Category: Business Daily

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) has warned the public against a counterfeit batch of the popular Postinor-2 emergency contraceptive pills in circulation, stating that the product may pose serious health risks to users.

The regulator identified the counterfeit Postinor-2, containing 0.75 mg of levonorgestrel, as batch number T34197R. The product falsely claims to have been manufactured by Gedeon Richter.

‘This batch may contain incorrect amounts of the active ingredient, no active ingredient at all, harmful contaminants, or undeclared substances,’ said Dr Ahmed Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of the PPB.

He warned that the falsified product might fail to work.

The PPB has identified several differences between the falsified product and the genuine Postinor-2 supplied by the manufacturer.

These include differences in batch printing and typographical errors in the patient information leaflet, as well as a different method of sealing the carton. Genuine Gedeon Richter packs use a hot-melt closure, while the counterfeit pack does not.

The orange colour used for the brand name and other parts of the packaging is also significantly more intense than on genuine packs. The logo revealed after scratching the authentication panel uses a different font.

The regulator said that these differences strongly indicate that batch T34197R is falsified and was not manufactured or released by Gedeon Richter.

This warning comes amid concerns over the circulation of counterfeit medical products, including emergency contraceptive pills.

Earlier, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki had expressed concern about fake P2 pills, warning that women who relied on counterfeit emergency contraceptives could face unintended pregnancies.

He also raised concerns about falsified HIV testing kits being circulated, emphasising the wider risks posed by counterfeit healthcare products.

The PPB has advised healthcare professionals to verify the authenticity of their stocks before dispensing medicines and to quarantine any suspected falsified products. Hospitals, distributors, pharmacists, pharmaceutical technologists, and members of the public have been urged to report any encounter with batch T34197R.

The Board has also urged those involved in the pharmaceutical supply chain to procure health products exclusively from licensed manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers. It has warned that buying from unlicensed sources endangers patients.

Meanwhile, members of the public can report suspected counterfeit medicines through the PPB’s online reporting portal, the USSD code *271#, the mPvERS mobile application, or the regulator’s reporting contacts.

Businesswoman Mary Wambui Mungai has lost a bid to remove an administrator appointed by Equity Bank to manage her luxury Glee Hotel Limited over a debt of more than Sh7.75 billion.

The High Court dismissed an application by the hotel’s management challenging the appointment of Kamal Anantroy Bhatt as administrator and seeking to revert control to its directors.

The court upheld Mr Bhatt’s appointment, ruling that Equity Bank, as a secured lender holding a qualifying first-ranking floating charge, was lawfully and validly made, in strict accordance with the requirements of the Insolvency Act.

The court also issued orders restraining the company’s directors and agents from interfering with the administrator’s functions, disrupting the hotel’s operations or dealing with its assets.

The officer commanding Runda police station was directed to provide security to ensure compliance with the orders.

The court also rejected the argument that administration should be used as a last resort where a lender has other forms of security available.

It said that a secured creditor was entitled to choose the recovery mechanism it considered most appropriate, provided it complied with the law.

‘A duly appointed administrator may only be removed for cause, and the burden of proving sufficient cause rests on the party seeking removal,’ the court said.

Equity Bank appointed Mr Bhatt, of Anant Bhatt LLP, as administrator with effect from July 6.

The dispute arose after the hotel defaulted on its obligations to Equity Bank. The company challenged the appointment, arguing that the bank had failed to disclose relevant court proceedings and other information in the statutory documents used to place it under administration.

It also argued that the bank should have pursued other securities before resorting to administration and that the process was disproportionate given the value of the assets securing the debt.

The company further claimed that the bank’s statement of facts did not adequately set out the basis for its belief that Glee Hotel was unable to pay its debts.

But the High Court found that Equity had demonstrated that it held enforceable qualifying floating charges and had complied with the requirements of Part VIII of the Insolvency Act.

The judge said the bank had provided the required statutory declarations and other documents and that there was no basis to invalidate the appointment merely because the documents did not provide a detailed account of every default, judgment debt or related court proceeding.

The court noted that the company had signed the security instruments with full knowledge of their contents and legal effect.

‘The company benefitted from the credit facilities so advanced, and it must be taken to have known, at the time of executing the debentures, that it was thereby creating in favour of the Bank a qualifying floating charge over its assets,’ the court said.

The High Court also rejected the company’s argument that Equity should have pursued other securities before appointing an administrator.

It said the existence of other forms of security did not automatically mean that enforcing them would result in a better recovery for the bank.

The judge also found evidence that the administrator was making progress towards rescuing Glee Hotel as a going concern, which is the primary objective of administration under the Insolvency Act.

Mr Bhatt told the court that he had engaged a marketing consortium and contracted World Travel Group UK Limited to increase bookings. He had also reviewed the hotel’s wage bill, which accounted for more than 47 percent of its gross income.

The administrator reported that room occupancy had increased from 7.51 percent on July 1 to 24.41 percent by July 12.

