Category: Business Daily

Men are often taught to pitch around profitability while women go around purpose.

It is a simple distinction, but it reveals something much deeper about how we teach both gender to understand ambition. A man presenting a business idea is often encouraged to explain the opportunity: the size of the market, the revenue potential, the margins, the growth trajectory and return an investor can expect.

A woman with an equally ambitious idea is more likely to explain the problem she is solving, the people she will help, the communities she will transform and the social impact she hopes to create.

For too long, women have been taught to make their ambitions useful before they are allowed to monetise them. We are comfortable hearing women speak about purpose, impact, resilience and service. We are less accustomed to hearing them talk, without qualification, about wealth, profitability, valuation, compensation, ownership and return.

This is not an argument against purpose. Purpose matters. Businesses can solve important problems, create employment and transform communities. But purpose should not become the price women have to pay for being taken seriously when they express ambition.

A woman should be able to say that she wants to build a company worth millions because she sees an extraordinary commercial opportunity. She should be able to negotiate a higher salary because she knows the value of her work, seek equity because she wants ownership, or pursue a senior position because she is qualified and wants the authority that comes with it.

She should be able to say that she wants to become wealthy without first explaining what she intends to do with that wealth for everyone else.

There is nothing inherently selfish about wanting to make money. There is, however, something economically dangerous about teaching half the population to be uncomfortable talking about it.

Perhaps nowhere is this contradiction more visible than in the way we support women entrepreneurs. We have become very good at mentoring them.

We have built programmes around leadership, entrepreneurship and confidence, organised networking sessions, pitch competitions and workshops; and encouraged women to develop their personal brands, find mentors and strengthen their communication skills.

These interventions have value. Soft skills matter enormously in business. The ability to communicate, negotiate, build relationships, lead teams and persuade others can determine whether an opportunity is won or lost. But soft skills cannot compensate for a structural shortage of capital, market access or decision-making power.

There comes a point when another workshop is not the missing ingredient.

Women can be over-mentored and underfunded. They can have a mentor, a coach, a business plan and a network and still be unable to buy the equipment required to fulfil a large order. They can know how to pitch and still lack the capital to hire the person they need. They can attend every entrepreneurship seminar in town and still be unable to access a corporate procurement contract.

According to the International Finance Corporation, women-owned small and medium enterprises in emerging markets and developing economies accounted for only 19 percent of outstanding SME loan volume in 2024, despite representing more than a third of MSMEs.

The average loan to a women-owned SME was also 28 percent smaller than the average SME loan. In Kenya, IFC estimates that only about seven percent of women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises have formal access to finance.

These figures should change the emphasis of the conversation. And capital is not only money. It is access to customers, procurement, investors, decision-makers and the networks where large opportunities are discussed before they become public.

A woman does not need another introduction if the person she has been introduced to has no authority to open a door. She needs access to the person who can.

Perhaps the next phase of women’s economic empowerment should involve less instruction on how to make ambition palatable and more education on how to make ambition economically powerful.

The questions we ask matter

The financing gap is also about how commercial potential is perceived. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that investors asked male and female entrepreneurs systematically different kinds of questions.

Men were more likely to receive promotion-focused questions about aspirations, achievements and gains, while women were more likely to receive prevention-focused questions about risks, losses and safeguards.

The distinction is subtle but consequential. One entrepreneur is invited to describe how large the opportunity can become; the other is asked primarily to explain how she will avoid failure.

This does not mean every investor consciously discriminates against women, nor does it mean women should simply learn to behave more like men. It does, however, demonstrate that gender can influence the frame through which commercial potential is assessed.

Women should therefore become more comfortable presenting their businesses as commercial propositions. Not because purpose is irrelevant, but because purpose alone does not establish viability. A strong pitch should be able to answer both questions: why does this matter, and why will it make money?

This is also an employment story

The same issue extends beyond entrepreneurship. We have become so accustomed to speaking about women’s economic empowerment through the language of entrepreneurship that we sometimes forget that economic ambition also lives in employment.

Yet women are often encouraged to frame these ambitions through their usefulness to others. We ask how they will mentor younger women, create opportunities or become role models.

