Category: Business Daily

President William Ruto administration plans to use borrowing and repayment behaviour records to determine who qualifies for higher Hustler Fund limits, a move aimed at converting an estimated 10 million repeat borrowers into bankable customers.

The new system will build on the Fund’s existing credit scoring by incorporating alternative data and potentially the history of borrowing from banks, Saccos, mobile lenders and other financial institutions.

The State Department for MSMEs Development says it will pilot alternative-data use by analysing the financial behaviour of recurrent borrowers to inform enhanced credit limits, new products and refinancing opportunities.

”The sub-sector will leverage on the Financial Inclusion Fund (Hustler Fund) to pilot the use of alternative data by analysing financial behaviors of recurrent borrowers with enhanced credit limits,’ the department says in its draft 2027/28-2028/29 Medium Term Expenditure Framework report.

‘Insights from this pilot will inform product innovation, graduation pathways and refinancing opportunities.’

The plan represents the next stage in a credit-scoring system that was expanded in December 2024 when President Ruto launched the Bridge Loan product. The product allowed qualifying borrowers to access up to three times their existing Hustler Fund limit at the unchanged annual interest rate of 8 percent, while extending repayment from 14 to 30 days.

Bridge borrowers were placed into nine credit-score categories based on their borrowing and repayment behaviour, with consistently good borrowers receiving the highest ratings.

Borrowers with an A1 rating were considered excellent, while C3 represented the weakest creditworthiness on the platform.

The Ruto administration now wants to move beyond Hustler Fund’s own repayment records by using wider financial behaviour to establish who can safely handle more credit.

‘The reason we came up with Bridge product is to start giving our good borrowers some banking experience, so that from there they can now graduate to the commercial banking sector,’ Principal Secretary for MSMEs Susan Mang’eni said recently.

Ms Mang’eni said the government is working with banks, the Africa Guarantee Fund and credit reference bureaus to strengthen behavioural credit ratings using alternative data.

‘We are working together, and we are seeing how we can now concretise these behavioural credit rating and building it up with alternative data mapping,’ she said.

The result is to develop to develop a national credit score that could help borrowers move into the formal financial system.

‘This national credit score is going to become a collateral to help these people to graduate to formal financial system where they can be served to higher loan limit,’ she said.

The proposed system could allow a borrower’s financial behaviour outside Hustler Fund to guide future access to credit.

The State Department is working with the Central Bank of Kenya, Kenya Bankers Association, credit reference bureaus, Safaricom, Sacco regulators and other industry players on the alternative-data framework.

The department says the exercise has identified potential sources of alternative data and proposed consumer-led, consent-based mechanisms for sharing information beyond traditional credit bureaus.

When Hustler Fund was launched, more than eight million borrowers had reportedly been listed by Credit Reference Bureaus, according to the State Department.

Ruto administration insists that 4.5 million borrowers who had previously been listed have earned A and B ratings through consistent and timely repayment.

More than 10 million Kenyans are also repeat borrowers, creating a large pool whose financial behaviour can potentially be used to assess eligibility for larger facilities.

The commercial banking sector is already using insights from Hustler Fund’s lending system to expand digital credit.

KCB Group’s mobile lending rose 30 percent to Sh544 billion in 2025, equivalent to about Sh1.5 billion a day, with the lender attributing part of the growth to the data and credit-scoring infrastructure developed around Hustler Fund.

‘We created the platform and helped with the credit scoring, and the money comes from the government because they are the ones lending,’ KCB Finance Director Lawrence Kimathi said in March.

He said the system allowed borrowers requesting mobile loans to receive funds within seconds, supported by the platform’s stability and data generated through Hustler Fund.

The government is seeking to expand this model as annual lending to women, youth and people with disabilities has declined from Sh22.27 billion in 2023/24 to Sh17.94 billion in 2024/25 and Sh16.52 billion in 2025/26.

Although each amount exceeded the department’s Sh10 billion annual target, the decline underscores the challenge of expanding credit while ensuring larger loans go to borrowers with evidence of their ability to repay.

Cumulative revolving credit issued under Hustler Fund has reached Sh88.92 billion, according to the State Department.

The new scoring system is intended to help solve that problem by distinguishing borrowers according to their actual financial behaviour rather than treating customers with limited formal credit histories alike.

For borrowers, this could make repayment records across different financial institutions increasingly important in determining how much they can access.

The ultimate test will be whether better credit information helps borrowers move beyond repeated small digital loans into larger, productive financing.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s recent call for practical reforms and stronger government-private sector partnership to unlock investment in the maritime sector is timely and necessary.

Maritime transport carries more than 90 percent of Kenya’s external trade. With the Port of Mombasa’s throughput projected to reach between 52 million and 61 million tonnes by 2030, Kenya needs a clear regulatory framework for maritime transport services.

It needs rules that protect cargo owners interests, promote Kenyan participation and hold operators accountable without discouraging investment, competition or innovation.

Presently, maritime transport services are regulated under the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), Act, 2006 which established KMA as the sector regulator and the Merchant Shipping Act, 2009 which provides the framework for merchant shipping and maritime service providers.

However, provisions on KMA’s powers, tariffs, local ownership and commercial integration require greater precision. Unclear rules create compliance costs, invite inconsistent enforcement and expose regulators and businesses to litigation.

One of the most contentious issues under the 2024 regulations is local participation and ownership.

The Fourth Schedule requires local shipping lines, ship agents and cargo consolidators to operate through joint ventures with Kenyan nationals in which foreigners are minority shareholders. The practical effect is majority Kenyan ownership; although the Regulations do not state a precise percentage or clearly define how ownership, voting rights and beneficial control are measured.

