicines during blackouts. Many clinics lack refrigeration, requiring health workers to transport vaccines over long distances, often in extreme heat that threatens their effectiveness. It became clear that this was not just an energy problem but a healthcare access challenge that disproportionately affects women and rural communities.

That realisation inspired us to establish Drop Access in 2021, a Kenyan company developing locally manufactured technologies for underserved and off-grid communities. Our flagship innovation, VacciBox, is a portable solar-powered refrigerator that safely stores vaccines, blood, oxytocin and other temperature-sensitive medical supplies between 2°C and 8°C without relying on grid electricity. Its portability enables healthcare workers to take lifesaving services closer to remote communities.

Climate change is making these challenges even more urgent. Rising temperatures and extreme weather place additional strain on fragile healthcare systems, particularly in vulnerable settings such as Kakuma refugee camp, where reliable cooling is essential.

One lesson has shaped our journey: the best innovations come from the communities they are designed to serve. Healthcare workers and local residents continuously refined VacciBox, ensuring it addressed real-world needs rather than assumptions.

As governments seek cost-effective ways to strengthen healthcare systems, locally manufactured solutions offer a path to greater resilience. Africa has the talent and ingenuity to build technologies tailored to its own realities.

By investing in community-driven innovation and local manufacturing, the continent can expand healthcare access and ensure that quality care is no longer determined by geography or unreliable infrastructure.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) plans to overhaul the income tax return filing infrastructure by abandoning the Excel file download and adopting use of a web-based system as it seeks to streamline filing following changes brought about by Finance Act 2026.

The law has amended Section 52 of the Income Tax Act to introduce a staggered system for filing income tax returns, with natural persons expected to file by the end of the fourth month following the end of their year of income.

Non-natural persons will be expected to file by the close of the sixth month following the end of their year of income.

The change means that effective January 1, 2027, Kenyans relying on employment income, most of whom have a December year-end, will be expected to file their returns by April 30 while companies will still be expected to file returns by June 30. KRA now says to further buttress the changes brought about by staggered income tax return filing, it will switch to a web-based system which means that taxpayers will now file returns directly on a browser over the internet as opposed to having to download and populate an Excel file as they have been doing.

‘We have staggered returns in Finance Act 2026 so that individual returns will be due by April 30 and the non-natural persons’ returns will be due by June 30. Are we transferring the problem we had in June to April? Absolutely not because there are other things we are doing to ensure the system will be stable,” KRA’s Chief Manager in charge of Policy and Tax, Josephine Mugure, said at a townhall convened by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ICPAK).

‘The first thing is that we are introducing web-based returns so that we will not require taxpayers to fill the Excel file anymore. It will be web-based and significantly simplified,” Mugure said.

Web-based return filing, which is expected to be rolled out in the course of 2027, will be the latest among a number of measures that KRA has taken to streamline the income tax return filing process and widen visibility of the country’s taxable base.

On April 1, 2026, KRA introduced filing of Income Tax Returns via social media platform WhatsApp as it targeted boosting compliance amongst Kenyans whole income tax returns were not complicated.

KRA BY JULIANS AMBOKO

The taxman says the planned overhaul of the Income Return Filing System includes widening the scope of the filing that can be done via WhatsApp to accommodate more complex and voluminous returns.

The upgrade of WhatsApp Income Tax return filing includes equipping KRA’s AI-powered virtual assistant, Shuru, with stronger capabilities.

‘We want to expand what filing Kenyans will be able to do via WhatsApp so that it won’t just be what we have had for employees,” Mugure said.

“We will expand it such that you will be able to file a whole range of returns via WhatsApp. In 2027, Shuru will have been here for more than six months and whatever teething problems she encountered this year will have been resolved and she will be of better use.’

Kenya started Incomes and Expenses Validation on January 1, 2026 in a measure that was designed to set the stage for adoption of auto-population of Income Tax Returns by KRA.