Those are worthwhile outcomes, but they should not displace the economic questions: What is her work worth? What should she be paid? What level of responsibility should she hold? What ownership should she have? What wealth can she build?

The World Bank estimates that women accounted for 47.4 percent of Kenya’s labour force in 2025. Participation, however, is not the same as economic power. The quality of employment, remuneration, security, progression and access to leadership determine whether participation translates into genuine economic independence.

A woman should not have to explain that she wants a promotion because she wants to inspire other women.

Perhaps she wants it because she is qualified and wants the authority that comes with it. She should not have to justify negotiating a higher salary by explaining how the additional income will support her family. Perhaps she simply wants to be compensated according to the value she creates.

This is not selfishness. It is economic agency.

We need a different kind of fluency

Perhaps the next phase of women’s economic empowerment should involve less instruction on how to make ambition palatable and more education on how to make ambition economically powerful.

Women should certainly learn to communicate, negotiate, build relationships, lead teams and present themselves with confidence.

But alongside these skills, they need the harder commercial vocabulary of financial statements, pricing, valuation, equity, investment and capital. An entrepreneur should know her margins and understand what it costs to acquire a customer. A professional should understand her market value.

A senior executive should understand the financial performance of the organisation she leads. A founder should be able to explain not only why her product matters, but why customers will pay for it and why the opportunity can scale.Soft skills open doors. Commercial fluency determines what you can negotiate once you are inside.

We should therefore be careful about an empowerment model that teaches women how to speak confidently in rooms without teaching them how the economics of those rooms work.

Confidence is valuable, but confidence without financial literacy can still leave a person negotiating from a position of weakness.

Networking cannot substitute for access to capital, and mentorship cannot substitute for an actual opportunity.

Purpose and profit belong at the same table

We should also reconsider the way we celebrate women when they succeed. We are quick to describe successful women as inspirational, resilient, selfless, community-minded or empowering. These qualities may be entirely deserved, but sometimes they obscure the achievement itself.

A woman who builds a profitable company has built a profitable company. A woman who negotiates a significant salary has negotiated her value. A woman who accumulates wealth has accumulated wealth. These achievements do not require an additional moral explanation before they become legitimate.

A successful man is often allowed to simply be successful. His company grew. His valuation increased. He acquired another company. He built wealth. We rarely ask whether his ambition was sufficiently altruistic.

Women deserve the same freedom.

The answer is not to replace purpose with profit. It is to refuse the false choice between them. A business can be deeply purposeful and fiercely commercial.

A company can create jobs, solve a social problem and generate extraordinary returns. A professional can care deeply about meaningful work and still negotiate hard for compensation. An entrepreneur can want to transform her community and become wealthy from doing it.

There is no contradiction. Indeed, the strongest form of purpose may be one that is commercially sustainable. A profitable organisation has more capacity to employ people, innovate, withstand shocks, expand into new markets and continue pursuing the work that gave it purpose in the first place. Purpose may be the reason a business exists, but commercial discipline is what allows it to endure.

This is why the language we use matters. If we continue telling women that their greatest contribution is the impact they make on everyone around them, we risk overlooking their ability to accumulate economic power for themselves.

We need to talk about women owning companies, not simply starting them; entering supply chains, not simply attending networking events; being promoted, not simply mentored; and accumulating assets, not simply earning incomes.

The real test of empowerment is not how many women have been trained, mentored or invited into rooms, but what those interventions enable them to do once they leave them.

A woman who emerges from a programme with greater confidence but no greater access to capital, markets, decision-making or economic security has gained something valuable, but the structural barrier remains.

We should be interested in the conversion of support into economic power: whether knowledge becomes enterprise, whether networks become opportunity, whether employment becomes advancement, and whether income ultimately becomes ownership and wealth.

This is where the conversation needs to become more ambitious. We should not be satisfied with preparing women for opportunities that remain scarce or inaccessible. We should be equally concerned with changing the systems through which capital, contracts, promotions and investment are allocated.

Otherwise, we risk becoming very sophisticated at preparing women for rooms in which the most important decisions about their economic futures are still being made without them.