Increasing Kenyan participation is a legitimate policy objective. However, rigid ownership rules could discourage foreign investment, restrict competition and create barriers to entry without necessarily improving trade facilitation. A better approach would focus on whether an operator is properly regulated, financially and technically capable, compliant with Kenyan law and able to provide efficient, competitive services.

Ultimately, effective regulation must not be anti-business. Shipping lines need certainty; cargo owners need transparent charges; logistics providers need equal treatment and regulators need powers grounded in law.

If local-content requirements are to remain, Parliament should provide clearer direction through amendments to the Merchant Shipping Act, ensuring that the framework promotes Kenyan participation while remaining investor-friendly.

Tariff regulation is another major concern. The 2024 Regulations require operators to apply tariffs filed with KMA and notify the Authority of changes. Filing promotes transparency and enables KMA to investigate undisclosed or inconsistent charges.

The regulations do not explicitly seem to confer power to approve, reject, cap or delay commercial tariffs approval. This distinction matters. Freight rates and surcharges respond to fuel prices, exchange rates, insurance, security risks, congestion and vessel capacity. Cargo owners however see an effective regulator as one that deters arbitral and frequent price increases.

For this, KMA must be mandated to approve freight and surcharges being levied and promote, support relevant training and vertical integration.

The review should therefore establish a clear and legally defensible balance between commercial freedom and consumer protection. The current tariff approval period of up to 90 days should be reconsidered, with a target of less than 30 days where possible. Faster regulatory decisions would provide businesses with certainty while allowing KMA to monitor unjustified or anti-competitive charges.

The regulations should also strengthen KMA’s authority to address service failures and poor performance by establishing performance-based oversight supported by Service Level Agreements and give KMA clear powers to sanction government agencies and private service providers for persistent service failures, delays, inefficiency or malpractice.

The Port of Mombasa will be judged not only by its infrastructure, but also by predictable costs, efficient services, fair dispute resolution and quality competition. A legally defensible framework can promote Kenyan participation, protect shippers, attract investment and reward efficient operators. Getting that balance right is essential if Kenya is to strengthen its position as the maritime and logistics hub of Eastern and Central Africa.

Things started falling apart when Edwin Mutuma woke up on September 7 to a notification on his QVSE mobile app telling him that his and fellow investors’ accounts had been frozen.

Just weeks earlier, the Laikipia-based hotelier had been watching his money grow on the online investment platform, convinced he had found a quick way to make money trading US stocks.

A friend who had been in the scheme since last year introduced Mr Mutuma to QVSE, or Quant Vest Stock Exchange, in August and claimed to have made more than Sh400,000 within months.

All Mr Mutuma needed to do, he was told, was deposit $500 (about Sh65,000) into his QVSE account and trade stocks from American tech giants such as Tesla and Apple.

He was also asked to download Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, where he could convert his gains into stablecoins before eventually cashing out to his M-Pesa wallet.

For communication, investors were directed to Bonchat, a Hong Kong-based messaging application similar to WhatsApp, where a person who identified himself as ‘Carl Grindan’ ran the groups and privately contacted members.

‘All of it seemed interesting,’ Mr Mutuma told the BDLife. ‘I used my savings to raise the initial amount. I put alerts on the trading times at 4:30pm and 8:30pm when Carl would send us a code, and we would trade and watch our money grow.’

Suspicions, broken friendships

Justus, a Kitui-based teacher who declined to give his second name, heard about QVSE in May through a family member.

‘I was suspicious at first, but seeing how strongly they believed in it, I asked to be given three months to observe how things would turn out,’ he says.

A month later, the family member offered Justus a Sh65,000 loan, saying it was money he had earned from the investment scheme.

‘I agreed.’

Regina, another teacher who asked not to be identified beyond her first name, says she needs time to process what happened before disclosing more publicly. She had put nearly Sh200,000 into the scheme, some of it borrowed.

‘It has broken friendships because we all need answers from the friends and colleagues who introduced us to it, yet they have gone silent on us,’ she says.

Copy trading

QVSE relies on what is known as copy trading, where an investor automatically mirrors the trades of another, usually more experienced, trader.

The method allows beginners to participate in financial markets without deep knowledge of chart reading or hours of research, but losses are mirrored just as gains.

In Kenya, the scheme targeted mid-level professionals such as teachers and people in the service industry, as well as small-scale traders and boda boda operators.

Carl, whom investors fondly referred to as ‘Prof Carl’, would send trading signals at specific times. Investors had five minutes to execute each signal before it expired.

Those who put in $500 (Sh65,000) were told they could earn $6 (Sh777) per trade, while those who deposited $1,000 (Sh129,480) were promised $12 (Sh1,553). With two trading sessions a day, Mr Mutuma could make $12 (Sh1,553) a day.

When investors withdrew their money, ‘Prof Carl’ took a 20 percent cut.

Several people interviewed by the Business Daily said ‘Prof Carl’ sent messages and photos purporting to show homes built and TVs bought by QVSE members who had made money from the scheme, reinforcing the impression that the investment was legitimate and profitable.

Accounts frozen

‘Prof Carl’ would also entice investors with the promise of additional earnings.

In late August, he announced what he described as a humanitarian campaign on the trading platform. Some investors said they received automatic deposits of $90 (Sh11,648) a day for 10 days.

Days later, Justus withdrew about Sh47,000. The transaction went through, briefly allaying his concerns and reinforcing his confidence in the scheme. ‘Once you see money coming out, you stop questioning a lot of things,’ Justus says.

On September 5, ‘Prof Carl’ froze the accounts of all investors, accusing them of running multiple accounts to increase the amount they could trade. Each account required a unique phone number and national ID number; investors were accused of using friends’ and family members’ details to create accounts.

