Category: Business Daily

‘Can you give me 500 grammes of tenderloin, 400 grammes of ribeye and T-bone? You might also get someone saying, ‘I just want a nice, decent one-inch steak of this cut and this cut,’ just to have that experience and choose which one I prefer,’ says Omar Tamimy, the director of Merino Meats.

This is increasingly becoming the new way of ordering as meat lovers move beyond buying ordinary cuts sold by the kilo to premium steaks that can be ordered in portions as small as 250 grammes – enough to offer a taste of richer flavour, greater tenderness and a more refined dining experience.

Kenya’s beef market is carving out a new niche: ribeye, tenderloin, porterhouse, striploin, picanha and t-bone are no longer just indulgences in five-star hotels and upscale steakhouses. People are buying to cook in their homes.

T-bone and ribeye are among the fastest-moving cuts.

‘These sell really fast because they are not as pricey as some of the other cuts. Some cuts are similar, with the main difference being whether they have a bone or are deboned. But overall, they all have a steady demand,’ he says.

What makes a cut premium?

The price and rarity is built on scarcity, but also the tenderness, flavour, marbling and consistency.

Out of an entire cow carcass, only 10 to 13 percent qualifies as premium cuts. Yet those few kilogrammes often command the highest prices, making them one of the most profitable products for butcheries, restaurants and beef processors.

‘Premium cuts usually range between Sh1,000 and approximately Sh1,800 to Sh1,900 per kilogramme,’ he says.

The price, he says, is mostly driven by the low yield of premium cuts from each animal, as well as the losses incurred during trimming. For instance, Mr Tamimy says, a 300-kilogramme animal can produce a maximum of about five kilogrammes of tenderloin.

‘When you compare that with a 300-kilogramme cow, that’s really not much. A lot of it comes from the availability of the cuts in each animal, and then there are also losses from trimming.’

Once the premium sections are trimmed, some of the remaining meats cannot be sold as a premium steak, but are processed into products such as pet food.

‘All this translates into a slightly significant price increase when it comes to premium cuts,’ says the retailer who stocks ribeye, porterhouse, tenderloin and striploin, alongside premium lamb cuts such as lamb chops and racks and fish fillets including red snapper.

A changing consumer

Another Nairobi premium meat retailer, Cohen Kibindu, says the change in consumer behaviour has become much more noticeable over the past five years.

‘People nowadays walk into a butchery and ask for ribeye, tenderloin or T-bone because they’ve travelled, watched cooking programmes or seen recipes online,’ he says.

‘Sometimes customers ask us how to cook the steak, what herbs to use and whether they should grill or pan-sear it. Selling the meat is only part of the business,’ Mr Kibindu adds.

As demand from households grows, so does the business opportunity, with restaurants, hotels and catering companies emerging as important buyers to expand their premium menus.

‘We have so much variety when it comes to cuisines from all around the world. For example, Brazilian cuisine particularly likes to create picanha, which is a rump cap that comes from the hindquarter. Restaurants are investing in premium menus to distinguish themselves,’ Mr Tamimy says.

But selling premium cuts is not as straightforward as selling ordinary beef. At those prices, consumers expect more than just a good piece of meat – they want consistent quality, tenderness, flavour, presentation and the assurance that they are getting what they paid for.

‘Hotels, for instance, expect every steak to have the same size, thickness and taste quality every single time. That means we have to source carefully and maintain strict cold-chain standards from the seller to the slaughterhouse,’ Mr Kibindu says.

Most times, they struggle with limited supply too.

‘You cannot create more tenderloin than the animal naturally has. Once it’s sold, it’s sold,’ he says.

‘Our biggest challenge is maintaining a consistent supply of high-quality livestock. There are also rising input costs and fluctuations in market prices, sometimes caused by livestock shortages,’ Mr Tamimy adds.

Balancing the carcass

The premium business also creates an unusual inventory problem, where a retailer cannot buy only the parts that the customers want.

Mr Tamimy says managing supply is also important during the peak periods such as November and December.

‘You can’t be taking in a lot of supply of beef just to get a few particular cuts. If we know we are getting tenderloin steaks and ribeyes from a specific section, we tend to take more hindquarters because that is where most of these premium sections come from.’

During peak seasons, the business balances full carcasses with quartered or half-sectioned carcasses to meet the demand meant for both premium and ordinary cuts.

What are consumers paying for when it comes to premium meat?

Timothy Kipng’etich, a trainer and meat grader at the Meat Training Institute, adds that premium beef begins with understanding the animal itself.

‘Many people think the most expensive cut automatically becomes a premium cut, but premium cuts are defined by quality and where they come from on the carcass,’ he says.

Most premium cuts, including tenderloin, T-bone, striploin, topside and silverside, are obtained from the hindquarter.

‘The muscles in those areas do very little work during the animal’s lifetime, which makes them naturally tender. Compare that with muscles such as the neck, brisket and shank, which support the animal’s movement. Those muscles develop more connective tissue and collagen, making the meat tougher,’ Mr Kipng’etich explains.