Women do not need to be taught that their ambitions should matter. They need to be taught that their ambitions are allowed to matter to them.

So the next time a woman walks into a room to pitch an idea, let her tell us why the problem matters, whom it will help and what difference it will make. But let her also tell us the size of the market, what customers will pay, what the margins look like, what the business is worth, what she needs and what return she expects.

She should not have to choose between being purposeful and being profitable.

Purpose may tell us why something matters. Profit determines whether it can endure. Women deserve to be fluent in both.

Kenya Airways’ (KQ) losses are projected to widen in the half-year to June 2026, as a 72 percent surge in fuel costs due to the Middle East conflict compounded the impact of prolonged aircraft groundings and maintenance delays.

The national carrier said its operating environment has worsened this year due to the US-Israel war against Iran, which has not only raised its fuel consumption due to rerouting of aircraft, but also raised its spending on fuel by up to 72 percent.

Fuel costs now account for up to 55 percent of the carrier’s costs, up from about 40 percent last year, compounding the effects of prolonged fleet groundings that began last year due to a global aircraft parts shortage.

‘The fuel price increase was significant. We have seen a 72 percent price increase in fuel prices since the beginning of the war,’ acting CEO George Kamal said.

The new rise in fuel costs is projected to squeeze the carrier into deeper losses this year, delaying its efforts to return to profit as it seeks a strategic investor to expand its operations.

KQ will release its half-year performance next week. Mr Kamal revealed that its revenues have improved compared to the first half of 2025, supported by growing demand and improved load factors on its long-haul routes to European and US destinations.

The carrier’s revenues in the half-year to June 2025 dropped by 18 percent to Sh74.5 billion from Sh91.4 billion a year earlier, squeezed by the prolonged grounding of its fleet, reducing its available seat capacity.

Its net earnings slid into a loss of Sh12.2 billion from a profit of Sh513 million the previous year, as costs posted a near-flat decrease to Sh86.7 billion from Sh90.9 billion a year earlier.

Last year, the carrier said it operated at about 20 percent less capacity, with at least three of the largest planes in its fleet at the time-the Boeing 787 Dreamliners-being down for maintenance throughout the year.

This year, the carrier has had about nine of its 34 airplanes grounded, including two Dreamliners and two Boeing 737s, further compounding its operational challenges.

Despite the challenges, KQ has reported improved demand and passenger numbers, as the Middle East conflict diverted many passengers previously lifted by giant Gulf carriers through Nairobi and Africa.

Its load factor-the percentage of seats taken up by paying customers-on major routes to Europe and the US has persistently been above 90 percent since the war broke out, up from an average of 70 percent last year, Kamal said.

Demand on intra-African routes also remained buoyant, with load factors averaging 75 percent, defying the rise in air fares caused by the increment in fuel costs.

‘We are not struggling on demand [on intra-African routes]; we are struggling on capacity and aircraft. We need aircraft,’ said Mr Kamal.

The capacity constraints have forced the carrier to suspend some intra-Africa routes and reduce frequency on others. Direct flights to Douala, Cameroon, for instance, were suspended in June, and the Abidjan route was reduced from six weekly flights to 3 to manage the shrinking capacity.

A scramble is underway for chief executive positions in plum parastatals in the energy sector, which is currently awash with mega projects valued billions of shillings aimed at boosting Kenya’s electricity production and supply.

The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) on Tuesday invited interested candidates to apply for the company’s CEO role, while the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) advertised its vacant position of Director-General.

This comes barely a week after the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock) also invited candidates to fill its CEO position and replace Leparan Morintat, whose six-year tenure has ended.

The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company also opened the race for its CEO job in April, and the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) in May invited applicants for its Managing Director position.

The vacancies at KenGen, Nock, GDC, Epra and Ketraco are due to varied reasons, including resignations, run-out contracts as well as sackings.

‘KenGen, a market leader in the provision of renewable energy solutions and the largest geothermal power producer in Africa, is seeking to recruit qualified and result-oriented individuals to fill the following positions: Managing Director and CEO,’ KenGen said on Tuesday.