‘Following the latest review by the QVSE Market Surveillance Division, severe violations involving single users operating multiple accounts have been detected within Global Investment Group,’ read a notification he sent to users.

The warning cited the US Patriot Act and FINRA Rule 3310, a 2001 rule requiring financial institutions, including broker-dealers, to establish anti-money laundering programmes.

It claimed the rules required financial institutions to verify the ultimate beneficial owner of accounts.

‘Privately borrowing, buying, or selling accounts for third-party operation will directly result in account freezing and permanent bans by the brokerage in accordance with the law.’

‘Prof Carl’ then told investors they would have to ‘activate’ their accounts by depositing an amount similar to their original principal.

‘It started dawning on me that this is a sketchy scheme,’ Mr Mutuma says, laughing at himself.

Read: App developer and the fake AI investment fund that pulled in Sh34m from Kenyans

From then on, he stopped sending trading codes. Investors could no longer withdraw their principal or profits.

‘That’s the point; I knew something wasn’t right. If the money is mine already, why should I pay again just to get it? By the time Carl froze my account, I had $870.39 (Sh112,654),’ Justus says. ‘Seeing it there but not being able to touch it is frustrating.’

Mr Mutuma had $2,100 (about Sh271,740) showing on his account.

‘I had never withdrawn any amount since I joined, which makes me sad. I wanted to wait for it to grow and grow; now all of it is stuck there,’ says the hotel manager.

He spoke of investors who had as much as Sh6 million in the scheme-money they had set aside in the hope of funding major projects.

An administrator of a WhatsApp group for Kenyan investors claimed the team had 12,005 members. If every member had paid the reported minimum contribution of Sh65,000, that would amount to Sh780 million.

The Business Daily could not independently verify the membership figure, the amount paid by individual members or the total amount raised.

Red flags

Looking back, investors say there were early warning signs.

‘The Bonchat platform was restricted; you cannot screenshot anything on the app, and ‘Prof Carl’ was the only person who could post in the group, and comments from any member had to be approved by him,’ Mr Mutuma says.

‘I once tried to screenshot chats. He flagged me and messaged me to warn me about it. Complaints like errors on my account were also not welcome, and he got agitated if you continued complaining.’

Justus noticed a similar mood.

”Prof Carl’ was often defensive and had an attitude when difficult questions were raised in personal messages,’ he says.

‘At one point, he locked my account simply because I had not responded to his message for a week,’ he says, adding that the messages were condescending.

Investors say ‘Prof Carl’ would tell them to withdraw all their cash and leave the scheme if they continued raising questions.

‘There was constant pressure to recruit new members. If the investment capital was genuinely generating profits, why such a persistent push to bring in other people?’Poses Justus.

The teacher also noticed frequent use of flattering language such as ‘friend’ and ‘family’ by strangers, which he suspected was intended to create trust and a sense of belonging among recruits.

Kenya probe

Last month, Kenya’s Parliament raised concerns over QVSE’s operations, particularly its regulatory status, investor protection measures and the legality of its activities in Kenya.

The National Assembly Speaker directed the Finance and National Planning Committee to investigate the platform and report its findings within two weeks. The findings have not been made public.

QVSE has also attracted regulatory attention outside Kenya. In July, Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission flagged it among entities promoting and offering unlicensed investment products in the country.

But QVSE is not the first online investment scheme to leave Kenyans counting their losses. In April 2025, users of cryptocurrency and forex trading platform CBEX lost fortunes after their accounts were emptied.

The platform had attracted Kenyans, Nigerians and Egyptians with promises of AI-powered profits, referral bonuses and easy withdrawals, including returns of up to 30 percent in 30 days.

When contacted by the Business Daily on September 9, the CMA said QVSE was not licensed in Kenya. A spokesperson said copy trading was not officially recognised and was therefore unregulated.

On September 12, the CMA issued a statement flagging QVSE and GIG among 15 entities operating illegally in Kenya and directed affected investors to file reports with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

‘These entities are the subject of active investigations by the DCI in collaboration with the CMA and other law enforcement agencies,’ the regulator said. ‘The Authority strongly cautions the public against dealing with entities and persons disguising their fraudulent activities as investment opportunities.’

Hours later, ‘Prof Carl’ took to Bonchat to rubbish the CMA’s ’emergency notice’ and assure followers that they should continue putting money into the scheme.

‘The content is merely performative and lacks real substance; it is simply a way for them to signal to the public that they are taking action, rather than being based on anything tangible,’ read a message sent to the investors’ group.

The verification process involved investors depositing more money equal to their principal. They were told it was the only way they could withdraw their entire holdings after the accounts were frozen.

Members suffering

However, some investors who put in additional cash say withdrawals have yet to be effected.

‘To be sincere, I can’t tolerate seeing the problem other members are facing. They deposited their money for self-verification, yet they have not received the money back. Why is this happening, Professor? You are aware that 99 percent of members who deposited have not received their money. You gave a deadline of 72hrs and now members are suffering like that; others took money for business. Tell members what is happening. No member who has withdrawn today, yet you say members should verify their account; where will the trust come from?’ One Kenyan lamented.

‘Please initiate my withdrawal. I am getting sick,’ another wrote.

‘I now accept QVSE is completely over and now only AI is managing us,’ another said.

Bonchat messages show ‘Prof Carl’ pushed the deadline by a week, the day the CMA issued its statement, giving investors more time to put in more money.

‘Let the next 168 hours prove everything. Please rest assured that I am always with you-I have never left, and I will never disappear! … Now, only GIG stands with you,’ he says.

For decades, Mombasa’s economic fortunes have been closely tied to its port, tourism and trade. Now, a new wave of investment in digital infrastructure is positioning the coastal city as a key technology hub.