Breed also matters.

Mr Kipng’etich says breeds with better feed conversion rates, such as Boran and Charolais, generally produce better-quality carcasses suitable for premium markets.

Age is equally important. ‘The younger the animal, the more tender the meat. As animals grow older, the collagen fibres become tougher, reducing tenderness,’ he says.

He notes that bulls intended for premium beef are commonly slaughtered at around 18 months, while heifers are processed at about 42 months.

The feeding practices further influence quality.

Consequently, consumers often associate premium steaks with marbling, which is the fine streaks of fat running through the muscle.

‘Marbling contributes to tenderness, juiciness and flavour,’ he says.

He adds that grain-fed cattle would produce more marbling than grass-fed animals.

‘Some customers prefer less fat, forcing butcheries to trim away some of the marbling before sale. That also affects profitability because trimming reduces the saleable weight.’

Even after slaughter, the work is far from over. Proper ageing allows natural enzymes to break down muscle fibres, which improves the tenderness and flavour over time.

‘Ageing is one of the factors that enhances the eating quality of premium beef,’ Mr Kipng’etich says.

He cautions that expensive meat should not be mistaken for healthier meat.

‘Premium pricing doesn’t necessarily mean healthier meat. Good farming practices, proper feeding and safe production systems remain the most important determinants of quality.’

‘Can you give me 500 grammes of tenderloin, 400 grammes of ribeye and T-bone? You might also get someone saying, ‘I just want a nice, decent one-inch steak of this cut and this cut,’ just to have that experience and choose which one I prefer,’ says Omar Tamimy, the director of Merino Meats.

This is increasingly becoming the new way of ordering as meat lovers move beyond buying ordinary cuts sold by the kilo to premium steaks that can be ordered in portions as small as 250 grammes – enough to offer a taste of richer flavour, greater tenderness and a more refined dining experience.

Kenya’s beef market is carving out a new niche: ribeye, tenderloin, porterhouse, striploin, picanha and t-bone are no longer just indulgences in five-star hotels and upscale steakhouses. People are buying to cook in their homes.

Mr Tamimy says managing supply is also important during the peak periods such as November and December.

‘You can’t be taking in a lot of supply of beef just to get a few particular cuts. If we know we are getting tenderloin steaks and ribeyes from a specific section, we tend to take more hindquarters because that is where most of these premium sections come from.’

During peak seasons, the business balances full carcasses with quartered or half-sectioned carcasses to meet the demand meant for both premium and ordinary cuts.

What are consumers paying for when it comes to premium meat?

Timothy Kipng’etich, a trainer and meat grader at the Meat Training Institute, adds that premium beef begins with understanding the animal itself.

‘Many people think the most expensive cut automatically becomes a premium cut, but premium cuts are defined by quality and where they come from on the carcass,’ he says.

Most premium cuts, including tenderloin, T-bone, striploin, topside and silverside, are obtained from the hindquarter.

‘The muscles in those areas do very little work during the animal’s lifetime, which makes them naturally tender. Compare that with muscles such as the neck, brisket and shank, which support the animal’s movement. Those muscles develop more connective tissue and collagen, making the meat tougher,’ Mr Kipng’etich explains.

Breed also matters.

Mr Kipng’etich says breeds with better feed conversion rates, such as Boran and Charolais, generally produce better-quality carcasses suitable for premium markets.

Age is equally important. ‘The younger the animal, the more tender the meat. As animals grow older, the collagen fibres become tougher, reducing tenderness,’ he says.

He notes that bulls intended for premium beef are commonly slaughtered at around 18 months, while heifers are processed at about 42 months.

The feeding practices further influence quality.

Consequently, consumers often associate premium steaks with marbling, which is the fine streaks of fat running through the muscle.

‘Marbling contributes to tenderness, juiciness and flavour,’ he says.

He adds that grain-fed cattle would produce more marbling than grass-fed animals.

‘Some customers prefer less fat, forcing butcheries to trim away some of the marbling before sale. That also affects profitability because trimming reduces the saleable weight.’

Even after slaughter, the work is far from over. Proper ageing allows natural enzymes to break down muscle fibres, which improves the tenderness and flavour over time.

‘Ageing is one of the factors that enhances the eating quality of premium beef,’ Mr Kipng’etich says.

He cautions that expensive meat should not be mistaken for healthier meat.

‘Premium pricing doesn’t necessarily mean healthier meat. Good farming practices, proper feeding and safe production systems remain the most important determinants of quality.’

Kenya is hoping to unlock up to Sh151.2 billion from the World Bank Group in the current 2026/2027 fiscal year as the multilateral lender remains the country’s primary source of external financing in the absence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A debt plan by the National Treasury for 2026 shows that Kenya expects funding from three World Bank support schemes, including: Sh94.2 billion from the Development Policy Operations (DPO), Sh52 billion from the Rapid Response Option (RRO), and Sh5 billion from the programme-for-results (PforR) window.

The DPO scheme provides vital budget support tied to institutional and policy reforms. It helps to ease heavy public debt pressures and fiscal deficits by funding governance, accountability, and social protection.