Peter Njenga, the outgoing CEO and Managing Director of KenGen, has attained the retirement age of 60 years, locking him out of the running for a second and final term of three years.

Daniel Kiptoo and Joe Sang resigned as the Director- General of Epra and Kenya Pipeline Company, respectively in April in the wake of a controversial importation of petrol outside the Government-to-Government framework.

Most of the CEO/Managing Director positions in State-owned firms have three-year tenures, renewable once, subject to performance.

Stephen Busieney and Kipkemoi Kibias are currently the acting CEO/Managing Director of GDC and Ketraco, respectively. The two took over the roles last year.

Mr Busieney replaced Paul Ngugi after the State opted not to renew his three-year term, while Mr Kibias took over at Ketraco after the sacking of John Mativo in September last year.

The new CEOs/Managing Directors will be tasked with delivering multibillion-shilling projects considered key to bolstering Kenya’s electricity supply security.

For example, KenGen is eyeing $4.3 billion (Sh556.9 billion) projects that will add 1,500Megawatts (MW) of renewable energy and deploy 500 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage by 2034.

Records show that KenGen is advancing major renewable energy projects, upgrading its oldest geothermal assets, and expanding a massive green energy pipeline targeting a 5,500MW capacity by 2034.

Key highlights include upgrading the Olkaria I geothermal plant in Naivasha to reach up to 63.3MW, scaling up the Olkaria Green Energy Park, and recalibrating its long-term strategic growth framework.

Ketraco is also set to deliver Kenya’s first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) funded electricity transmission lines valued at $311 million (Sh40.26 billion) in a deal with Africa50 and Power Grid Corporation of India.

GDC is pushing to get independent power producers to build geothermal power plants with a combined capacity of 300 Megawatts (MW) in the Paka, Silali and Suswa by 2032.

Development of the Olkaria, Menengai, and Suswa fields is part of the State’s ambitious plan to more than double geothermal capacity from the current 940MW to 1,824MW by 2030 as part of the transition to a 100 percent clean national grid.

The High Court has opened a fresh Constitutional battle over whether a sitting member of the Public Service Commission (PSC) can become chairperson of the same commission without breaching the Constitution’s six-year tenure limit.

The court declined to strike out a petition challenging Francis Meja’s appointment as PSC chairperson, holding that the dispute raises a Constitutional question that previous courts have not determined.

The case concerns Article 250(6)(a), which limits a member of a Constitutional commission or holder of an independent office to a maximum aggregate period of six years, unless serving ex officio.

The petitioners, Magare Gikenyi and Eliud Karanja Matindi, argue that the limit cannot be avoided by moving from commissioner to chairperson within the same commission.

Mr Meja says his February 2026 appointment to the PSC chairmanship was a fresh employment to a distinct constitutional office.

He joined the PSC as a commissioner in January 2025 and became the chairperson after one year through a fresh appointment.

Parliament approved his nomination as chairperson on February 25, 2026, after its Labour Committee vetted him despite questions over his eligibility because he was already a commissioner.

President William Ruto appointed him for six years on February 27, 2026, and he was sworn in on March 4.

This triggered a petition in court asking whether changing positions within the PSC can extend service beyond six years under the Constitution’s six-year tenure framework.

Mr Meja asked the court to terminate the case, arguing that two earlier High Court decisions had settled the dispute.

However, the court rejected that argument. It said the earlier PSC case involved people who had completed terms in other commissions before joining the PSC, rather than serving PSC commissioners seeking different offices within the same commission.

‘The observation that the bar is against ‘reappointment within the same commission’ was made in the course of rejecting an argument that the bar extends across different commissions,’ the court said.

It added that the earlier judgment had not resolved an actual dispute involving an intra-commission appointment.

‘Two disputes may both concern the proper construction of Article 250(6)(a) of the Constitution of Kenya, without being the same ‘matter’ for res judicata purposes, where the operative facts giving rise to the alleged constitutional breach are materially different,’ the court said.

The court also rejected Mr Meja’s argument that the petitioners should have raised the issue earlier. It said the dispute did not exist because the relevant appointments had not occurred.