Last month, Greek multinational Amaco Energy Group revealed plans to build a $1.5 billion (Sh194 billion) artificial intelligence (AI) data centre in Mombasa, seeking to tap East Africa’s growing demand for computing infrastructure.

The company has identified Dongo Kundu and Kilindini as potential locations, citing their proximity to the Port of Mombasa and the potential uptake of capacity by firms operating at the nearby Special Economic Zone.

Amaco has also partnered with US energy equipment and services company GE Vernova to provide gas turbines for the project. The Greek firm plans to integrate the turbines into its Hercules power barge, an independently powered system designed to generate electricity without relying on Kenya’s national grid.

Amaco said the proposed data centre will use an offshore liquefied natural gas-powered electricity supply, with the Hercules system processing natural gas and combining electricity generation and cooling systems into a single platform.

‘In addition, the Hercules concept has the potential to contribute significant additional power-generation capacity to support Kenya’s broader energy requirements,’ Amaco said.

The company has not announced the facility’s capacity or construction timeline, and the project awaits government approval.

Analysts say one of Mombasa’s biggest advantages in the race to attract digital infrastructure investment is its position as Kenya’s gateway to the global internet.

At least eight major submarine cable systems land at stations along the Mombasa coast, making the city a key internet gateway in the East and Central Africa region.

Mombasa is the doorway to the digital world for Kenya and its landlocked neighbours such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

This infrastructure gives the city an advantage in hosting data centres because facilities near cable landing stations can access international bandwidth with lower latency, reducing the distance data travels before reaching global networks.

The city’s coastal location also offers opportunities for more energy-efficient cooling systems.

Data centres consume immense amounts of power because they operate thousands of servers to process and store data. They also require large volumes of water for cooling systems that prevent overheating.

Large data centres can consume as much electricity as a small city.

Locating data centres at the coastline or on floating platforms can eliminate the need for fresh water for cooling.

Mombasa has also seen an increase in subsea cables, boosting Kenya’s prospects for more bandwidth and high-speed internet as demand for cloud computing, AI, digital finance and other internet services grows.

The latest infrastructure includes a 4,108-kilometre subsea fibre-optic cable running from Oman to Mombasa under a partnership between US tech giant Meta and the local telco Safaricom.

Through its subsidiary Edge Network Services Limited, Meta has signed up Safaricom as the landing partner for the Daraja high-capacity submarine cable connecting Oman and Kenya.

The cable is fully funded by Meta, supplied by French firm Alcatel Submarine Networks, and is scheduled to be ready for service this year.

The Daraja cable will be Meta’s second submarine cable connecting Kenya, following the 2Africa cable system, which was completed in November last year.

The project comprises China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, Saudi Telecom Company, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and the West Indian Ocean Cable Company.

At 37,000 kilometres, it is one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects, connecting Europe via Egypt, the Middle East via Saudi Arabia and 21 landings in 16 African countries.

Submarine communications cables are laid on the ocean floor and transmit data between continents. They form the backbone of the global internet, carrying the bulk of international communications, including email, webpages and video calls.

It is estimated that more than 95 percent of the world’s internet traffic is transferred through undersea cables.

When submarine cables reach Mombasa’s cable landing stations, they are connected to terminal equipment, with signals then travelling overland through terrestrial fibre to data centres.

For Mombasa, analysts reckon that the growing number of subsea cables, its port infrastructure and access to the ocean could make similar innovations increasingly attractive as demand for computing capacity rises.

Existing infrastructure has also helped the city attract additional cable projects. Once the first cable, TEAMS, established landing station infrastructure in Mombasa in 2009, subsequent cables could share or co-locate at the same facilities, reducing the cost and complexity of new landings.

Kenya’s large and growing economy, combined with its role as a gateway for landlocked neighbours, is seen to create sufficient demand to justify multiple cable landings, giving Mombasa an edge in offering market access and infrastructure.

Fuel prices remain unchanged in the latest review released on Monday by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra).

In the review, petrol will retail at Sh214.03 per litre in Nairobi, while diesel and kerosene will retail at Sh217.86 per litre and Sh191.38 per litre respectively, in the month ending October 14.

‘I would stay awake most of the night, and even when she slept during the day, I could not sleep. In my mind, daytime was for being awake and night was for sleeping,’ she says.

‘I thought I was losing my mind.’

The exhaustion soon began to affect more than her energy. Selina developed brain fog, struggled with household chores and became increasingly irritable and emotionally drained. At her lowest point, she says, she even feared she might harm her child.

‘I completely lost sleep, and for a moment, I thought I was losing my mind.’

What confused her was that she was constantly tired. ‘I did not understand what was happening,’ she says.

It was only after she mentioned the problem during a routine clinic visit that a physician told her she was experiencing insomnia and advised her on ways to improve her sleep.

‘I was told to avoid coffee and other caffeinated drinks in the evening, to eat a lighter dinner, and of course, to keep to a regular sleeping routine,’ she says.

‘I even spent almost Sh20,000 on supplements, hoping they would help me sleep, but they didn’t work,’ she says.

Her sister then stepped in to help, recommending that she seek counselling in the hope that she would find a way to cope with the emotional exhaustion and demands of caring for the child.

‘It wasn’t something that changed immediately. I tried counselling because my sister was concerned and worried,’ she says.

She attended counselling for two months. This helped her to come to terms with her situation and reminded her to be gentler with herself, but her sleep problems persisted.

She spent about another three months searching for something that could help. Then her sister told her about a sleep therapist she had come across on TikTok.

After an intensive search, the therapist she chose recommended changes to her routine and sleeping environment. One of these was a blackout curtain.