The RRO is a fast-disbursing mechanism which allows enrolled countries to immediately use up to 10percent of their undisbursed project financing balances to address emergency economic shocks such as disruptions caused by surging fuel and fertiliser prices.

PforR financing focuses on fund disbursement directly to the delivery of specific, verifiable program results. It helps countries improve public sector performance, build institutional capacity, and enhance transparency by releasing money only when agreed-upon milestones are met.

Kenya will be required to meet specific socio-economic outcomes to unlock funding under the DPO option, which will cover the final tranche of a three-part series first agreed upon in 2024.

Additionally, the country is obligated to disclose planned emergency spending to access Sh52 billion ($400 million) from the emergency RRO window, even as Kenya is widely expected to use the resources to mitigate the impact of flooding from the expected El Niño-induced rainfall from October this year.

Funding under the RRO is also subject to other legal and regulatory requirements.

‘Notwithstanding the foregoing, the government may also consider other external financing options, subject to the applicable legal, regulatory and policy requirements including the Rapid Response Option,’ the National Treasury said in its annual borrowing plan.

The World Bank has set more than 10 conditions to unlock the next Sh94.2 billion ($725 million) DPO tranche, including the disclosure of the personal interests of public officials and the publication of regulations to restrict unsolicited public-private partnerships deals, such as the flopped proposal by the Adani Group to upgrade the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The World Bank approved the disbursement of Sh97 billion ($750 million) from the second tranche of the DPO at the end of June, after it disbursed Sh155 billion ($1.2 billion) in June 2024.

To secure the next disbursement, Kenya faces a series of demands from the World Bank.

Kenya must enact the proposed Whistleblower Protection Act, which seeks to ensure fair competition, value for money, and improved detection of misused funds.

The adoption of the law is expected to anchor declarations of personal interests by public officials, reviewed and verified by the responsible commissions, from a baseline of zero to 85 percent by 2028.

Kenya is also expected to amend the Companies Act of 2015 to align the beneficial ownership registry with updated Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. FATF is an intergovernmental agency that leads global action to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing.

The multilateral also requires changes to the Public Finance Management Act to ensure that any budget adjustments during implementation are strictly aligned with the fiscal aggregates approved by Parliament.

Kenya must also consolidate human resources and payroll data for all ministries, departments and agencies, counties, non-commercial State corporations, commissions and independent offices.

The first set of conditions for the third DPO seeks to improve the efficiency, transparency and equity of public finance, while the second aims to foster competitive and inclusive product and labour markets.

The final set of conditions focuses on strengthening climate action and includes the enactment of the Railways Bill, as well as regulations for the urban transport policy and the e-mobility policy.

Kenya previously requested emergency funding support from the World Bank under the RRO to mitigate the impact of the US war on Iran, but the country failed to detail its spending plans from the disbursement, causing a delay in financing.

The country has since identified the impending El Niño-driven heavy rains and flooding as a key economic risk in 2026 in its pitch for emergency funding from the World Bank.

‘Yes, the government did request the RRO and has gone through the process of signing up for the option. We are currently in the process of figuring out exactly what expenditures the government would like to support during the time of crisis,’ Anne Bakilana, an operations manager at World Bank Kenya, said last month.

‘The vehicle created (to support emergency expenditures) can last up to a year and can finance any emergency that would happen during that period, including health sector emergencies, pandemics and flood emergencies.’

The World Bank is set to remain the key source of external concessional financing over the medium term as Kenya remains in protracted discussions with the IMF for a new funded programme.

Kenya has not budgeted for any new financing from the IMF up to at least June 2030 as it manages expectations of accessing monies from the fund but expects continued access to the World Bank’s DPO facility.

The country is set to continue its push for a new IMF facility shortly as the fund begins to assess the economy’s health under Article IV consultations.

‘Retirement isn’t about stopping; it’s about moving on to something different,’ he says. ‘Besides, people die a few years after retiring not because they’re broke, but because they have nothing to do.’

At 36, with no university degree, he applied for a chief operating officer job. He got it. His pay was doubled. His hours were cut short.

‘I had a level of ‘madness’ or insanity when I was young. I was fearless,’ he says.

Odundo later got a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and an MBA, both from the United States International University; a Postgraduate Certificate in Hospital Management from Leeds University, UK; and a Diploma in Hotel Management from Utalii College were the magic potions needed to turn him into an expert straddling the corridors of a hospital.

By the time he left his CEO position at Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital to head Nairobi Hospital, he was blooming, a man at the height of his powers. Then he was sacked.

‘I had what was essentially a dream job, and I lost it,’ he says. ‘It has been a test of resilience and the unknown. And I realised through that process that I needed more than just seeing my life through my work and family.’

What can you tell us about yourself that can help us understand you better?

I’ve worked in the health sector for over 25 years. There is a common assumption that I must be a medical doctor. But my actual training was in hotel management. I trained for four years and worked in the hotel industry for 11 years before transitioning into healthcare.