Finance Act 2026 has since anchored auto-population of Income Tax Returns in law by amending Section 75 of the Tax Procedures Act to provide that KRA may use ICT systems including eTIMS invoices, Withholding Tax Certificate, Customs data and third-party data to generate an auto-populated Income Tax Return on behalf of a taxpayer.

I am not the loudest when it comes to football. Actually, I consider myself an orphaned silent CEO fan in football.I do not have a club tattooed on my heart. I do not wake up at 2am to watch Champions League. I do not argue about referees, club formations, or who should have been substituted.

People often ask me, ‘if you’re not loyal to any football club, then why do you watch the 2026 Fifa World Cup matches?’

The truth is, I do not watch football for loyalty. I watch football for leadership. I watch because football teaches me things that boardrooms, strategy documents, and leadership books cannot.

I watch because patterns reveal themselves in real time; patterns of winning, patterns of collapse, patterns of pressure, patterns of behaviour.

I watch because football is a mirror of a leadership lab. It exposes the truth about systems, psychology, and decision-making under pressure. It shows me how leaders behave or ought to behave when the world is watching and when the world is collapsing. It is like watching a live case study in leadership, exposing cognitive fatigue, emotional overload, tactical indiscipline, and behaviour under pressure.

The Fifa World Cup matches remind me of former Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson’s book ‘Leading’, where he says that ‘the last minutes of a match are won not by muscles, but by mentality.’

I also watch to see how coaches behave: who panics, who stays calm, who argues with referees, who anticipates danger, who loses emotional control.

Just as Sir Alex said, just like many organisations, a leader’s behaviour becomes the team’s behaviour. And in this World Cup, African teams mirrored their leaders in the final stretch. From this World Cup, I have picked patterns on why some teams rise in the last 15 minutes and why others collapse.

I watched Côte d’Ivoire dominate Norway, then lose concentration for one second as striker Erling Haaland punished them at 86 minutes. I watched DR Congo hold out against England for 80 minutes until metabolic fatigue broke them. I watched South Africa protect the lead against Canada in the round of 32 stage, stop pressing, lose verticality and concede in the second minute of time added on in the second half. I watched Egypt survive the group stage through discipline, then collapse mentally when Argentina increased intensity.

These collapses are not football collapses; they are leadership collapses. Because football is not played only by 22 players. It is played by the emotional climate around them.

Think Morocco; their win is the result of European football culture embedded inside an African team.

In 2018, Morocco returned to the World Cup after 20 years. They played well but lacked finishing power and tactical maturity. They exited at the group stage. They already had a team with exposure in European football. In 2022, Morocco shocked the world with its historic run to the World Cup semi-finals.

First African and Arab team to reach the semifinals. Beat Spain (round of 16). Beat Portugal (quarterfinals). Finished fourth overall. That was the birth of Morocco’s mental system. And today, in 2026, they are back in the quarterfinals. Morocco proved 2022 was not a miracle; it was a system. Morocco’s squad is almost entirely Europe-based.

But teams like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, DR Congo, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Angola have far fewer players in top European leagues. But think of giants like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, they have Europe-based players, some of them not necessarily in the elite tactical environments such as the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, or Italian Serie A ‘where mental systems are built.’

Most African teams often walk into stadiums carrying a heavier emotional load than their opponents. The issue is ‘mental exposure versus mental isolation.’

At least 40 Kenyan companies sought voluntary liquidation or bankruptcy protection in the nine months to March, up from 24 a year earlier, exposing mounting financial distress despite improving economic indicators and lower borrowing costs.

Business Registration Service (BRS) data shows companies entering voluntary liquidation rose by 55.6 per cent to 14 during the period, from nine a year earlier, while bankruptcy applications jumped by 73.3 percent to 26.

The filings indicate that lower inflation, a stronger shilling and successive interest-rate cuts have yet to ease cash flow pressures as weak consumer spending and delayed payments continue to squeeze businesses.