‘Honestly, I had never heard of blackout curtains before. I went to Google and other social media platforms just to confirm this so that I wouldn’t waste my time on something that wouldn’t help me like the previous interventions,’ she says.

Another challenge was the environment in which they lived. She lives in a gated community where outdoor security lights remain on throughout the night, making it difficult to distinguish between day and night.

‘At night, there are always lights outside, so the bedroom is never completely dark,’ she says.

She remembers buying two metres for Sh7,000, but this did not solve the problem. Unfortunately, she had bought a partial blackout curtain that let in some light, and she had been overcharged.

Selina continued to wake up frequently, sometimes after an hour and a half. She bought another pair for Sh6,000, followed a sleep programme, and made other changes, and this time her sleep duration increased.

‘I also had to learn that if I had the opportunity to sleep during the day, I should take it. I couldn’t keep waiting for night,’ she says.

Three years later, the 38-year-old says her sleep has improved considerably. She can now sometimes sleep for five to seven hours without interruption, and her daughter also sleeps better, although with the help of stimulants.

‘It’s very different from how things were before. I am hoping to get eight to 10 hours of sleep at night and, of course, a good nap during the day,’ she says.

The circadian rhythm

Selina is one of many people who struggle to sleep due to various sleep disorders.

Sleep consultant Anisa Samnani says that darkness is one of the signals the body uses to prepare for sleep.

‘Darkness is an important cue for our body that it is time to sleep,’ she says.

The body has an internal clock known as the circadian rhythm, which responds to light and darkness. As darkness falls, the body increases its production of melatonin, the hormone that prepares the body for sleep.

‘Light sends a different message to the brain,’ says Anisa. ‘Bright light tells the brain that it is daytime,that we should be alert, while darkness signals that it is time to wind down and sleep.’

For someone sleeping during the day, sunlight can therefore interfere with sleep. Blackout curtains can help by reducing the amount of light entering the room.

‘Blackout curtains can make a meaningful difference, particularly because daytime sleepers are trying to sleep at a time when their environment is naturally bright and active,’ she says.

However, Anisa says that curtains are not a treatment for insomnia.

If someone is waking up due to sunlight coming through the window, streetlights, or household lighting, blocking that light could solve the problem. However, someone with ongoing insomnia may have other factors affecting their sleep that need to be addressed.

When buying blackout curtains, she advises people to check how much light gets through around the edges of the window. A curtain may be labelled as ‘blackout’ but still allow light in through gaps at the sides, top or bottom. An eye mask can also help if curtains alone are not enough.

‘I had expected the usual demands of caring for a newborn, but I was not prepared for caring for a child with special needs,’ she says.

Selina had endured 32 hours of labour, and her daughter appeared healthy at birth, crying immediately like most newborns. But eight months later, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and their routine changed dramatically.

Top banks, including Equity Group, KCB Group, NCBA Group, Co-operative Bank and I and M Bank, face a shakeup in their expansion plans as the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) moves to shield the lenders deemed ‘too big to fall’.

The CBK said in freshly published proposals that it will tighten its oversight of financial institutions whose collapse or distress could cause significant shockwaves across the wider economy.

‘Domestic systemically important financial institutions may be restricted from expanding their operations or introducing new products whose effect may enhance systemic risk of the bank.

The supervisory measures to be deployed on a domestic systemically important financial institution depend on the supervisor’s judgment as to the institution’s degree of systemic risk,’ states the draft framework for identification, regulation and supervision of domestic systemically important financial institutions.

‘Domestic systemically important financial institutions are financial institutions operating in one or more countries and whose disorderly failure would cause significant dislocations in the domestic or regional financial system and adverse economic consequences in the country or region.’

The proposed framework provides that the domestic systemically important financial institutions will be determined based on size, interconnectedness, substitutability, complexity and importance to the domestic economy.

Substitutability refers to a scenario whereby a domestic financial institution plays an important role in a specific business segment as a provider of market infrastructure such as a payment system and substitution by players may prove to be a challenge.

According to the proposals, the CBK will conduct an assessment of all licensees once every calendar year as at December 31, after which entities that are designated as domestic systemically important financial institutions will be notified by March 31 the following year and the list thereof published by June 30.

The sequential collapse of three banks in Kenya between 2014 and 2016 — Dubai Bank, Imperial Bank and Chase Bank — shook the country’s banking sector and impaired the interbank market following fears by large and well-capitalised banks that they could have suffered exposure by lending to smaller and less capitalised players.

Banks in Kenya have registered considerable growth over the past decade, characterised by acquisitions and product diversification, including venturing further into the fast-growing wealth management and bancassurance business.

The CBK’s proposed framework comes as Kenyan banks make further inroads into the East and Central Africa region, with at least seven having a regional footprint.

Equity Group has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. KCB Group is present in the same markets plus Burundi.

Of KCB Group’s Sh2.3 trillion worth of assets, 31.3 percent is attributable to business units outside Kenya, as is 52.0 percent of Equity Group’s Sh2.2 trillion worth of assets.

NCBA Group has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire; DTB has operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, while I and M Group has operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Mauritius.

The CBK is also proposing a requirement for stronger capital buffers to be held by financial institutions deemed domestic systemically important to ensure that they are well positioned to withstand shocks and mitigate potential spillovers into the wider economy in the wake of distress.

Coming at a time when the banking sector is undergoing recapitalisation in the push for Sh10 billion worth of core capital by 2032, the regulator has also cited the need to ensure that no domestic systemically important financial institution requires a government bailout in the event of distress as a key reason behind the push for higher capital buffers.

‘In order to enhance the resilience of domestic systemically important financial institutions, the framework requires these banks to hold higher levels of capital through additional loss-absorbency requirements. These requirements aim to reduce the probability of domestic systemically important financial institutions’ failure, provide a buffer to absorb losses during periods of stress and limit the need for public sector support,” the CBK says.