People often find it hard to relate those two fields, but I see them as two extremes of looking after people. While hotels focus on voluntary leisure, hospitals focus on ‘repairing’ people and bringing them back to good health.

Why the shift from hotels to hospitals?

Hospitality and hospitals, right? In private healthcare, high-end hospitals are often branded as offering ‘hotel services.’ Patients look at the beds, food, accommodation, and human-focused customer service.

My transition was a career change sparked by a feedback session with a consultant during a staff training programme. He told me that if I ever wanted to leave the hotel industry, I would succeed outside of it. In the mid-90s, I felt my career was stagnating under an expatriate manager, so I looked for new opportunities.

I saw an advertisement for a chief operating officer at a hospital. The description fit me perfectly, but I didn’t meet two key criteria: they wanted someone with an MBA who was at least 40 years old.

At the time, I was 36 and didn’t even have a university degree [chuckles]. However, I applied anyway, got shortlisted, and got the job. It came with double the pay and fewer hours-moving from 18-hour days in hospitality to an eight-to-five job. I used that extra time to go to night school at USIU to earn my undergraduate degree and my MBA.

What did they see in you that made them know you are their guy?

The organisation wanted to transition to a more strategic management style. Hospitals often struggle with ‘headache jobs’ like repairs, maintenance, the kitchen, laundry, and housekeeping because they are so clinically oriented.

As a hospitality-trained manager, I knew how to make those services seamless. I was appointed Deputy CEO and COO with a mandate to run the organisation’s day-to-day operations.

Have you always been that courageous, applying for jobs when you didn’t meet the criteria?

Looking back, I think I had a level of ‘madness’ or insanity when I was young. I was fearless. When I told my late father, a career civil servant who valued job security, that I was leaving hospitality for a smaller, less prestigious healthcare organisation, he was concerned. My dad had been a civil servant engineer who worked for the government all his life, so job security was important.

I told him not to worry and that I would make my own security [chuckles]. My first assignment there, even before finishing my probation, was to restructure the organisation, which involved sending about 50 percent of staff home. I had to lead that change humanely and legally. You’ve got to take those leaps of faith, and maybe that has defined my character.

Did you want to be more like your dad or forge your own path?

I had a rebellious streak. I worked in government ministries during school breaks before my A-level, but I swore I would never work there permanently. I found it inefficient; people would leave their coats on their chairs to look like they were at their desks while they were actually away for hours [chuckles].

I once found a desk full of files that needed to be processed, and this guy who used to sit there would only process one or two files a day. I cleared the whole heap, and I didn’t have work for three months [chuckles]. I also disliked how government pay scales weren’t aligned with effort or responsibility.

I wanted to work somewhere where I could be rewarded for my performance, because the more senior you became, and with inflation, you became more broke. I told myself, I refuse to be broke.

How much of your career was planned and not happenstance?

I changed jobs quite a bit, but it’s only that I used to get promotions every year. In my first job, I worked there for four years. I’d joined as a trainee assistant manager.

Then they said no you’re going to be a departmental head and after some time they changed my title to give me more responsibilities because they could see the way I was working and that I could do more.

And then I was approached by another organisation where I went to work as a senior, but I didn’t stay long because I was getting married, and I needed to relocate to Nairobi for almost a similar role in a new hotel. I had a lot of upward mobility in my life.

What was your mom like?

My mom was a nurse. My parents would allow you to do what you wanted.

As a hospitality man in a hospital, did you ever worry that, especially because you were working as a non-doctor leading doctors, you had to prove yourself?

I was very lucky. I was working with a British CEO, and he said, ‘Look, I’ve arranged for you to go for training.’ So I went to Leeds University to study hospital management.

One of the first things they emphasised was: ‘In hospital management, learn not to do the doctor’s work. You’re there to be the head of the institution.’

If you remember that and keep learning about the details and depth of what healthcare professionals go through, you don’t feel the need to earn their respect by trying to become an expert in obstetrics, paediatrics, or whatever. They spend many years learning those things.

Your job is to appreciate their expertise and help them work better in that environment.

Two significant changes have taken place at BAT Kenya in recent months. Chief executive Crispin Achola left the tobacco manufacturer after three years at the helm, while the company’s chief financial officer also exited.

Mr Sidney Wafula, who had been BAT’s director of finance for East and Southern Africa, replaced Mr Achola.

Two weeks ago, Mr Wafula oversaw his first financial results since taking charge, with revenue rising five percent and profit after tax growing three percent despite pressure from illicit trade and higher operating costs.

We sat down with Mr Wafula after the results to discuss his priorities, illicit cigarettes, modern oral nicotine products, taxation and regulation.

What is your priority as CEO?

My immediate goal is to help with combating the high incidence of illicit trade.

If illicit trade continues to rise, then it becomes quite unsustainable for the business to operate going forward. We have seen the planned closure of the factory in South Africa, where illicit incidence is at 75 percent. Seven and a half out of 10 cigarettes are illicit.