‘A party cannot be faulted for failing to raise an issue that had not yet arisen and subsequently not presented before the trial court,’ it said.

The judge also declined to label the petition an abuse of court process, finding that it raises a distinct constitutional question that remains unadjudicated.

‘The petitioners’ Petition on Article 250(6)(a) of the Constitution, which safeguards the integrity of constitutional commissions generally, cannot be characterised as frivolous, vexatious, or an abuse of the court process,’ the court ruled.

The ruling leaves the constitutional question for determination: whether a chairperson’s appointment within an existing commission starts a separate tenure or counts toward the member’s existing six-year limit.

The dispute follows earlier litigation by Gikenyi and Matindi over PSC appointments. In August 2025, the High Court held that Article 250(6)(a) did not bar a person who had served in one constitutional commission from joining another because each commission is a distinct legal entity.

That decision addressed movement between commissions, while the present petition concerns movement within one commission.

The Parliamentary Labour Committee also recommended a Constitutional amendment to Article 250(6), saying the provision needed clarity on the six-year single term and whether it could be served in another commission or independent office.

The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NWSC) has warned that the suspension of Tata Chemicals Magadi’s operations could disrupt water treatment in the capital.

The utility firm said its three main water treatment plants use soda ash to control the level of hydrogen ions in water, commonly referred to as pH. NWSC revealed that it relies on Tata Chemicals Magadi for more than 360 tonnes of soda ash every month.

‘The Magadi facility… shutdown converts a routine, low-risk water treatment step into an emergency requiring substitute chemicals, new water treatment chemical dosing equipment and intensified water quality monitoring,’ the utility said.

Water pH measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in water, indicating how acidic or alkaline it is. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. pH values less than 7 indicate acidity, whereas a pH of greater than 7 indicates a base.

Magadi is the only domestic manufacturer of natural soda ash in Kenya. Nairobi Water uses the chemical to adjust the pH of treated water and stabilise it against corrosion in distribution networks.

The High Court last week declined to lift the July 28 suspension of Tata Chemicals Magadi’s operations over a licensing and compliance dispute with the government. Tata Chemicals’ dispute centres around alleged royalty obligations and compliance with licensing, export reporting, community agreements, local employment and environmental rules.

The government says the company does not hold a current mining licence because its application was still being processed.

It also says the firm received several notices over alleged royalty arrears. The firm denies owing royalties.

The High Court last week declined to lift the firm’s suspension, ruling that the decision had already taken effect when the mining company moved to court.

Nairobi Water has warned the shutdown leaves utilities relying on costly imports because there is no other known operating natural soda ash source in East Africa.

The utility said the locally available hydrated lime is not a matching substitute to soda ash because it can increase the risk of line scaling and blockage, pH swings, elevated turbidity, residual aluminium and higher maintenance and safety burdens.

‘One key advantage (of soda ash) over other locally available alternative alkalis is that it dissolves fully into a true solution, allowing for precise, stable dosing,’ Nairobi Water said.

Last week, the court said it was not required at this stage to determine the merits of the dispute. The case is expected to return to court on October 6.

Tata Chemicals is also involved in a separate Supreme Court case with the Kajiado County Government over land rates and royalties, with the county demanding Sh17.45 billion for alleged arrears between 2013 and 2018.

Absa Group says it bought 189.38 million shares from the bank’s minority shareholders from the 895.9 million stocks the multinational had offered to purchase, representing a 21.1 percent subscription.

It got the shares, equivalent to a 3.49 percent stake in Absa Kenya, from 2,045 shareholders out of the 66,771 minority investors in the Kenyan bank.

Absa Group, which held around 68.5 percent of Absa Bank Kenya, offered Sh34.50 per share to buy stocks from minority investors in a transaction that was expected to lift its stake by up to 16.5 percent.

But 64,726 minority shareholders skipped the tender offer, leaving Sh24.4 billion of Sh30.8 billion of war chest that Absa has set aside for snapping the shares on the table.

Analysts linked the under-subscription to the surge in Absa’s share price at the Nairobi bourse, which narrowed the premium that the South African multinational had offered in the tender.