Foreign banks operating in the country such as Absa, Stanbic and Standard Chartered, will also be on the radar of CBK for potentially being domestic systemically important financial institutions, upon which the market regulator in their parent jurisdictions will be informed.

‘In case a Kenyan subsidiary of a foreign bank is designated as a domestic systemically important financial institution, CBK shall engage the home regulator of the parent bank/bank holding company and the parent bank/bank holding company in assessing the adequacy of the domestic systemically important financial institution’s recovery and resolution plans,’ the CBK says.

A growing pool of public funds invested in interest-earning government securities is boosting the Treasury, even as it targets a total of Sh987.4 billion from the domestic market in the current fiscal year to June 2027.

New disclosures show that hundreds of billions of shillings, including the more than Sh300 billion seed capital of the newly created National Infrastructure Fund (NIF), is set to be pumped into government securities-boosting the Treasury’s prospects of reliable domestic capital to fund budget deficits, public operations, and national infrastructure.

The share of Treasury bonds and bills held by government entities, semi-autonomous agencies and public sector funds has crossed Sh500 billion, pointing to an expanding role for public institutions as investors in State debt.

The holdings by general government entities rose to Sh513.31 billion by August 28, 2026, up from Sh467.78 billion in June 2025, according to figures published by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

The increase has coincided with the Treasury’s strategy to put surplus balances held by public entities to work rather than leave them idle in accounts at the CBK.

A policy by President William Ruto has since last year targeted surplus money held by State entities in commercial banks, widening the pool of funds available to finance domestic borrowing.

In submissions to Parliament in May 2025, the Treasury said it had introduced measures to invest idle balances of selected entities held at the CBK.

‘To reduce the cost of borrowing, the National Treasury has instituted measures that idle balances of selected entities domiciled at CBK not immediately required are invested in government securities under non-competitive terms,’ the Treasury said in a submission to Parliament in May 2025.

‘For public entities with bank accounts in commercial banks, a circular will be issued mandating direct investment of surplus balances in government securities, bypassing intermediaries and under non-competitive terms.’

The move marked a change in public cash management, with money awaiting expenditure being deliberately placed in interest-generating government debt rather than left idle.

One of the biggest pools of public money being positioned for such investment is the NIF, whose Sh310.3 billion seed capital is expected to generate billions of shillings before the cash is spent.

The NIF expects to earn about Sh42 billion annually from government securities, based on a projected return of 12.5 percent.

‘The yield we are expecting to get there is about 12.5 percent in annual return, and so we should be making just about Sh42 billion worth of income per year, so we are working with Sh40 billion as a benchmark,’ James Mworia, the chief executive officer of the NIF, said.

The approach allows the fund to earn income while preserving its principal for future infrastructure investment.

The NIF plans to finance highways, railways, airports, seaports, electricity, ICT, water reservoirs and agribusiness infrastructure, while using its capital to attract private investment.

The Fund, chaired by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, aims to mobilise as much as Sh5 trillion by leveraging its resources to crowd in private capital, making preservation of its seed money critical.

The strategy has been deployed by the Affordable Housing Fund, whose board has shown how surplus public money can temporarily become an investor in Treasury debt while projects await implementation.

The Affordable Housing Fund’s board had, by early 2025, parked Sh45.48 billion in Treasury bills, and disclosed in June 2025 that the investment had earned it Sh4.2 billion, without disclosing the exact amount that generated that income.

However, Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga said the fund had no money remaining in Treasury bills by August 2026, after faster procurement and budget absorption accelerated project implementation.

‘There’s currently zero money in T-bills from the Fund,’ Mr Hinga said, attributing the change to stronger budget absorption and earlier procurement planning.

The housing levy experience demonstrates that public-sector investment funds can vanish once agencies begin spending on their intended programmes, cutting off the temporary pool of funds for domestic borrowing.

The Sugar Development Fund (SDF) is another notable example of the strategy taking shape across public institutions, with the Kenya Sugar Board having planned to invest surplus collections in government securities.

The sugar board said funds not immediately required would be placed in Treasury bills, bonds or call deposits, depending on projected cash needs.

‘The investments could either be on a short-term or long-term basis, depending on the cash flow projections,’ the board said in a July 2025 report.

The SDF is financed through the Sugar Development Levy collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority from locally produced sugar at the rate of four percent of the ex-factory price of the sweetener and imported sugar, providing a recurring source of funds awaiting deployment.

The growing use of State funds offers a potentially cheaper and more predictable domestic funding source, but its size will depend on the timing of public-sector spending and investment needs.

Dr Ruto has been pushing for State corporations to surrender more of their income to the Exchequer amid pressure on tax collections and government cash flows.

In March 2024, Dr Ruto directed commercial State corporations to remit up to 80 percent of their net profits to the Treasury, with the requirement later incorporated into performance indicators for chief executives.

‘The money that some parastatals make does not belong to their boards or management. It belongs to the people of Kenya as returns on investment,’ Dr Ruto told State corporation chiefs.

The Treasury’s latest approach goes further by seeking returns from money that public institutions have not yet spent, creating a temporary financing channel without requiring immediate disposal of their underlying assets.

In case you’re new to this column, let me warn you: I don’t do polite. I nitpick, I rant, and I gnash my teeth about the absurdities of corporate governance, farming in Laikipia, and now, drumroll please, the circus that is trying to find a decent software developer in Kenya.

Let me tell you a story. It starts, as all good Kenyan business horror stories do, with a referral in 2018 BC (Before Covid). I needed a developer to create a platform for a client service that I provide. Nothing fancy, just a clean, functional system that wouldn’t dissolve like the increasingly potholed Limuru Road after a massive rainstorm.