‘This trajectory is, in my view, probative of genuine progress toward the discharge of the statutory objective of rescue. As to the Company’s complaint of lost business, the Administrator’s account attributes this substantially to the very interference by the company’s directors of which he separately complains, and that consequence cannot fairly be visited upon him,’ said the judge.

The court noted that Glee Hotel had other creditors who had filed claims in the administration process, showing that its financial difficulties were not limited to its dispute with Equity Bank.

The administrator had sought protection after the directors allegedly attempted to interfere with his work, including seeking to evict him from the hotel premises and carrying out transactions on behalf of the company.

The court said the administration could end if the company secures funds to settle its debts through related entities.

‘Should that materialize, there is no reason why the administration could not come to an end at that point,’ she said.

When performing musician, composer and keyboardist Steven Kanja attended Showman Residency by Nyashinski in April this year, he was struck by how similar the concert’s concept resembled what he had put out in February through his FRGMNTS showcase.

Sure, his stage wasn’t as grand as Nyashinski’s. Neither did he have the over a 100 personnel in the form of acrobats, dancers, choir, fire breathers or skaters. But using narrators and actors to help tell the story behind the songs was something Kanja had conceptualised and brought to life earlier.

More than the coincidence, however, was the validation.

‘I was so impressed by what went down,’ Kanja recalls. ‘When I saw it, it was so much just like our show. It was validating.’

For Kanja, FRGMNTS was never intended to be simply another concert. It was an attempt to answer a question that had been bothering him: What if music alone is not enough to tell a story?

The answer, he decided, was to put other forms of art alongside it. And in staging FRGMNTS 2 at the Kenya National Theatre this Saturday, August 15, he is taking that experiment even further.

From brokenness to becoming whole

The idea behind FRGMNTS is contained in its name – becoming whole from a fragmented self.

The first edition was born out of one of the most difficult periods of Kanja’s life. Last year, he lost his fiancée and later a childhood friend to suicide.

It left him ‘really broken internally’. The songs that eventually formed FRGMNTS emerged from that period of grief. ‘But from that broken, fragmented self, I felt like I grew as a person,’ he says.

The result was not merely an album or a collection of songs. Kanja wanted to create a performance through which the audience could experience the emotions behind them.

That required him to look beyond music. ‘I always think the music cannot explain it all sometimes,’ he says. ‘Same way talking cannot just explain sometimes, I think it needs to be together.’

For Kanja, a chord can make him feel something that another person might not necessarily feel. Words can explain something that music cannot. At other times, neither is sufficient.

‘So for me, it’s really about communicating some things in the best palette possible, in the best canvas,’ he explains.

That palette could include poetry, spoken word, conversation, music, drama or acting. For FRGMNTS 2, it meant all of them.

When a concert became something else

The evolution from the first FRGMNTS to the second has been significant.

The first edition featured Kanja’s band, three background vocalists (BGVs) and one narrator. The latest version has two narrators, the BGVs as a choir and stage and film actor/artiste Mugambi Ikiara, who contributes movement, art and humour to the performance.

The 15-song set is largely drawn from music Kanja created over roughly a year, with most of the compositions coming from the period following his losses.

But the music is only one layer of the performance. Kanja also designed the set, incorporating structures that allow him to play with shadows and light. The scripting was developed by Kanja and his two narrators, Husna Kipsoi and Koome Kinoti.

The people around him did not immediately understand what he was attempting. When he first told his band that he wanted to stage a show at the Kenya National Theatre in February, they assumed it would be another concert.

‘I don’t think anybody understood,’ he says. ‘I think guys were just trusting me.’

Many of the musicians had previously played with him in restaurants. So, when he told them there would be narrators and a narrative running through the performance, they could not quite picture it.

It was only when they arrived at rehearsals and saw the set, lighting and movement come together that the idea began to make sense.

Even then, Kanja was asking himself how far he could stretch the boundaries of a conventional musical performance.

There is a reason the production feels different from a conventional concert: it demands more from Kanja.

For the first time, he has had to incorporate acting into his performance.

He has no formal acting background and readily admits that he does not consider himself particularly good at it.

‘This one is definitely harder, but it’s way more fulfilling because it’s holistic,’ he says.

The challenge is part of the appeal. Kanja has always been a musician who taught himself. His fascination with the piano began when he was about 10, but his parents did not initially see music as a viable pursuit. They encouraged him toward formal education instead.

His mother told him he could learn music in high school. His high school did not offer it. Then he was told university would give him the time to pursue it.

Eventually, Kanja decided he would teach himself.

His parents bought him a keyboard, and he began learning. He borrowed music examinations from friends who attended music schools and used them to measure his progress.

He started with classical music, later became a rapper and spent much of his university years making hip-hop. Then he stopped making music altogether for two or three years. He simply did not feel he had anything to tell the world.

That was until the losses came. ‘I had something to tell the world, but I couldn’t drop it,’ he says. FRGMNTS became his way of doing so.