Voluntary liquidation allows directors and shareholders to wind up a company before creditors intervene, with assets sold to settle outstanding obligations before the business is formally dissolved.

Bankruptcy applications, on the other hand, are filed when companies acknowledge they can no longer meet their financial obligations and seek legal protection from creditors under insolvency laws.

The BRS records, however, show business formation remained resilient during the period, with 109,350 new entities registered, as business names and private companies accounted for the bulk of fresh listings, at 62,472 and 45,334 respectively.

The latest rise in business closures comes despite inflation easing to within the central bank’s preferred range, the shilling stabilising against major currencies, and interest rates falling steadily over the past year.

Although these improvements have strengthened the broader economic outlook, they have yet to translate into stronger sales and healthier cash flows for many businesses operating on thin margins.

BUSINESS CLOSURES BY KABUI MWANGI

Many firms continue grappling with subdued household demand, delayed settlement of invoices, and rising statutory obligations that have eroded profitability over successive quarters.

Business failures typically accelerate after companies exhaust internal restructuring measures and conclude they can no longer generate sufficient cash to meet their obligations to suppliers, employees and lenders.

Voluntary liquidation is often viewed as a controlled exit because shareholders retain responsibility for winding up the company instead of waiting for creditors or courts to trigger insolvency proceedings.

Bankruptcy, however, generally reflects deeper financial distress after directors determine that liabilities have exceeded the firm’s capacity to continue operating as a going concern.

The increase in both categories suggests more businesses are abandoning turnaround efforts in favour of orderly exits before their financial positions deteriorate even further.

The disclosures mirror concerns raised by chief executives over weakening business conditions despite improving macroeconomic fundamentals reported over the past year.

The central bank’s latest CEO survey shows businesses continued reporting weak demand, delayed customer payments and elevated operating costs as the biggest constraints to growth.

The survey found firms remained cautious about expansion plans, with many prioritising cost-cutting measures and liquidity preservation over new investments.

Reduced household purchasing power has continued weighing on sectors dependent on discretionary spending as consumers increasingly prioritise essential goods and services.

Smaller businesses remain particularly exposed because they generally operate with limited cash reserves and restricted access to affordable bank financing during periods of slowing economic activity.

Although commercial lending rates have started easing following successive Central Bank Rate cuts, banks have maintained relatively cautious lending standards amid concerns over rising defaults and the financial health of borrowers across several sectors of the economy.

The upward pressure on interest rates is expected to ease after progress in peace negotiations between the US and Iran pulled oil prices to a four-month low, allaying fears of prolonged high inflation.

Analysts say that the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) now has a strong case to hold its rate unchanged in the next monetary policy meeting in August due to easing inflation, in the process capping the recent jump in short-term rates on government securities.

Since the war in Iran started on February 28, rates on the 91-day and 182-day Treasury bill have gone up by 1.4 and 1.2 percentage points to 8.83 percent and 8.96 percent respectively.

Bond buyers also demanded a return of 15.1 percent on a 25-year paper that was reopened last month, against its actual interest rate or coupon of 13.92 percent.

Investors demanded higher returns after inflation rose to 6.7 percent in May from 4.3 percent in February due to higher fuel prices. For investors in the government securities, higher inflation erodes the real returns from their assets, which come with a fixed annual interest rate.

The cost of living measure however dropped to 6.4 percent in June, with a further decline expected once fuel and food prices come down in the coming weeks.

Current spike in inflation

On Tuesday, Brent crude was trading at $72.78 a barrel, a price last seen on February 27. The price of oil had risen to highs of $120 a barrel at the peak of hostilities in Iran in March.

‘Overall, we project a lower inflation path in the near-term. Expectedly, earlier projected pressure on short-end interest rates is likely to be moderated by reduced inflationary pressures amid ample market liquidity,’ analysts at NCBA Investment Bank said in their latest weekly fixed income report.