It is unsustainable because you cannot compete. A factory’s efficiency is down to how much throughput comes through it. You have a factory which can deliver, say, 10 billion sticks, but if you are just doing 3.5 billion, your cost base is too high. You are not competitive.

It is also critical because government revenues are under pressure. We estimate that Sh12 billion in taxes, mainly excise and VAT, are not being paid because of illicit trade.

The second priority is continuing to grow modern oral. We acknowledge the harm associated with smoking, and we also acknowledge that it is responsible of us to offer safer alternatives to people who choose to continue taking nicotine.

The third thing is talent. We have gone through changes recently, and it is important that we have strong talent that will deliver on these objectives. The business environment is increasingly complex and dynamic. You need strong people to deliver those results.

Why has government struggled to decisively deal with illicit tobacco?

The opportunity here is to have one, decisive; two, coordinated; and three, sustained enforcement efforts.

We have had some green shoots from government. You read in the press about illicit tobacco being nabbed here and there. The reality is that it is not sustained. That effort is not sustained, it is not decisive and it also isn’t coordinated.

There are quite a lot of agencies that need to be coordinated – security, health and the revenue authority. There is an opportunity to have more decisive and coordinated efforts for a sustained period.

Does corruption form part of the problem?

You are right. Sustained efforts will require you to deal with the root causes, some of which could be corruption.

These sporadic incidents where some traders have been nabbed here trying to cross from Uganda and all that – it is really not decisive. It is not coordinated. It is not sustained. We just need a big, bold move on enforcement because that is the difference.

You have very robust guardrails in terms of regulation today. What is the difference? The difference is enforcing those regulations. What is our biggest illicit problem? It is people who don’t pay taxes. The law is very clear. Enforce it.

How much is Velo contributing to the business at this stage?

It is still one percent of total revenue. We have just restarted the journey in June 2025. We were here before, but because of regulatory uncertainties, we pulled back a bit. The regulatory framework has become a bit clearer, and that is why we came back in 2025.

It is still quite a small, nascent category, but there are plans to grow it. In the medium term, 15 to 20 percent of our revenue should really come from this.

Why is this important? You look at our strategic objective to ‘build a better tomorrow’, and that is really centred on giving our consumers products that have less harm. In our case, it is the modern oral nicotine offer.

Does that mean BAT could revive its modern oral nicotine manufacturing plant in Kenya?

If the conditions are right, I wouldn’t rule out a revival of the factory. A big part of that is just to ensure that there is regulatory certainty, because that was the main reason why we had to pull out of it.

I wouldn’t rule it out. We have already demonstrated in the cigarette industry that we are an export hub, so there is no reason not to do that in modern oral.

But again, a big part of that becomes the regulatory certainty and the competitiveness of Kenya as a manufacturing country.

You said there is more regulatory certainty, but there is also a looming Tobacco Control Bill. How do you view that?

We are seeing more certainty, and that is why we are coming back. But still, with the looming Tobacco Control Bill, what we are trying to put across is that it is important that we have progressive, balanced and evidence-based regulation, certainly around tobacco control, just reflecting the different harm profile of the products.

That is a hurdle we still need to cross. We have to work through it with the regulators by engaging quite transparently and giving them the evidence on why it is important to have regulatory certainty. More importantly, regulation needs to be balanced and progressive. It needs to reflect the profile of the product. I think that will help boost product sales.

What other regulatory headwinds do you see, particularly on taxation?

Based on what I’ve seen over the last three or four years, I’m encouraged by the fact that tax policy on our industry is stable.

There is a clear recognition by government that there is a strong correlation between increasing excise too high and, therefore, government revenue losses.

Why don’t we capitalise on that? For example, say have a three-year roadmap where all manufacturers know for the next three to five years this is what the excise is going to be. With that, we can plan.

If we grow revenue, government grows revenue. The Kenyan economy grows. As simple as that.

How will you engage policymakers?

My approach is simply centred around, firstly, transparency. We have to be very transparent with the regulators.

Secondly, my approach would always be to share my experience. I’ve been in this industry for 20 years, and I’ve worked through different parts of the world. It is my job to share as much as possible – use cases, market research, the paperwork and industry knowledge.

Lastly, it is sharing ideas on what a progressive policy would look like.

For me, it is just openly, transparently sharing my insights and my experience. They have a different view, I have a different view. Let’s share mine, let’s share yours, and let’s come to a conclusion because science is science.

I’m not in politics. I have to accept that. All I can do is share my experience, share the evidence and share proposals, citations, and transparently. I think things never go too far if you are not seen to be transparent.

Equity Group Holdings has acquired an asset management license, joining a growing list of banks seeking to lock in customer deposits through investment in high-earning schemes.

The lender disclosed that it was setting up a stand-alone asset management unit to woo customers seeking higher returns than those offered for fixed deposit accounts.

‘We are working on setting up asset management because we have read the market. The market in the past has relied on banks’ savings accounts, but it looks like now the market wants high-earning assets as opposed to savings,’ Equity Group chief executive James Mwangi said.