A show about everyone

It would be easy to describe the performance as a story about grief or the struggles of the modern man. But Kanja is reluctant to prescribe a single interpretation.

Asked whether FRGMNTS 2 is about, the boy child’s struggles or the wider human experience, he is unequivocal. ‘It’s a human struggle. It’s just that I’m a boy.’

The performance explores the things people use to avoid confronting themselves – drugs, alcohol, sex, money, comfort or any other habit that offers an easier escape than confronting one’s struggles.

But Kanja does not want to stand on stage and tell his audience what they should think. That, he believes, is not what art should do.

‘I shouldn’t tell you what to do,’ he says. ‘I shouldn’t tell you this is how it is.’

Instead, he wants to place the questions in front of the audience and allow them to find their own answers. His approach comes from an understanding that people experience the same things differently.

Turning pain into a language

That philosophy may explain why Kanja was able to create FRGMNTS in the first place.

There was no neat moment when he decided he was finally ready to speak about his grief. He simply had to find a way to survive it.

When asked when he felt ready to tell such a personal story, his answer is strikingly blunt. ‘There’s no option,’ he says.

He recalls a line from a poem: a man either becomes a writer or jumps off a bridge.

For Kanja, creating was the alternative to remaining trapped in the place he had found himself.

‘I was in a really bad place,’ he says. ‘So this is how I’m expressing it. For me, it’s really, yeah, it’s either that or I die.’

That makes FRGMNTS more than an artistic experiment. It is the language Kanja found when ordinary language failed him.

A different kind of concert

There is, however, another challenge facing the performance: convincing audiences to pay for something they cannot easily categorise.

Kanja admits that FRGMNTS is difficult to sell precisely because it is not straightforward.

A poster promising Kanja and Mugambi performing their songs is easy enough to understand. A concert combining music, architecture, acting, narration, movement and other art forms is harder to package.

‘Just because it’s something new, it’s a bit harder to sell in the beginning,’ he says.

That is why he was particularly encouraged by seeing elements of his concept appear in Showman Residency.

He does not claim ownership of the idea, nor does he suggest Nyashinski’s production was influenced by his work.

Instead, he saw something reassuring in the coincidence.

Perhaps audiences are becoming ready for concerts that offer more than music.

Perhaps the concert itself is evolving.

For Kanja, that evolution is exactly where he wants to be.

Beyond the song

A successful FRGMNTS show, however, has two measures.

The first is practical: it needs to sell enough tickets to make financial sense.

There is a band to pay, a choir, crew, equipment and a venue. The Kenya National Theatre costs Sh40,000 to hire, and Kanja understands that artistic ambition does not exempt a production from the realities of business.

But the second measure matters more to him.

He wants people to recognise themselves in what they see.

‘The most important thing for me would be having people see our common humanity because we are more similar than we are different,’ he says.

That, ultimately, is what Kanja is attempting with FRGMNTS 2: not to explain the human experience to an audience, but to hold up a mirror.

Music provides one language. Acting provides another. Narration fills in what the songs cannot. Architecture shapes the space. Shadows alter what the audience sees.

Together, they become the canvas he has been searching for.

And perhaps that is why watching a much bigger production attempt something similar did not make Kanja feel overshadowed.

It made him feel understood.

Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya has posted a Sh124.6 million net profit for the half year ended June, nearly quadrupling its earnings from the corresponding period last year, when it incurred one-off costs linked to business reorganisation.

The latest net earnings mark an increase from Sh30.96 million posted in the previous half-year, when the listed entity incurred a Sh103.67 million loss from discontinued operations.

Sanlam Allianz Holdings, which houses the life business known as Sanlam Allianz Life Insurance Kenya, is the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)-listed entity that arose out of the transaction between Sanlam Kenya, Jubilee Allianz and the parent companies, Sanlam Group and Allianz SE.

Sanlam Kenya, which was formerly the entity listed on the NSE, transferred its general insurance business to Jubilee Allianz, a non-listed entity that now trades as Sanlam Allianz General Insurance Kenya.

Sanlam Allianz Holdings CEO Patrick Tumbo said the shareholder transactions, which were concluded last year, have strengthened the firm’s capital and solvency position.

‘The business is fundamentally stronger and better capitalised than it was 18 months ago, with our balance sheet surpassing Sh40 billion for the first time and our solvency ratio closing at 266 percent, significantly above regulatory minimum requirements,’ said Tumbo.

‘Our focus for the rest of the year is to grow quality insurance revenues, hold the line on costs, and convert our new capital base into profitable growth.’

The transactions led to a one-off Sh103.67 million loss from discontinued operations in the half-year ended June 2025. Without this cost this year, the net earnings of the holding company have risen despite a drop in underwriting and investment returns.

The insurance service result, which is revenue left after settling claims, reinsurance and other expenses, dropped 34.5 percent to Sh241.25 million.

Investment returns fell 83.2 percent to Sh479.55 million from Sh2.86 billion, during a period when returns on government securities were declining.