In the last MPC meeting on June 10, the CBK kept the base rate unchanged at 8.75 percent, saying it needed to take stock of the evolving situation in Iran, in line with similar cautious stances by central banks in developed markets.

CBK Governor Kamau Thugge later said that the apex bank was optimistic that inflation would peak below the upper limit of its target range of five percent plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, due to an expectation of de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

By opting to keep its base rate unchanged, the CBK also considered the fact that the current spike in inflation is primarily driven by higher prices of imported fuel and consumer goods (imported inflation) rather than underlying demand pressures in the economy.

Global oil price relief

Analysts at Sterling Capital have backed the CBK’s view in their latest monthly fixed income report, projecting a hold in the base rate in the August MPC meeting.

‘We feel that the recent easing of headline inflation to 6.4 percent, alongside anticipated global oil price relief from the US-Iran agreement, reduces the pressure for monetary tightening in the August 2026 meeting,’ said the Sterling Capital analysts.

The first test of the expectations of lower pressure on yields will come in the July 2026 Treasury bond auction, which will take place on Wednesday.

In the sale, the CBK reopened three papers with periods to maturity of between 5.8 years and 29.9 years, allowing it to gauge investor sentiment across the full breadth of the government securities yield curve.

The reopened papers include a 10-year bond first sold in May 2022, which comes with a coupon of 13.49 percent. The CBK has also reopened a 20-year bond from July 2021, which pays annual interest of 13.44 percent, and a 30-year paper first sold in March 2026 at a coupon of 12.5 percent.

The three bonds are targeting Sh70 billion, marking the start of the government’s borrowing for the 2026/2027 fiscal year in which it is seeking a net of Sh1.03 trillion from the domestic market.

Pension schemes minted a record Sh16.6 billion in gains from disposal of government bonds and listed stocks in 2025, cashing in on the higher prices of the assets.

The gains are the highest in at least five years and came against the backdrop of higher prices of bonds in the secondary market and shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

Gains made from the disposal of quoted shares were backed by higher corporate earnings and improved macroeconomic conditions which supported the rise of stocks while gains from the sale of government securities were anchored on relatively lower interest rates.

The price of bonds in the secondary market usually has an inverse relationship with interest rates where prices soar as rates drop, allowing investors to realise profits from sale of bonds with higher coupons (interest rates). Gains on the disposal of government securities stood at Sh11.3 billion while profits from share sales by pension schemes were Sh5.3 billion, according to data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA).

Profits from the sale of government securities and quoted shares in 2024 were lower at Sh2.05 billion and Sh986.5 million respectively.

The gains from disposal of State securities and quoted shares in 2025 were enough to more than offset Sh456.9 million in losses from disposal of real estate properties in the year.

‘The increase was primarily driven by substantial gains from disposal of Kenya government securities and quoted shares, reflecting favourable movements in both the fixed-income and equity markets during the year,’ the RBA said.

‘However, the ‘other investments’ category recorded a net loss of Sh456.9 million, partially offsetting the overall gains realised in 2025. The category consists mostly of disposal in immovable property by schemes.’

The stock market offered investors the highest returns for a second year running in 2025, beating property, offshore investments and fixed income assets whose returns dipped due to falling interest rates.

The sustained growth was backed by low inflation, lower interest rates and a stable exchange rate, creating a favourable environment for growth in corporate earnings and participation by foreign investors.

NSE market capitalisation rose by 51.8 percent in the period as investor wealth rose by a record Sh1 trillion, doubling paper gains from 2024.

High-yielding Treasury bonds traded at a premium on the same bourse as interest rates on new and reopened securities declined to between 11.67 percent and 14.63 percent.

Tax-free infrastructure bonds offered the highest premium as investors raised their appetite for the existing high-yielding bonds with interest rates on new issuances in the primary market falling. Pension schemes doubled down on the same asset classes even as they made some disposal in a strategic portfolio rebalancing.