A friend, bless her, she meant well, connected me to a developer who, in the retelling of his own CV, had practically built the internet. He’d worked on a platform for one of Kenya’s largest banking groups, he said, with the casual confidence of a man who knows you’re too polite to ask for references. He even showed me the work he’d done for said bank.

Anyway, I bit. He started the job, then promptly disappeared mid-process. Luckily, or so I thought, the actual work was being done by one of his junior developers who “inherited” the contract and therefore continued the work. I thought I had dodged a bullet. Spoiler alert: I had not.

Junior Dev finished the platform. We launched. A year later, the platform had several kinks that needed fixing.

But Junior Dev had disappeared. When he finally reappeared as the Artist Formerly Known As Junior Dev, it was like a scene from a bad Nollywood movie: in beach shorts, barefoot, clutching a bottle of wine that had personally wronged someone, looking exactly like he’d crawled out of the beach bar cave he claimed to have ‘SGR-d’ from that morning.

Since his triumphant, shoeless return, he has continued to “work” for me, and I use that word with the same generosity that a Nairobi County office posts on its walls: “You are entering a corruption-free zone.” Every task now requires a full diplomatic summit. I must cajole him. I must beg. I must, apparently, stroke an ego that has produced remarkably little to justify its own maintenance.

I asked, repeatedly, in writing, with the patience of a woman raising a toddler and a grown man simultaneously, for a simple maintenance contract. Something formal. Something with dates and deliverables and consequences. I am still waiting. I suspect I will be waiting when my grandchildren are old enough to inherit this platform, and this grievance, along with it.

So, reasonably, I did what any exhausted Kenyan business owner does when the informal economy of favours and friends-of-friends fails her: I went to LinkedIn last week. I posted a request for help, worded with the precision of a UN resolution: I wanted recommendations for development firms, but only from people who had actually, genuinely, verifiably been happy clients. Not agencies. Not “connect with me to discuss.” Not cousins of the firm’s marketing intern. Just happy clients.

Within hours, my DM inbox looked like the Museum Hill exit of Nairobi Expressway at 5pm on a Friday. Jammed, chaotic, and full of people who had clearly not read a single word I wrote. Developers. Agencies. Friends of developers and agencies. And it wasn’t just a local affair, the self-recommendations came in from as far as India and Dubai, which tells you two things.

One, that LinkedIn’s algorithm has the reading comprehension of a goat. And two, that somewhere out there, a very determined man in Bangalore saw a post that explicitly said “do not respond if you are the provider of this service” and thought, yes, this is my moment.

I did not know LinkedIn could serve your own plea for help back to the very people you were pleading to be protected from, but here we are. Apparently, the platform’s idea of “relevant audience” is “anyone who can smell a client from three continents away.” Every single one of them selling, not one of them referring. I asked for testimony and received a trade fair, with international delegates.

So I remain here, tethered by a fraying thread to a LinkedIn inbox full of pitches from full-stack, half-stack, and no-stack people that I never asked to pitch me, wondering if the actual disruptive Kenyan startup idea is simply this: a platform that verifies whether a client was, in fact, happy.

Anyway, I’m still sifting through my inbox. I’ll provide an update when I’m done with all of that. Just a warning: it’s increasingly looking like a Vision 2030 article.

If you want to know how many hours are in a minute, look at what Jacqueline Waihenya does with it. To list all her attributes would be to undersell her, but let’s try. She is a chartered arbitrator, certified advanced construction adjudicator, governance expert, International Mediation Institute certified mediator…and so on. Let’s just call her multi-disciplinary or, as she prefers, multipotentialite.

‘In 2012,’ she says, ‘I made a commitment to myself to learn at least one new thing every year.’

However, to cut straight to her core, she will tell you that parenting is her lifelong lesson. How to let go of control. How to be a go-getter. How to be yourself. That’s the part-mum, part-expert advice she offers her daughters. And she hopes, when the world tells them to ‘play nice’, they will critically analyse the situation and not just kiss the ring or bend the knee. She knows this because she’s learned it, and she passes it on, because you only keep what you give away.

If someone were to observe one day in your job, what would surprise them the most? I do not have a set routine. I deal with whatever is on the table on any given day. Sometimes I serve as the Chairperson of the Institute of Certified Secretaries; other times I am the former chairperson at CHArb. Above all-and at all times-I am a mother to my two daughters, aged 22 and 19. I really love engaging with the younger generation because my daughters have very similar expectations and needs.

So I think the one thing that would surprise people the most is that I am a mum [chuckles]. I like to think that I am a present mother to my daughters. We spend a lot of time together, and sometimes they ask me whether I am a stay-at-home mum because I try to work from home a lot when they are around.

What do your daughters think you take too seriously? They think I am too serious about work, especially academia and scholarship. I really enjoy challenging myself academically. I am currently pursuing a PhD, so I have ample opportunity for intellectual rigour, and they get to see me doing that.

You are pursuing a PhD alongside all these other multi-potentialities that you have. How do you manage all of this? It is an integral part of who I am. Around 2012, I made a commitment to learn at least one new thing every year. Continuous growth is a deliberate process. There are days dedicated to academia, days focused on my legal practice, and other days spent engaging in service at the Institute of Certified Secretaries, supporting the community, and mentoring young professionals. I have also been in Rotary.

What is one key lesson from learning something new every year that has deeply impacted how you live your life? That small steps make a huge impact. When I first stumbled into arbitration, I took what we call the entry course and thought it would take forever to learn the nitty-gritty and become an expert. But by breaking complex subjects like arbitration and mediation down into bite-sized pieces, mastering them became manageable. It has been a privilege to start where no structure previously existed and build one day at a time.