Kenya has revived talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new support plan that will unlock loans and set up taxpayers to painful conditions.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) on Wednesday said it was expecting an IMF team to visit Nairobi soon for talks, when the two sides will also discuss the country’s request for ?a new support programme that will include a lending component.

Kenya requested a new ?IMF programme after its previous $3.6 billion deal ended in April last year on the back of failure to meet agreed conditions, prompting the Treasury to omit loans from the fund in the national budgets to 2029.

CBK Governor Kamau Thugge said an IMF staff team was expected ‘shortly’ in Nairobi to initiate Article IV consultations-a surveillance tool that allows the fund to monitor the economic and financial policies.

‘We expect an IMF team to visit Nairobi shortly, initiating the Article IV consultation discussions,’ Dr Thugge said on Wednesday.

‘In the context of those consultations, we will have further discussions about our relations going forward and in particular on having a fund-supported programme.’

The World Bank reckons that the benefit of the IMF programme to Kenya goes beyond loans, arguing that policing from the fund and its reforms agenda are critical for the country.

The IMF tends to set the toughest engagement terms of the two multilateral lenders, including reforms on State corporations, spending cuts and increased revenues, signalling new taxes, an aggressive pursuit of tax evaders and cheats and roping in of traders and workers in the informal sector.

The World Bank, on its part, has relatively softer terms, mostly requiring support for socioeconomic outcomes like climate change mitigation, placing competition curbs on firms, and the integration of minority groups like refugees.

The multilateral lender in June said it would play mediator in efforts to close ranks between the IMF and Kenya over the Article IV consultations.

Kenya last year postponed the consultations, which allow the IMF to assess a country’s economic health and evaluate financial risks.

‘At the request of the Kenyan authorities to prioritise discussions on their programme request, the 2025 Article IV consultation was rescheduled for a later date,’ the IMF said in September last year.

A dedicated team of IMF economists visits a member country annually to gather economic data and hold discussions with government and central bank officials.

Following the visit, the staff prepares a comprehensive country report, which triggers conditions attached to soft loans from the fund.

Kenya has lacked IMF support since March 2025, when the fund terminated a standing arrangement, denying the country Sh110 billion ($850 million) in financing. Fresh discussions have been protracted.

‘Delays in reaching a new IMF programme could weaken the credibility of the fiscal framework,’ the World Bank said in a report accompanying its fresh disbursement.

‘The World Bank and IMF continue to work closely to coordinate policy dialogue, analysis, and technical assistance,’ added the multilateral lender in a report that gave the IMF funding hitch prominence.

The push for a new arrangement with the IMF is seen as more important from a reform perspective, where the fund would instill discipline in spending and revenue mobilisation beyond financial support.

Kenya did not include any new funding from the IMF in the budget for the year starting July 1 as it looked to escape tough lending conditions attached to the fund’s support, including higher taxes, job freezes and spending cuts.

This saw Kenya approach fresh IMF talks with caution after the termination of the earlier loan facility due to breached conditions.

The World Bank sees risks to Kenya’s macroeconomic outlook, including a prolonged conflict in the Middle East, which could further raise fuel and fertiliser import costs and dampen diaspora remittances.

The August 2027 General Election is expected to increase political risks and dim fiscal consolidation efforts.

‘Should financing conditions tighten or refinancing costs rise, private sector credit would be crowded out, investor confidence could weaken, and the anticipated recovery in domestic demand could lose momentum,’ the World Bank said.

The IMF had dished out painful conditions in the wake of its surging loans post Covid-19 pandemic, including the need to increase tax revenues, cut budget deficits, and restructure State-owned enterprises.

Kenya has turned more towards the World Bank for budget support in the absence of new IMF funding, where it faces less stringent conditions.

In June, the World Bank approved the disbursement of a Sh97 billion ($750 million) loan to Kenya after the country overcame hurdles that stalled the loan package throughout 2025.

? kmuiruri@ke.nationmedia.com

Eveready has recorded the largest share price loss this year at 26.3 percent to trade at Sh1.01 per share on Wednesday, followed by WPP ScanGroup at 19.2 percent to Sh2.06 and Home Afrika at 17.2 percent to Sh1.11 per share.

In what has been a bumper year, the other 49 actively traded firms have made gains that have yielded a valuation increase of Sh1.03 trillion or 35.1 percent to Sh3.98 trillion for the NSE.

Top gainers in percentage terms include Car and General at 325 percent to Sh217 per share, Britam at 94 percent to Sh17.65 and Africa Mega Agricorp at 76.2 percent to Sh124.75.

The NSE’s top five firms by market capitalisation – Safaricom, Equity Group, KCB, EABL and Co-operative Bank-have gained between 2.9 percent and 56 percent this year, adding Sh517.5 billion in valuation.

This has seen equities beat other asset classes such as government securities, property, cash deposits and unit trusts in returns to investors.

Treasury bonds issued in the last seven months have paid investors annual interest of between 12 percent and 14.2 percent, while Treasury bills buyers have earned between 7.4 percent and 9.2 percent in annualised interest.