Absa stock opened trading at Sh29.20 at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on June 19, the day its parent firm announced the tender offer, which closed on August 11.

The share stood at Sh33.65 on August 11 and closed trading at Sh34.40 on Wednesday.

‘The offer appears to have underperformed mainly because shareholders viewed the offer price of Sh34.5 as insufficient relative to Absa’s earnings potential, dividend track record and the stock’s recent price appreciation,’ argued James Kinya, research and global markets analyst at Rock Investment Bank.

‘Looking at the current share price, the premium appeared less compelling and thus minority investors had little incentive to give up future upside. Moreover, the offer also gave larger shareholders less certainty that all shares they tendered would be accepted, which may have further reduced their willingness to participate,’ added Mr Kinya.

The bank on Tuesday more than doubled its interim dividend to Sh0.50 per share despite reporting a 9.8 percent decline in net profit for the half year ended June 2026.

The lender reported a net profit of Sh10.5 billion in the half year to June, down from Sh11.6 billion posted in a similar period last year.

Its management attributed the profit drop to a lower interest rate regime, one-off costs and a slump in forex earnings.

Absa Group will earn Sh1.95 billion from the interim dividend for the 71.99 percent stake.

South African banks have been stepping up acquisitions in East Africa, filling a vacuum left by retreating European banks ?and riding a wave of increased continental trade and investments into energy and infrastructure.

South Africa’s slow growth and mature sector are pushing its biggest banks to expand elsewhere.

Nedbank agreed earlier this year to acquire a majority stake in Kenya’s NCBA, beating South African rival Standard Bank, which operates in Kenya as Stanbic, to the prize.

Kenya’s appeal lies in its gateway role to the East African Community, a fast growing bloc expanding by at least 5.0 percent a year.

Absa is likely to return to shareholders with an improved offer, having identified the acquisition as a key to widening its presence in the retail market.

In its offer document, the group also left open the option of acquiring additional shares through open market trades or a new, improved tender should the offer fail to hit its target.

‘Absa Group reserves the right, subject to obtaining any necessary approvals from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) or any other relevant regulatory authorities…to launch one or more additional tender offers in relation to Absa Kenya, or otherwise to acquire additional shares through on-market transactions in Absa Kenya, following the close of the tender offer,’ Absa Group said in its tender offer document.

Should the bank exercise its right to approach Absa Kenya shareholders again for more shares, it would mirror the actions of rival South African lender Standard Bank when it acquired an additional 15 percent stake in Stanbic Kenya from 2018 at a cost of more than Sh5 billion.

Standard Bank launched its tender offer in May 2018, seeking an additional 59 million shares at a price of Sh95 apiece that would have raised its holding in Stanbic from 60 percent to 75 percent.

The offer failed to hit its target after getting an extra 8.01 percent at the closing period, raising ownership to 68 percent.

The bank later sought and obtained approval from the CMA to bridge the gap to 75 percent through open market share purchases.

It bought the additional shares over the next four years, ultimately hitting the 75 percent target in May 2022.

“Kenya is a strategically important market for Absa Group and remains central to our East Africa growth ambitions,” Charles Russon, Absa’s group executive for Africa ?regions, said earlier.

He added the proposal reflected confidence in the bank’s leadership, strategy and long-term growth prospects, as well as Absa’s commitment to supporting Kenya’s economy.

Absa Group, South Africa’s third-biggest lender by assets, said it intends to maintain Absa Kenya’s listing on ?the NSE after the transaction.

The group added it does not plan to alter the bank’s business strategy, management team, staffing levels or day-to-day operations.

Absa’s Africa Regions ?business contributed 31 percent to group headline earnings in 2025.

That same year, Kenya contributed about 19 percent of the profits in the Africa regions portfolio.

Car and General has joined a select group of stocks at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) that have recorded triple-digit percentage gains in the last three years, offering relief to owners who sat on low valuations during the bourse’s prolonged bear run between 2015 and 2023.

The diversified trading company with interests in mobility, engines, poultry, property and other goods, has reported higher profits and dividend payouts this year, adding fuel to the price rally that set off just over a year ago.