‘We’ve obtained a license for asset management, and we think it will be a formidable business, given the brand of Equity, the infrastructure for distributing assets and the IT backbone that we have and our ability to distribute assets that are manufactured even globally,’ he added.

This will be a departure from the current group structure where its collective investment schemes(CIS) are operated under its subsidiary, Equity Investment Bank.

A CIS-commonly known as a unit trust or mutual fund-pools money from many people to buy a shared portfolio of assets such as stocks, bonds, and bank deposits. The funds are managed on behalf of investors by a professional fund manager.

Equity joins other lenders such as Absa Bank, Standard Chartered Kenya, Ecobank Kenya, KCB and I and M Group that have asset management units.

Commercial banks’ average return on savings accounts was 3.32 percent in June, as per the Central Bank of Kenya data, while fixed deposits were offering an average return of 6.84 percent.

Banks usually have a minimum amount for fixed deposits, whose rate is negotiated based on the amount and duration the customer locks the savings with the bank.

Money market funds, which invest primarily in Treasury bills and commercial bank fixed deposits, are offering an average annual return of 8.4 percent, which is lower than that offered by riskier equity funds and special funds. Equity’s unit trust is offering an annual return of 5.22 percent under its money market fund.

The higher returns offered by the collective investment schemes have seen bank customers withdraw savings held in commercial banks to invest with special funds in a move likely to push up the cost of funds for the lenders.

Total assets under management held by the special funds and the money market funds stood at Sh851.7 billion as at the end of March this year, being a 12.6 percent growth from Sh756.3 billion in December 2025, according to the Capital Markets Authority.

Deposits held by commercial banks grew at a slower pace of 3.8 percent over the same three-month period to Sh6.5 trillion.

Commercial banks that have gone into asset management have recorded growth from their units, signalling opportunities for the lenders.

Absa Bank reported a 40 percent growth in its assets under management portfolio to Sh49 billion in the 12 months to June this year.

Assets under Management will provide Equity Group with additional revenue streams from non-banking activities, which include insurance, investment banking and fintech.

Regional paints manufacturer, Crown Paints Kenya Plc, has lost a legal dispute arising from unauthorised painting of a commercial building in Thika with its brands without the property owner’s consent.

The decision sounds a caution to corporates currently in a frenzy to market their brands across the country through mural advertising. Placing physical structures, banners, or paint on a private building without consent violates property rights.

The High Court upheld a Sh3.5 million damages award against the company for using Punjab Engineering Works Ltd’s commercial building for advertising purposes.

The court dismissed Crown’s appeal, finding that Punjab had established trespass by producing its title and photographs showing Crown branding on its commercial property.

The dispute began in 2020 after Punjab, the registered owner of the property, sued the paint manufacturer in the Chief Magistrate’s Court.

Punjab said Crown, through its agents, painted the front of its building for advertising and gained commercial benefit without permission.

Punjab filed the suit seeking a declaration of trespass, general damages, Sh1.4 million in compensatory damages, costs and interest. Crown denied the claim and asked the magistrate to dismiss it.

The case went to a hearing, but Crown did not attend the hearing or call evidence. Punjab’s witness testified that the paint manufacturer had illegally painted Crown Paints branding on the building.

The magistrate awarded Punjab Sh3.5 million as general damages for trespass, plus costs. Crown challenged the decision, arguing that the magistrate had assumed it continued benefiting from the branding and had awarded an excessive amount.

Crown Paint told the High Court that Punjab had not produced any documentary evidence to support their assertion or the Sh1.4 million claimed as special damages. It argued that the appropriate award should have been Sh50,000.

The company also said it had not profited from the paintings and had restored the property to its original condition. It argued that the damages were more serious than supported by legal principles.

Punjab opposed the appeal, saying Crown had not obtained a stay and had partially settled the decree. It argued that the appeal could not be used to delay execution of a valid judgment.

The court rejected Crown’s argument that Punjab had to prove specific financial loss before receiving damages. It said courts can award reasonable damages once trespass is established.

‘It is important to note that once a claim of trespass has been established, the claimant need not prove the specific loss suffered for damages to be awarded,’ the High Court said in the judgment dated July 23, 2026.

The court said the amount of damages may take account of the length of illegal occupation, the nature of the trespass and the trespasser’s conduct.

Crown also argued that the magistrate had improperly treated part of the award as special damages. The

Court rejected that argument, finding that the magistrate had awarded one lump sum rather than tabulated special damages.

The court further found that Crown had failed to rebut Punjab’s evidence at trial. It found no basis to interfere with the award, holding that Sh3.5 million was reasonable after considering the trespass, infringement of the property right, the commercial nature of the building and Crown’s conduct during the trial.

Electricity prices have risen in August, driven by tariff changes to two critical pricing components, piling pressure on homes and businesses already grappling with costly goods and services.

An analysis of the prices shows that Sh1,000 is now fetching 38.8 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in August compared with 40.2kWh for the same amount last month, while consumers are getting 19.4kWh for Sh500 compared to 19.5kWh in July.