Interest rates on fixed deposit accounts in banks fell to 6.84 percent in June 2026 from 7.03 percent in December 2025.

In the property sector, average rental and sales prices in Nairobi and its satellite towns were in the single digits of up to 6.6 percent in the first half of the year on muted demand, while land sale prices grew at up to 5.2 percent, as per data compiled by real estate firm HassConsult.

Read: Dominance of big five NSE stocks cut to 62pc

The nine firms that have shed value have performed as follows:

Eveready East Africa

Eveready leads the market with a price loss of 26.3 percent to Sh1.01 per share, resulting in a Sh75.6 million decline in valuation to Sh212.1 million in the year to date.

Years of losses have left the company with a negative equity position of Sh101 million as at March 2024, the latest available financials show. Earlier this year, the company said it is pivoting from battery distribution to clean energy and electric vehicle financing in a bid to turn around its fortunes.

WPP ScanGroup

Marketing services firm WPP ScanGroup’s share price has fallen 19.2 percent to Sh2.06 this year, cutting its valuation by Sh211.8 million to Sh890.2 million. This decline has come as the firm’s net loss widened to Sh713.67 million in the year to December 2025 from Sh506.74 million in 2024.

The wider loss was largely due to the loss of key client Airtel Africa, which accounted for nearly a fifth of the company’s annual sales.

Home Afrika

The real estate firm has shed 17.2 percent of its value or Sh93.2 million this year to settle at Sh449.83 million, despite making a net profit for the last two years. The stock is, however, coming off a large gain of 262.2 percent in 2025, when it was among the top five gainers in the market.

Umeme

The cross-listed Ugandan power distributor has seen its share price fall by 11.5 percent to Sh6.92, reflecting its lack of revenue after its 20-year concession with the Ugandan government expired in March 2025. Its valuation has thus declined by Sh1.46 billion to Sh11.24 billion since January.

The company is also involved in an arbitration case in London against the Uganda government over terminal payments relating to the concession. Last month, Umeme issued a profit warning, saying that its loss in the half year to June 2026 will be wider than the loss of Sh5.8 billion in June 2025.

Kurwitu Ventures

The investment firm has seen only one price change since its listing nearly 12 years ago, having gone for years without registering a trade at the NSE.

On July 9, the company traded 111 shares, with its price falling by 9.7 percent to Sh1,355 from Sh1,500, marking the first price movement since its first day of listing on November 13, 2015. The company’s valuation has fallen by Sh14.8 million to Sh138.6 million after the price movement.

Nairobi Business Ventures

NBV has recorded a decline of 5.4 percent or Sh108.3 million in investor wealth to Sh1.88 billion this year on the back of challenging business conditions that forced it to halt its trading business last year. In the half-year to September 2025, the company reported a net loss of Sh78.3 million, compared to a loss of Sh99 million a year earlier.

Liberty Kenya Holdings

Similar to Home Afrika, the insurance firm has suffered from a price correction after recording large gains of 81 percent in 2024 and 43 percent in 2025.

Liberty’s valuation has fallen to Sh5.15 billion from Sh5.45 billion in January, after recording a 4.8 percent decline in share price to Sh9.62.

The company is the only one among this year’s losers that is currently paying a dividend, having maintained a distribution of Sh0.50 per share despite a 65 percent decline in net profit to Sh659 million in the year ended December 2025.

Express Kenya

Express Kenya’s net loss widened to Sh125 million in the year ended December 2025 from Sh108 million a year earlier. Its share price has fallen 4.1 percent to Sh7.10 in the year-to-date, cutting its valuation by Sh14 million to Sh338.8 million.

The firm is eyeing property developments and a sale of three acres in Nairobi valued at about Sh300 million to strengthen its financial position.

Olympia Capital Holdings

Valuation has fallen from Sh328.8 million to Sh320 million this year, following a 2.7 percent decline in share price to Sh8 per unit this year.

The stock was also coming from a large gain of 156 percent in market capitalisation in 2025, when prices on small cap stocks were boosted by demand from speculating local retail investors.

Lower revenue of Sh428.75 million in the year ended February 2026-from Sh457 million a year earlier- cut its net profit to Sh10.4 million in the period from Sh17.6 million.

At least five startup founders who spoke to Business Daily said they are considering registration in South Africa or Mauritius, which they say have more accommodating regulatory regimes for early-stage businesses, if they fail to raise the required capital by the November 4 deadline.

‘It could be possible to raise the funds, but it’s very difficult. The process of raising funds is complex and takes time, so for many local builders, November is not a deadline; it’s an expiry date,’ said Eric Michubu, founder of Taran App, which enables crypto users to exchange stablecoins and other virtual assets for local currencies in East Africa.

Mr Michubu said his startup had applied for licensing as soon as the VASP Bill was signed into law last year, but the publication of the regulations means it is no longer eligible to obtain an operating licence in Kenya unless it can meet the new capital threshold, despite already having several users in the country.