Investments in government securities by schemes rose to Sh1.38 trillion from Sh1.08 trillion in 2024 and made up 50.98 percent of the vehicles’ assets. Allocation to quoted securities rose to Sh277.4 billion from Sh189 billion to represent 10.2 percent of schemes’ assets.

Pension schemes, however, held more assets in guaranteed funds at Sh560.7 billion. Allocation to immovable property stood at Sh247.2 billion.

The schemes’ other major asset classes were fixed and time deposits, and offshore investments.

Schemes also invested in minor asset classes with allocations of under one percent to each category including cash and demand deposits, property unit trusts, unquoted equities, commercial and corporate bonds and private equity and venture capital.

‘Compared to 2024, most asset classes recorded growth, with notable increases in Kenya government securities, guaranteed funds, quoted equities, and offshore investments, largely driven by improved market performance, attractive returns, and continued portfolio diversification by retirement benefits schemes,’ RBA added.

Total assets under management by pension schemes rose by 26.84 percent to Sh2.82 trillion as of December 2025, driven by growth in contributions and investment income.

Total contributions by both employers and employees tallied to Sh309.26 billion while investment income stood at Sh274.81 billion.

Banks defending disputed payment claims must prove funds reached the intended recipient rather than rely on internal processing records, the High Court in Nairobi has ruled.

The court said maker-checker approvals and payment schedules do not establish payment of the money.

The ruling arose from a dispute between Consolidated Bank and Muteithia Kibira Advocates LLP over legal fees for defending the lender in an employment case lodged by its former internal quality auditor.

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The bank argued it had paid a Sh72,460 deposit requested by the law firm and that requiring it to pay the full fee note of Sh497,102 would amount to unjust enrichment. The advocates maintained they never received the deposit.

In determining the dispute, the court dismissed the bank’s appeal and upheld a Small Claims Court judgment that awarded the advocates the full amount claimed after finding the lender failed to prove the disputed payment had been made.

The court held that once the advocates denied receiving the money, the burden shifted to the bank to demonstrate the funds had actually been transmitted and received.

“The proof of payment of legal fees is the receipt of the fees, not in the preparation of payment. Through the Maker Checker process, what the appellant has demonstrated is the preparation for payment,” Justice Benard Murunga stated, reinforcing the importance of complete payment trails in commercial disputes.

The bank relied on an internally approved Deposit Request Note bearing maker-checker and finance approval stamps, together with an internal payment schedule listing the advocates among intended beneficiaries.

The court found those records merely documented internal approval processes rather than completed transactions.

“Both the Maker Checker and Payment Schedule are internal procedures. They do not necessarily demonstrate payment but only the approval process and an Internal Schedule. That is no proof,” the court ruled.

The court said the bank could have produced stronger evidence, including remittance advice, electronic transfer records or other documents confirming the funds reached the advocates.

“In the age of Real Time Gross Settlements and Electronic Fund Transfers … Remittance Advices are accepted,” the judgment said, adding that banks should provide signed and stamped proof of transfers just as they do for cash or cheque deposits.

The court also rejected the bank’s argument that paying the fee note would unjustly enrich the law firm. It said such a claim depended on first proving the disputed deposit had actually been received.

“To prove unjust enrichment, one therefore has to prove that the person received the payment and that being paid again would be double payment,” it said. “Proof cannot be through internal documentation.”

The court noted that the advocates had repeatedly demanded payment over several years. It said the bank never responded to those demands by producing evidence that the deposit had already been settled.

“That silence is inconsistent with the conduct of a debtor who has already discharged its payment obligation,” the court said.

Although the court acknowledged the bank had attempted to trace records of the 2017 transaction, it found those efforts ultimately failed to produce evidence proving the disputed payment had reached the law firm.

The High Court has blocked the Competition Authority of Kenya’s bid to conduct a sweeping search of Foam Mattress Ltd as part of a suspected price-fixing cartel investigation.