It announced a four-fold growth in net profit to Sh2.6 billion in the six months to June, from Sh637 million in the first half of 2025. The company raised its interim dividend to Sh1 per share from Sh0.30 a year ago.

‘The first round of speculation from mid-2025 was about the value of the company’s property assets, where a back of the envelope calculation showed that the stock was trading below the value of the assets,’ said Wesley Manambo, a senior research associate at Standard Investment Bank.

‘With the core business doing well and the company reporting higher profits, the momentum has carried on as more investors jump in to speculate on the stock.’

As the share price continues to rise, so has investor activity on the stock, indicating that demand is going up even as those who have booked large capital gains cash out to book the profits.

In July, the stock was trading an average of 5,200 shares per day, with weekly volumes settling at between 17,000 and 36,000 shares.

In August, the weekly volumes rose to between 90,000 shares and 208,000 shares, with a daily average number of shares traded of 34,500 shares.

Since the beginning of 2024, companies such as East Africa Portland Cement (EAPC), Kenya Power, Uchumi Supermarkets, Africa Mega Agricorp (formerly trading as Kenya Orchards) and KenGen have led the market with gains of between 400 percent and 1,500 percent.

These gains were driven primarily by local retail investors who have made a gradual return to the market as share prices lifted from the previous bear run. Retailers are likelier to speculate on stocks that are seen to be within reach due to low nominal share prices, even when there is a risk of losses due to some companies having weak fundamentals.

Others with outsized gains of more than 100 percent in the period include Home Afrika, HFCB, Flame Tree Group, Britam Holdings, and the NSE.

Large cap firms Safaricom, KCB Group, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, I and M Group have also seen their share prices go up by more than 100 percent within the past two years, boosting the overall valuation of the bourse to a record Sh4.08 trillion from Sh1.44 trillion at the beginning of 2024.

The same sun, the same solar technology, but radically different financing costs: renewable energy capital costs are about three times higher in Africa than in Europe, making clean energy more expensive before a single panel is installed.

Africa faces a profound energy paradox. It has vast untapped renewable potential, from geothermal resources to abundant solar radiation, yet accounts for only 4 percent of global energy consumption. About 570 million people still live without electricity, while 923 million lack access to affordable clean cooking technologies.

Clean energy is increasingly becoming the cheaper option as technology costs fall. Between 2010 and 2024, the levelised cost of electricity fell by about 90 percent for solar photovoltaic and 93 percent for battery storage.

Yet Africa, home to 20 percent of the world’s population and its youngest population, receives only 2 percent of global renewable energy investment. In 2022, clean energy spending was about $25 billion, far below what is needed to achieve universal energy access and global climate goals.

The problem is largely financial. Renewable energy projects in Africa face financing costs two to four times higher than similar projects in Europe or North America.

Kenya, for example, receives far more solar radiation than Germany, giving it a natural advantage in solar generation. Yet Germany has attracted significantly more renewable energy investment.

The weighted average cost of capital for renewable energy projects averages about 12 percent in Africa, compared with 3.8 percent in Europe. Investors demand higher returns to compensate for perceived continental risk. Consequently, the cost of money often outweighs the cost of technology.

The irony is stark. Africa possesses about 80 percent of the world’s platinum reserves, 50 percent of cobalt and 40 percent of manganese-minerals essential to the clean-energy transition-yet pays a premium for renewable technologies.

Africa’s challenge is therefore not a technology deficit but a financing deficit. Governments must strengthen institutions, improve policy and regulatory frameworks, reduce investment risks and mobilise cheaper, longer-term capital.

Lowering the risk premium would unlock investment, expand energy access and enable Africa to capture greater value from the global clean energy transition.

Key among this is the shift to defined contribution pension schemes where members’ benefits are informed by investment returns.

Therefore, for every shilling not remitted, a member loses the principal but also years of compounded investment income they can never recover.

The inference of this is that employers should put a deliberate effort to remit on time so as not to jeopardise the wellbeing of their employees. Data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) shows that unremitted contributions across Kenya’s retirement benefits sector stood at Sh73.14 billion in December 2025. These figures include real deductions taken from workers payslips that were never transferred to the schemes meant to grow and safeguard them.