Under the VASP regulations, Taran would need a minimum paid-up capital of Sh100 million to obtain a Virtual Asset Exchange licence, an amount Mr Michubu says the startup does not have.

Paid-up capital is money that shareholders have actually contributed to a company in exchange for shares. Startups that cannot meet the requirement from their own resources can raise the funds from venture capitalists or private equity investors, usually in exchange for a stake in the company.

Other startups covered by the regulations face similarly steep capital requirements. Stablecoin issuers will need a minimum capital of Sh300 million, crypto wallet providers Sh150 million, payment processors Sh10 million, and crypto asset managers Sh20 million.

The capital requirements are intended to ensure that licensed virtual asset service providers have sufficient financial capacity to operate, protect customers and absorb losses. However, startups argue that applying relatively high fixed thresholds across the sector risks shutting out early-stage firms that have yet to attract significant investor funding or clientele.

They also argue that investors typically are more comfortable in firms that already have a license to operate than those still seeking it.

The potential loss of these startups comes as Kenya’s crypto market is growing. Currently, Kenya is ranked 21st globally in the global crypto adoption index by American blockchain research firm Chainalysis, up from 28th in 2024. In Africa, Kenya is fourth after Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa.

South Africa’s regulatory regime for crypto assets, unlike Kenya’s, does not prescribe a specific fixed capital requirement for virtual asset service providers. Instead, applicants are assessed on whether they have adequate financial resources for the nature and scale of their operations.

Mauritius also has minimum capital requirements for some virtual asset activities, but its thresholds are significantly lower than Kenya’s. An exchange in Mauritius, for instance, would require roughly Sh18 million in minimum capital, while a broker would need about Sh5.5 million and a virtual asset custodian about Sh14 million.

Several categories under the Mauritian framework, including wallet providers, issuers and advisory service providers, do not have a fixed minimum capital requirement. Instead, firms are required to demonstrate sufficient working capital, giving smaller businesses greater room to enter the market.

In Kenya, on the other hand, even payment service providers need to have a significant paid-up capital to get a licence. Tando, a startup that enables Kenyans to pay using Bitcoin into M-Pesa personal and merchant accounts, says it may also struggle to meet the Sh10 million threshold set for crypto payment service providers.

Jason, Tando’s founder and chief executive, said other than the steep thresholds, it is particularly problematic that the paid-up capital requirement is denominated in fiat currency for businesses that earn much of their income in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

‘What they should be doing is pricing fees and capital requirements not in shillings, not in euros, not in dollars, but in bitcoin,’ he told the Business Daily.

‘It makes no sense strategically to put any hurdles or roadblocks in the way, financially or otherwise…Kenya is in a global competition. We should be trying to win, and we’re currently losing, and that’s sad. We have the talent and the tools; now we just need a clear track without blockades.’

The Kenyan crypto industry opposed the capital requirements at the proposal stage during the public participation process, arguing that the thresholds could lock out smaller firms.

In its submissions to Treasury, the Virtual Assets Chamber of Commerce (VACC) proposed a tiered capital requirement for licensing based on the scale of operations and age of companies, similar to the system used for commercial banks.

The final regulations reduced some of the initially proposed capital requirements by up to 40 percent, following consultations with industry players. Startups, however, say the reduced thresholds are still too high for many of them.

‘It’s not that the regulators were completely deaf to the proposals and outcry from the community,’ said Tony Olendo, chairperson of VACC.

‘It’s a really delicate balance they were dealing with. On one hand, you don’t want to put the requirements too low and end up cannibalizing the ecosystem, but you also don’t want to put it too high and squeeze out innovators.’

Mr Olendo, who also owns a crypto startup and is racing against time to raise capital to obtain a licence, however, argues that the high capital requirement should not restrict innovation in the crypto industry, as there are still several areas, such as crypto betting, that remain largely unrestricted.

The National Treasury did not respond to questions on how startups that fail to raise the required capital will be treated, whether exemptions will be issued, or whether it is considering accepting Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency-denominated capital.

The International Monetary Fund has previously pointed to Mauritius’ virtual asset regulatory framework in its recommendations on crypto regulation for Kenya, citing the need to balance regulatory oversight with the promotion of innovation.

For Kenyan startups such as Taran, Qadi and Tando, however, that balance is now becoming a race against time. Unable to raise the capital required under Kenya’s new framework, they are considering markets such as Mauritius and South Africa in an attempt to secure legal recognition and continue operating after the Kenyan regulations take effect.

Advocates and certified secretaries will lose their licenses for fraudulent filings at the Business Registration Service (BRS) under a proposed code of conduct.

The move also aims to allow lawyers and governance compliance experts to make such submissions without seeking consent from company directors.

Following a consultative meeting with the Institute of Certified Secretaries (ICS) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), BRS agreed to jointly develop a conduct and implementation structure that would restore direct filing by professionals without directors’ consent.