The rise in electricity prices in in August is mainly driven by the Fuel Cost Charge (FCC), which rose to Sh3.51 per kWh this month from Sh3.20 for the same units last month, while the forex adjustment fell to Sh1.177 per kWh compared to Sh1.484 in the same period.

Costly electricity increases pressure on consumers already grappling with higher costs of services like transport and goods in the wake of expensive diesel and petrol.

Inflation-a measure of the cost of living-marginally eased to 6.4 percent last month from 6.5 percent in June, mainly on high fuel prices. Costly electricity will dim hopes of further easing the cost of goods and services, given that electricity prices are key in determining inflation.

Forex and FCC are the two biggest fluctuating components in the monthly prices of electricity. The biggest component is the base tariff, which is reviewed every three years and varies across different consumption bands.

FCC covers the cost of using heavy fuel oil and diesel to generate electricity by thermal power plants, while forex covers power purchase agreements and loans denominated in hard currencies like US dollars.

The other pass-through costs used in determining the monthly prices of electricity are inflation adjustment charge, energy regulatory levy, Rural Electrification Authority, a levy for the water regulatory agency and Value Added Tax.

Electricity prices have turned out to be a political nightmare for the government, adding to the headache of costly diesel and petrol.

The government was in June this year forced to freeze a planned rise in electricity prices amid fears of sparking outrage ahead of the elections.

I attended this week’s two-day town hall meeting on the health sector at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), presided over by President William Ruto and here is my take.

My initial inclination was to dismiss the two-day town hall as yet another PR exercise, staged to let Cabinet secretaries, mandarins and governors dazzle the public with propaganda and pipe dreams about the much-maligned Universal Health Coverage programme and its centrepiece, Social Health Authority (SHA).

Yet as I followed the deliberations closely, what struck me most was the robust discussion, the informed exchanges, and the sheer volume of factual information disseminated about the state of play in the health sector-what is happening in front of our noses and in the real world in our health spaces, but which we refuse to acknowledge.

My biggest takeaway, however, did not come from the speeches and presentations by the large gathering of mandarins and politicians in attendance.

Clearly, personal testimony is a powerful communications tool. Of course, it is not beyond cynical mandarins to ferry ordinary citizens to such events to mouth fairy tales about the successes of SHA.

But any discerning and dispassionate observer following the happenings at the town hall-and keenly observing the demeanour and stories of those ordinary folks-would not conclude that the citizens telling stories about how SHA coverage had settled their medical bills were simply a bunch of fakes.

Among the most moving testimonies was that of John Gikonyo, President of the Renal Patients Society of Kenya and a kidney transplant patient, who described how SHA coverage has helped him and many other renal patients meet the cost of dialysis and related care.

The testimony from the manager of Pumwani Maternity Hospital, and from small health facilities in far-flung corners of Lamu County, describing how SHA coverage had improved their operational efficiency, was also compelling.

Together, these testimonies did more to convey the basic facts about the positive impact of the Universal Health Coverage programme than any official presentation could.

If you want to know whether SHA works or not, don’t ask a politician. Ask your next-door neighbour or relative who has just been discharged from hospital.

Universal health care schemes, wherever they are rolled out, tend to generate friction-and Kenya is unlikely to prove the exception. We should never imagine that SHA will ever be free of controversy.

Part of the reason is structural. Universal coverage requires enormous, sustained fiscal commitment, financed through taxes, payroll deductions or premiums that citizens feel directly in their pockets.

It forces governments into trade-offs between the breadth of coverage, the quality of care and the speed with which patients are attended to-trade-offs that inevitably disappoint someone.

And because health touches people at their most vulnerable, disputes over these schemes tend to be far more emotive and personal than, say, arguments over road contracts or telecoms regulation.

One need only look to the United States and Britain to see how durable this friction can be, even in much older, wealthier democracies.

Sixteen years after Obamacare-the Affordable Care Act-was signed into law, most of the American public now views it favourably, yet opinion remains as sharply partisan as ever.

Roughly nine in 10 Democrats hold a favourable view, against a large majority of Republicans who remain opposed-a chasm that has barely narrowed in over a decade, with fresh disputes over premium subsidies and rising costs still dominating the debate.

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) tells a related but distinct story. The NHS is one of the most cherished institutions in British public life, and a large majority of Britons still insist it should be free at the point of use, funded through general taxation and available to everyone.

Yet satisfaction with how the service actually runs has been dismal, falling to a record low of just one in five Britons in 2024 and recovering only modestly to about a quarter in 2025, with services such as accident and emergency care and dentistry remaining stubbornly unpopular.

Britons, in short, love the idea of the NHS; they are far less enamoured with its performance.

The lesson from both cases is the same: broad public support for the principle of universal healthcare can coexist quite comfortably with sharp, persistent dissatisfaction-or outright political division-over the way it is implemented.

We should therefore not be startled that SHA has attracted its share of criticism, nor treat every complaint as proof that the whole programme is failing.