The credibility of the sector rests on employers’ remittance as a non-negotiable obligation rather than a discretionary expense to be deferred when budgets tighten. When a payroll deduction are directed towards other pressing costs, it implies that quietly borrowing from their own employees’ futures, without consent and without collateral.

It is worth reflecting on what the Sh73.14 billion represents, not just as unpaid contributions but as a foregone investment income. Pensions schemes do not hold members contributions in cash. Schemes invest members’ contributions in line with the investment guidelines issued by the RBA, and as per individual scheme’s prudent investment policy.

Had the Sh73.14 billion been remitted to pension schemes, it would have been invested in a mix of assets classes including government securities, equities, immovable property, offshore, private equity and other alternatives. This will in turn deepen the capital markets and propel economic development arising from pension savings.

Applying the industry’s reported investment performance for the period, in which the sector’s investment income reached Sh291.5 billion against an asset base of Sh2.5 trillion, that Sh73.14 billion would have generated Sh8.4 billion in investment income, an 11.5 per cent return.

Assessing the performance of this portfolio using reported industry actual asset class returns, the assets would have generated 13 percent in Government securities, 10 per cent in guaranteed funds, 48.9 per cent in quoted equities, 6 percent in immovable property and 11.5 percent in offshore and other alternatives. Members would have earned Ksh11.48 billion in investment income, a 15.7per cent blended return.

This dimension of the remittance gap thrusts workers trust of the pension system in the balance. Trust is the single most important asset a pension scheme holds, perhaps even more than the assets under management. Workers who discover at retirement that their years of deductions were never remitted do not simply lose money, they lose faith in their employers and pension schemes.

Pension schemes have a duty to press for full and timely remittance from employers, but we also have a duty to be transparent to our own members about compliance levels. Members trust should be earned through visibility rather than assumed through silence.

RBA has proposed a statutory clearance mechanism in which sponsoring employers would only access disbursements or statutory funds from the National Treasury upon proof of full compliance with their remittance obligations. RBA has also proposed enhancing penalties and personal liability for the accounting officers responsible for defaults.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (amendment) Bill, 2026, would extend to KRA the enforcement toolkit it already applies to tax defaulters.

This means the Government is moving to treat an unremitted pension contribution with the same rigour as it treats an unpaid tax bill.

Closing this remittance gap will require three things working in harmony.

First, proactive enforcement so that the cost of non-remittance is higher than the short-term convenience of withholding a remittance.

Second, personal accountability so that non-remittance is not hidden behind institutional anonymity. Third, pension schemes need to embrace transparency to members so that members can access the contributions history.

The profit drop follows a 34.8 percent decline in interest earned from government securities, with the lender having reduced its investment in Treasury bills and bonds to Sh96.9 billion from Sh103 billion a year earlier.

StandChart increased its lending to the productive private sector, with its loan book growing 11.1 percent to Sh169.2 billion, faster than the 6.4 percent expansion of its deposit base to Sh309.1 billion.

This comes at a time when private sector lending in the country rose to 10.4 percent in June following an aggressive push by the Central Bank to lower interest rates and spur borrowing.

‘Total interest income declined 17.5 percent, driven by lower income from government securities and loans and advances amid declining interest rates,’ said Sterling Capital in a note to investors.

‘Net interest income fell 19.8 percent to Sh12.3bn, as the decline in interest income was not offset by a meaningful reduction in interest expense,’ added the note.

StanChart’s total operating expenses declined during the period, driven by lower loan loss provisions as its gross non-performing loans improved 6.5 percent to Sh9 billion.

StanChart is the second large international lender, after Absa, to increase its interim dividend despite a profit drop.

StanChart has disclosed intentions to sell some of its property holdings as it scales back physical presence in the country in favour of digital banking.

Some of the properties on sale include its headquarters, the Chiromo Building located in Westlands, which was valued by the lender at Sh1.411 billion.

The bank announced it sold its iconic Treasury Square building in Mombasa and the Nyeri branch last year.