The direct channel was suspended under an updated BRS system, known as BRS II, after fraudulent filings saw shareholders lose stakes worth billions of shillings in companies without their knowledge.

Under the initial version of the filling system, known as BRS I, advocates and certified secretaries could lodge and process applications without seeking consent from directors.

But this changed under the new automated system, through which individual company directors receive a one-time password (OTP) on their mobile phones for verification.

‘The meeting further discussed and resolved to…jointly develop and implement, within August 2026, a Code of Conduct and an implementation framework to guide the reinstatement of a structured Green Channel on the BRS Version II platform for qualified and in good standing practitioners,’ said BRS Director-General Kenneth Gathuma.

‘The framework will define clear roles, responsibilities, and accountability measures for all parties,’ added Mr Gathuma. Advocates and secretaries act on behalf of company directors in making several filings, including transfers of shares and changes in directorships.

Under the old system, BRS version I, they used to lodge directly without the consent of directors, on the faith that as certified professionals, they were expected to do the right thing.

However, there have been complaints of fraudulent filings across the country and in companies affected by fraud, including cases where directors were replaced without their knowledge or consent, in a clear case of identity theft.

Shareholders have also learnt of their shares being transferred to other parties without their authorisation.

The increased cases of fraudulent submissions prompted the State to end direct filing, including by advocates and secretaries, requiring them to first obtain consent from directors, a requirement that has prolonged the delivery of post-registration services.

Under the changes being made, instead of each director giving separate consent, the same will be done by the advocate or secretary.

However, other citizens will still have to obtain consent from directors to make the changes at BRS.

BRS version II has an automated system in which directors being replaced will, for example, receive a one-time password (OTP) on their mobile phones for verification-a shift from the earlier arrangement where notifications were sent by email or individuals were required to physically visit BRS offices.

‘The enhanced process will automate the end-to-end confirmation of new director appointments, as well as the resignation of directors and transfer of shares, through multi-factor authentication using a one-time password,’ said BRS Director-General Kenneth Gathuma.

BRS said this new component (OTP) was critical in safeguarding investments by the public in the form of shares and curbing incidents of identity theft and fraudulent lodgements.

Besides company registration, BRS’s day-to-day mandate extends to post-registration services, including facilitating the appointment of new directors or the removal or replacement of existing ones, as well as updating company secretary details.

The State agency also records changes in share ownership, including the sale, transfer or issuance of new shares, and updates registers to reflect the ultimate beneficial owners.

Officials at the BRS noted that the automation will significantly reduce the turnaround time for post-registration services, with the time it takes to effect directorship changes expected to fall from approximately 14 working days to five working days.

Some weeks ago, I watched a problem die inside a bank. It was a critical issue, and solving it would have cost the bank almost nothing. No millions.

Instead, it moved from desk to desk collecting refusals, each one perfectly defensible. A phone call was then made to the chief executive, the kind of call that spends years of banked social capital, and the matter was resolved in a day. Everybody won.

Which leaves the question this column exists to ask: why could nobody inside the system see it, and why could nobody act?

Once you notice this pattern, you meet it everywhere. I have sat in a tax dispute that swelled through objections, judgments and costs for five years, until alternative dispute resolution finally placed the problem on the table.

What process could not untangle in five years, ADR resolved in eight weeks because someone applied a founder’s view. The same script runs through hospitals, where decisions climb from the ward floor to the chief executive’s desk, sometimes too late for the patient. Institutions full of intelligent people keep producing unintelligent outcomes.

Call it the orphaned institution. Every organisation was once a startup. Someone once held the whole of it in one mind: customer, cost, risk, purpose and trade-offs.

Then it grew and was orphaned of its founder’s reasoning. The people remained capable; judgment stopped circulating. The structural proof is simple: put your team on the other side of the counter and they will instantly see the better decision. The eyes work; the seat forbids.

Why? Because institutions convert judgment into procedure, and procedure cannot see. An employee is rarely punished for a blocked solution but always exposed by an unauthorised one, so the rational clerk optimises for defensibility rather than outcomes. Founder reasoning is the opposite wiring: whole-problem sight, ownership of the result, and permission to weigh trade-offs. Remove any of the three and judgment dies quietly at the desk.

This is why founders struggle to let go. We are lectured about delegation. But the founder who grips too long is often not an ego case but a judgment-scarcity case: he has tested the structure and learned that his reasoning does not survive his absence. Last week, I argued that a creed carries values beyond the founder. This week’s harder question is what carries thinking.

The world is wrestling with the same question. Silicon Valley calls it founder mode. Critics call Elon Musk a micromanager, and sometimes he is.

But underneath the insult sits the unresolved problem: nobody has scaled founder judgment without the founder. Haier in China went furthest, dissolving itself into micro-enterprises so every employee faces the market like a founder. Yet orphanhood persists in the largest banks, telcos and ministries. Perhaps scale itself thins the blood.

Widen the lens and the pattern turns civilisational. Africa itself can read as an orphaned institution.