The court said the regulator must justify why less intrusive investigative measures are inadequate before seeking broad search warrants against businesses.

It also ruled that any court-approved dawn raid must be narrowly targeted to avoid infringing constitutional rights to privacy, property and data protection.

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“The orders were too wide and could have covered private phones or gadgets and not necessarily those belonging to the subject entity only. Anyone within the building, including employees and third parties would have been subject to the order,’ the court said, upholding a lower court’s decision to block the search exercise.

The ruling delivered at the High Court in Kisumu is expected to shape how the competition watchdog conducts future cartel investigations by requiring investigators to lay a clear factual basis before obtaining intrusive search warrants.

While affirming that CAK investigators are legally empowered to execute search warrants, the court noted that the regulator failed to demonstrate why it could not first seek information through less intrusive statutory procedures before asking to search and seize electronic devices.

The dispute arose after CAK sought permission from the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kisumu to enter Foam Mattress’s premises, search its offices and seize documents, computers, mobile phones, storage devices and other electronic records as part of investigations into alleged anti-competitive conduct.

The magistrate, in a ruling dated March 24, 2026, rejected the application, prompting the regulator to ask the High Court to revise that decision.

CAK argued that the Competition Act gives it independent authority to investigate suspected anti-competitive conduct and conduct searches through officers authorized by the regulator.

It also maintained that requesting documents first under Section 31(4) of the Act was not a mandatory prerequisite before seeking search warrants because advance notice could lead to destruction of evidence in cartel investigations.

The court agreed with the regulator on one key legal point. It held that search warrants are not reserved exclusively for officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), saying Section 118 of the Criminal Procedure Code permits warrants to be executed by “a person named in the search warrant.”

“The applicant is empowered to conduct investigations. The person authorized by the applicant in writing is to be named in the search warrant … and not necessarily an investigation officer from the DCI as held by the Court below,’ the court said.

However, the court found that CAK had failed to place sufficient evidence to justify bypassing the ordinary process of requesting information from the company before resorting to coercive search powers.

It noted that although the authority claimed evidence could be destroyed if notice was given, the supporting affidavit did not explain why such fears were justified.

The court described the powers under Section 32 of the Competition Act as exceptionally intrusive and warned that they should be exercised only where a clear factual basis has been established.

It said the powers “are very drastic,” adding that they “can paralyse or destroy a business depending on how they are exercised” and “are open to abuse.”

The court further observed that such orders could infringe constitutional rights to property and privacy as well as protections under the Data Protection Act if issued without adequate safeguards.

It also faulted the scope of the proposed warrants, saying they would have allowed investigators to seize virtually every electronic device found within the building without distinguishing between company property and personal devices belonging to employees or third parties.

‘The Data Protection Act and the right to privacy under the Constitution could have been breached

by such wide and sweeping orders. Nothing can be as intrusive as entering into one’s private phone! The trial court was right in declining them,’ said the court.

The judge concluded that the application amounted to “a fishing expedition,” saying the authority had sought permission to seize electronic gadgets first and then search through them for evidence.

Stating that the orders sought by CAK must be targeted clear and unambiguous, the court said CAK should have specified whose computers, whose electronic gadgets, whose phones that were to be subject to the court order.

It dismissed CAK’s revision application and upheld the magistrate’s earlier refusal to issue the warrants.

The ruling comes against the backdrop of CAK’s widening investigation into alleged cartel activity in Kenya’s mattress industry.

In March, the regulator carried out coordinated dawn raids on several mattress manufacturers after saying it suspected anti-competitive practices, including possible price-fixing and other conduct prohibited under the Competition Act.

The watchdog said the operation was intended to secure evidence that could otherwise be concealed or destroyed and stressed that the searches did not amount to findings of wrongdoing.

The High Court’s decision does not halt CAK’s investigation but establishes that future applications for search warrants must be supported by specific evidence, narrowly tailored and proportionate to the suspected infringement, balancing effective competition enforcement with constitutional protections for businesses and individuals.