The real test, as with Obamacare and the NHS, will be whether Kenya’s policymakers keep listening to both the testimonies and the grievances, and keep adjusting the scheme accordingly, rather than either dismissing the critics or resting on the applause.

Kevin Bellwood has spent much of his life behind a microphone, on a stage or working with people who want to be on one.

From his early days as a radio presenter in the UK and his 26-year journey through pageantry to his current work building media platforms, podcasts and talent across East Africa as group programme director and media talent director at Play It Loud, Bellwood has made entertainment his career.

Now, he is the national director of Miss Universe Kenya through the pageant’s new license-owner Crown Culture Africa.

Behind the scenes, Bellwood admits the first year at Miss Universe Kenya may not be profitable. They are investing heavily in rebuilding the brand after years of stop-start management and controversy surrounding the Kenyan franchise.

He says the competition is a serious investment as the winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000 (Sh1.3million), a car, a Nairobi apartment for a year and additional sponsorship deals.

‘In the past you’ve had girls fund their own tickets, their own wardrobe, their own food,’ he says.

But behind the glamour and business of showbiz is a more personal story: a childhood spent watching pageants with his mother, a father who taught him discipline and respect through karate, and a humanitarian commitment to children that grew from his years in South Sudan. Unable to have children of his own, Bellwood has instead become a father figure to dozens of children through his charity work – including about 40 who now call him ‘Dad’.

You’ve been involved in pageantry for about 26 years. What first drew you to it?

My mum and I used to watch Miss World on TV.

It was a calendar event. Every first week in December, on a Thursday or at the weekend, it was Miss World. I absolutely loved it. I guess that probably started the process in my head, but it was a few years later, when I was a radio presenter, that I got involved with it. I was asked to judge a pageant in the UK and I loved it.

I started working with the girls, teaching them speech and building their advocacy. For the past three years, I’ve worked with the Miss Uganda girls who go to Miss World, working on their advocacy, speech content and delivery.

What is it about pageantry that has kept you interested for so long?

I’ve always loved pageantry – the glamour of it, the showbiz. I think there are people who run terrible stage pageants in terms of the event. When you go to the event, it’s on for about 12 hours, and you think, ‘Come on, man, we could have got this finished in two and a half hours!’

For me, putting on a great show, I just want to make it good.

You mentioned your father was also involved in karate. What was your relationship with him like?

My dad was 92 when he died. And he was still doing karate at 92, and teaching it.

I got the karate bug from. It keeps you incredibly fit and young as well. I’m a third-dan (or sandan, meaning third-degree black belt) teacher, and I’ve done karate since I was 13.

You don’t have children of your own. Has that shaped the humanitarian work you’ve done with children?

I don’t have children. I’m in a relationship, but I can’t have kids… a bit of an exclusive for you.

But I’m the chairman of a children’s charity in the UK called Confident Children Out of Conflict. I lived in South Sudan for a few years and I started helping and volunteering at an orphanage.

When I left South Sudan, I thought, ‘I can’t leave these kids. I need to do something.’

So I set up a charity in the UK when I went back called Confident Children Out of Conflict UK, and we raised money for street children in South Sudan and also now in Uganda.

Some of the girls who were at the centre were getting to that particular age where uncles would come and knock on the door and say, ‘This is my brother’s daughter. We need to get her married.’ So some of the girls were moved to Uganda and we, obviously with the permission of either the mother or the father, whoever was alive, educated them.

We educated 140 girls and about five or six boys in Uganda, who were predominantly all South Sudanese. And in South Sudan, we educated about a 1,000. We’ve had some really, really good success stories, which we’re really pleased with.

We sent one girl to Canada, she’s now an emergency nurse. We’ve got a girl studying business at Makerere University. There’s another couple of girls who are about to go to university in Dubai.

So, although you don’t have children of your own, you’ve ended up becoming a father figure to many?

I may not have children, but actually I have 40 who always call me and say, ‘Dad, I want this,’ or ‘Dad, I want that.’

What do you make of the world becoming increasingly intolerant of immigrants and people who are seen as different?

I’m glad I live in East Africa. The people in East Africa are lovely. I’ve never, ever, as a white guy, suffered any racism or had people saying, ‘You shouldn’t be in our country.’ Never. You get it in Europe, and it’s terrible.

I think the world has turned to the wrong people, which is really sad.

What’s the most you’ve ever splurged on – something you spent a lot of money on and later thought, ‘Did I really need to spend that much?’

You can’t live on regrets. The only regrets that I ever have are not being there when my mum and my dad died. I was telling somebody a story that I invested a lot of money in retail in the UK, and we were there for 10 years.

The retail business folded after 10 years because of various things – Brexit in the UK, Covid, there was a general election which seemed to go on forever, and people lost confidence in spending.

Someone would regret investing money in something that didn’t work. It worked for a few years, but it didn’t really work. I don’t own a house. I don’t own a car. I get around with cabs.

Who’s your favourite author, or what’s your favourite book?

I’m reading a book which you’ve probably read, The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett. If I had to pick one that would be my current favourite. It’s an easy book just to go into and come out of.