Our forefathers ran sophisticated leadership pipelines: age-sets that formed judgment in cohorts, councils of elders that transmitted it deliberately, and succession earned through initiation.

Colonialism severed the pipeline, and independence handed us the coloniser’s institutions, stripped of our own founding logic. So the continent keeps returning to the house that orphaned it, expecting it to supply the judgment we once formed at home.

Then comes this era’s provocation. If the founder’s reasoning cannot be transmitted through training manuals, could it be transmitted through machines? It is now possible to build a founder’s digital twin: an AI trained on the founder’s decisions and corrections, answering: what would the founder do here, and why?

I find the idea promising, and I do not trust it. A twin can carry logic. It cannot carry liability. My reasoning worked because I bore the consequence of being wrong.

Judgment without ownership is a suggestion box with better grammar. So the answer is probably a stack: the creed to carry the values, the twin to circulate the reasoning, and shared ownership to give the person at the desk a reason to use both.

Intelligence spreads fast. Skin in the game must still be distributed the old way.

Until then, the test of every institution remains embarrassingly simple. It is the day the clerk solves the founder-sized problem without anyone needing the chief executive’s number. It becomes an heir. So, one day, might a continent.

Kenya’s export earnings dipped to a five-year low in 2025, analysis shows. It was hurt by a biting drought across main producing areas, the strengthening of the dollar in key export markets, and human-wildlife conflicts that led to the destruction of sizeable volumes of the crop.

Kenya is among the world’s biggest sisal producers and ranks third after Brazil and Tanzania. The sisal fibre produced in Kenya is mainly for export, with an estimated 96 percent of the produce shipped abroad.

Locally, sisal is used for making ropes, bags, carpets, baskets, and furniture. Internationally, it is used to produce paper, ceiling boards, car bodies, clothes, and even paper currency.

Fresh data by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) showed that Kenya earned Sh4.7 billion from sisal exports in 2025, down from Sh5.7 billion the previous year. The 2025 sisal export earnings are the lowest for Kenya since 2021 and mark a third successive year of drops.

The dip in export earnings coincided with a drop in both the output and the volume of crop shipped to markets abroad. Total production fell by 19.4 per cent to 24,899.46 tonnes in 2025 from 30,893.4 tonnes in 2024.

‘The reduction in output was attributed to lower productivity, likely driven by drought conditions that affected major sisal-producing estates and curtailed the harvesting of sisal leaves. In addition, outbreaks of diseases such as Korogwe leaf spot and early pole formation further diminished output,’ the regulator said.

‘Production was also negatively impacted by human-wildlife conflicts in some estates, which led to wildfires that destroyed sisal plantations and further suppressed overall yields’

Kenya suffered a severe drought in 2025, especially towards the end of the year where the country suffered the near-total failure of the October-December short rains,

In the 2025 crop season, Kenya exported its sisal fibre to 30 destinations overseas, shipping 23,323.1 tonnes to international markets and earning Sh4.7 billion compared to 26,168 tonnes exported in 2024, valued at Sh5.7 billion.

Nigeria remained the principal destination of Kenyan sisal fibre shipments in 2025, accounting for the largest share of both export volume and value, with 8,497.40 tonnes valued at Sh1.72 billion. The West African country has consistently been the top market for Kenyan sisal fibre, largely due to its extensive use in the construction industry. Saudi Arabia was the second-biggest buyer of Kenyan sisal in 2025, importing 2,717 tonnes worth Sh610 million.

‘Beyond its traditional markets, Kenya continued to diversify its export base across Africa, Asia and Europe. Shipments reached countries such as Morocco (2,098 tonnes), China (2,295tonnes), Spain (836 tonnes) and the Philippines (528 tonnes), reflecting sustained demand in industries that rely on natural fibres,’ AFA said.

Emerging markets, including Japan (25 tonnes), Sri Lanka (14 tonnes) and Slovenia (10.2tonnes), also imported smaller quantities, signalling growing global interest in sustainable and biodegradable raw materials.

‘Overall, this performance demonstrates the resilience and adaptability of Kenya’s export strategy and highlights the strategic role of sisal as a key cash crop, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where it is well suited,’ the regulator said.

‘With the global shift toward environmentally friendly alternatives, sisal presents Kenya with significant opportunities to enhance its green economy profile while generating rural employment and foreign exchange earnings’

Sisal farming is largely carried out on a large scale in counties such as Taita Taveta, which is the largest producer by county ranking. Others are Kilifi, Baringo, Makueni, Kwale, Nakuru, and Migori counties.

In 2025, Taita Taveta posted a slight decline in output, decreasing to 8,226.57 tonnes, from 9,462.90 tonnes in 2024. Makueni registered the steepest drop in fibre production, with output falling by 33.5 per cent to 4,979.9 tonnes in 2025, with the value significantly decreasing to Sh910.4 million.

‘Overall, all counties experienced reductions in fibre production and the value of sisal fibre exports, despite an expansion in the area under cultivation,’ AFA said.