Do leading-edge firms like Google or Tesla do traditional five-year plans? Then, label them with the buzzword ‘strategic’? Does agility matter more than predicting the future with precision? Is it better to consider ‘plans’ living documents, revised as conditions change, rather than fixed commitments?

What percentage of time do you think things go according to a plan? Not surprising that senior managers who sit on NSE boards, will say something like: ‘Well, maybe 5 to 10 percent of the time, that things go according to the plan.’

Companies like Google and Tesla do not manage the business through traditional, detailed five-year strategic plans in the way many more conventional businesses and development partners do. Instead, they combine having a vision, long-term direction with short planning cycles and constant experimentation.

Have a long-term ambition

Rather than a detailed five-year plan, trying to predict what will happen, global leaders have a vision that may extend 10-30 years. Consider these vision statements: “Organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” for Google. And, ‘Accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy’ for Tesla. These visions act as a strategic guiding ‘north star’.

Work backwards from the future

Instead of asking ‘What will we do over the next five years’ they ask ‘If we achieve our vision, what must be true’ This approach resembles the ‘working backwards’ philosophy popularised by Jeff Bezos at Amazon.

Strategy is treated as a portfolio of bets

Rather than producing one fixed strategic plan, market leaders continually allocate resources across initiatives with different time horizons. Constantly monitored, if an initiative isn’t working the approach is revised or it risks being cut. For instance, a simplified portfolio might look like: core business – 70 percent, emerging businesses – 20 percent, and radical innovations – 10 percent. This echoes the ’70-20-10′ innovation framework that has become associated with Google.

Planning happens continuously

Leading edge organisations still produce annual plans and multi-year financial projections for governance and investor communication, but the ‘nitty gritty’ operational strategy is revisited frequently. For market leaders, typical planning rhythms include: annual strategic themes, quarterly priorities, monthly business reviews, weekly management meetings and daily performance dashboards. Aim is to allow for rapid adjustment as markets, technology and customer needs constantly evolve, often unpredictably.

Objectives replace detailed plans

Many technology firms use frameworks likes Objectives and Key Results – OKR. Quite simply the objective is the what and the key results is the how it will be achieved. Key results need to be clear, do-able yet ambitious, measurable, with a timing. . Rather than specifying every activity years in advance, teams decide best path with a ‘test and learn’ approach.

Assume the strategy is incomplete

Traditional planning often assumes enough information exists to define the future. Somehow we fall prey to the seductive belief in the beauty of absolute certainty. However, leading innovators assume uncertainty taking into account, markets will change, competitors will surprise them, and technologies will evolve. And that, some of our assumptions will prove wrong. Strategy is treated more like an artist’s unfinished canvas, where insightful forecasting is more a process of testing assumptions.

Customer learning drives evolution

Customer sales and satisfaction power the business. Companies like Google and Tesla continuously gather signals from customer behavior including product usage, experiments, engineering progress, market data and AI-generated insights.

Resource allocation matters more than the written plan

Many top executives argue that strategy is best reflected most clearly where an organisation invests its people, time, and capital. Questions to are: Which products receive the top talent? Which markets receive investment? Which capabilities are built? Those decisions often reveal the real strategy far better than a planning document.

What would the business wizards say to this approach?

Guru of innovation, Clayton Christensen would stress — Build capabilities that prepare you for future disruption rather than optimizing only for today’s business. Steve Blank’s approach would be to — Treat strategy as a series of hypotheses that must be validated through customer discovery. Eric Ries would stress – Make small, measurable experiments part of everyday business execution.

In fast-changing markets like Kenya and East Africa — it might be better to move away from producing ‘hope for the best’ static plans, shifting towards creating more of an adaptive strategy system. Instead of delivering a document every five years, make sense to establish a cycle of continuous sensing, experimentation, quarterly OKRs, rapid learning and smart resource allocation. Now, that’s a strategy.