I also learned that becoming an expert requires dedicating 10,000 hours to a subject. I resolved to invest those 10,000 hours, knowing that even if I shifted focus later, I would have acquired valuable expertise.

What achievement are you secretly proud of? I think I really like being a mum haha! I am proud of my professional work, but there is something I am doing that very few people know about. Every Wednesday, I attend a diploma class in Theological Education by Extension at PCEA St Andrews. It allows me to connect my faith with my intellectual pursuits, and earning that certificate is my goal for this year.

What part of being a mother has been the hardest to learn? Parenting is inherently challenging. My eldest daughter, who recently graduated as a lawyer, pointed out that I was projecting my own goals onto her. That was hard. I thought that I could guide her path, but she opted to pursue public policy rather than commercial law.

Was it easy to let go of control? No, it was very hard. When you experience an empty nest for the first time, you become deeply introspective and have to recalibrate your life almost from scratch. As children become adults and take charge of their own lives, letting go is far more challenging than managing earlier stages of parenting.

Having built your life through continuous learning, what do you hope your daughters build differently? It’s a deep question. My own mother encouraged me to be a go-getter, to be myself, and not to be afraid of reaching out. That is what I have taught my daughters. My life has been an incredibly rich experience, and I hope they derive similar fulfilment from their professional and personal journeys.

When was the last time you did something purely for Jacky? I cannot even remember haha! Serving others is what genuinely brings me joy. When my daughters were very young, before taking on professional institutional leadership, I was heavily involved in community service through Rotary.

I eventually rose to become the Rotary Kenya Country Chair during a season when we were restructuring the district from five countries-Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan (later Eritrea)-into separate districts. That service provided incredible leadership training through interacting with ordinary citizens across East Africa. Travelling across the region demonstrated that despite regional nuances, our fundamental aspirations, challenges, and ideals are remarkably similar. It also heightened my deep appreciation for Kenya.

What are your primary interests outside work? I am a workaholic. What truly drives me in work and leadership is engaging with, observing, and serving people.

No hobbies whatsoever? I have explored several over the years, though I do not maintain a strict routine. I sang with a choir in Mombasa for two years, and I tried playing golf, but it did not stick because I do not follow a fixed schedule. I think of myself as a non-conformist.

How do you ensure that work does not prevent you from being present in the moment-such as being buried in your phone? I maintain too many diverse interests to be consumed by a single distraction. My phone is a work tool that I keep accessible for urgent matters, but when I sit down with someone or engage with a group, I remain fully present.

What core rules do you live by? My primary rule is to learn something new every single day. My second is courage. Not arrogant bravado, but the quiet courage to speak out when silence would be easier.

Why is daily learning so vital to you? Learning drives personal growth. A mentor once told me, ‘Jacqueline, make sure that every day you can say that you are not only growing in age, but in wisdom.’ Time will always pass, but actively accumulate wisdom, knowledge, and understanding rather than merely ageing.

What habit has yielded the greatest benefit for you? Being a morning person. Starting my day early adds productive hours, enabling me to accomplish major tasks by 11 o’clock so I have the rest of the day for other pursuits. It got validation from Robin Sharma’s 5 am Club too.

Speaking of, is there a book you frequently recommend to people? Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is my all-time favourite recommendation. It is an essential read for disruptors and leaders navigating change. It illustrates how Abraham Lincoln assembled competing rivals into a unified, effective cabinet.

A favourite takeaway of mine is Lincoln’s principle of “government of the people, for the people, by the people,” which applies directly to organisational governance by involving people and ensuring decisions create meaningful public impact. Another profound concept from Lincoln’s story is sharpening the axe beforehand by investing 80 per cent of your effort in preparation so that execution takes only 20 per cent of the time.

What should be common knowledge but isn’t? That there are sufficient resources for everyone if equal opportunities are provided. Many people operate from a scarcity mindset and an excessive urge to accumulate, driven by historical fears of hardship and having to go back there. The remedy lies in leveraging our rich human capital and empowering citizens through visionary leadership.

What do people get wrong about you? People often assume I am soft because of my soft-spoken and calm demeanour. However, my calmness is actually my superpower.

What advice should women be cautious of accepting? To “be nice”. In many contexts, telling a woman to be nice is an indirect way of asking her to step down or yield her position or taking advantage of them. It is really context-specific, but women should critically analyse the situation before deciding whether being “nice” serves their interests.

What have you become worse at with age? Having filters. They tend to dry up as you grow older. Beyond age 50, you gain the clarity and freedom to authentically focus on your core priorities without worrying about pleasing everyone.

What has been the greatest blessing of reaching half a century? Experiencing positive societal transformation firsthand and actively contributing to emerging fields. For instance, my PhD research focuses on artificial intelligence and sustainable finance, where technology meets social consciousness in the financial space. It is a privilege to contribute governance experience to emerging technology while seeing the next generation thrive in a dynamic Kenya. This is my small thing.

What fundamental lesson has life taught you? Life changes, and those who adapt thrive.

What is the soundtrack of your life currently? Uplifting gospel music, particularly songs reflecting gratitude for God’s blessings like Baruch Hashem Adonai, sung by Maranatha! Music.

Who do you know that I should know? Dr Deche Mercy. She is a powerhouse in academia but has served in public spaces and professional spaces. The first time we met, we had been invited to a career fair in Mombasa, and she was married and raising her family there. She spoke immediately after me, which made a huge impression on me. She noted that law is a unique profession where earning capacity ranges from zero shillings to infinity based on individual dedication and effort. Her wisdom made a lasting impression and deeply inspired my approach to legal practice. Have I said she’s also in Mombasa and Nairobi and the whole country? [chuckles]