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Africa’s digital economy is accelerating at remarkable pace, drawing millions of first-time users into mobile money, e-commerce, digital lending and AI-enabled public services.

But its continued success will depend on whether people believe the digital systems they use are safe, accountable and worthy of their personal data, money and participation.

Fraud, identity theft and cybercrime are actively shaping how Kenyans choose to engage with digital services, and they are fast becoming the single most important factor in whether an organisation earns a customer or loses one.

Trust is no longer a soft reputational asset – it is the critical infrastructure of the digital economy, and the factor that will determine whether Kenya’s digital momentum translates into lasting, inclusive growth.

TransUnion’s H1 2026 Digital Fraud Trends in Africa report found that security of personal data has overtaken product quality as the leading factor African consumers weigh when deciding whom to transact with online.

In Kenya, 91 percent of consumers rank confidence that their data will not be compromised as their top consideration, well above the global average of 67 percent. And as the PwC 2025 East Africa Digital Trust Insights report finds, this is reshaping behaviour in ways that carry direct consequences for companies.

Fraud has become a barrier to growth, not just a security cost

Trust is hard-won but very easily eroded, and consumers are quick to act on their concerns. Eighty percent of Kenyan consumers say they will not return to a platform where fraud has occurred, and 67 percent say they have already switched to a different website because of security concerns, far above the 50 percent global benchmark.

Exposure to fraud attempts is widespread – the Global Anti-Scam Alliance’s 2025 State of Scams in Africa study found that 83 percent of surveyed adults in Kenya experienced at least one scam in the preceding year, while more than 70 percent of consumers in Kenya reported being targeted by fraud in a single three-month period, against a global average of 43 percent.

And a third of those who lost money were caught through third-party seller scams on otherwise legitimate e-commerce platforms, with fraud increasingly migrating into trusted environments rather than obviously suspicious ones – a shift that makes verification and transparency more important than ever.

Identity is now the front line

What unites these patterns is identity. Fraudsters are moving away from crude, easily detected attacks towards the exploitation of genuine credentials and established trust. Microsoft’s 2025 Digital Defense Report confirms that attackers are increasingly bypassing firewalls to log in rather than break in.

Deepfake incidents in Africa surged sevenfold from Q2 to Q4 of 2024, as AI tools made it easier to create fake identities and manipulate biometric data.

AI is intensifying this risk by making fraud cheaper, faster and easier to personalise. The Digital Defense Report noted a 195 percent increase in AI-generated identity documents used to defeat verification checks, with AI-driven phishing now roughly three times more effective than traditional campaigns.

Attackers are also increasingly harnessing AI to craft phishing messages tailored to local languages and cultural contexts and to impersonate trusted individuals.

Data theft was the goal in nearly 80 percent of the cyber incidents Microsoft investigated on the continent, driven overwhelmingly by financial motives – INTERPOL’s 2025 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment identified online scams, business email compromise and digital sextortion as the continent’s most reported cyberthreats, with cyber-related offences now accounting for more than 30 percent of all reported crime in West and East Africa.

Tellingly, 90 percent of African countries reported needing significant improvement in their law enforcement or prosecution capacity – a capability gap that fraudsters are actively exploiting.

Kenya is proving that scale and safety can coexist

Despite the statistics, Kenya is demonstrating it can grow digital participation without a proportional rise in fraud. The rate of suspected digital fraud in Kenya dropped from 9.3 percent to 5.0 percent – falling below the global average.

Consumer vigilance and improved controls are working in tandem. African consumers are ahead of many global peers in adopting secure verification, with fingerprint biometrics now the preferred method, reaching 63 percent in Kenya against a global average of 53 percent.

This appetite for mobile-first, layered security is a strategic asset that forward-looking organisations can build on. Kenya now has an opportunity to set global standards rather than simply catching up, proving that inclusive digital growth and hard-edged security are not competing priorities but the same objective.

The leadership imperative

The lesson for Kenyan business and government leaders is that trust can no longer be delegated to the security team as a technical afterthought. It is a boardroom-led growth imperative that requires organisations to design friction-right customer journeys, communicate openly when incidents occur, and extend protection across the entire customer lifecycle rather than concentrating it at onboarding.

This will require investment in adaptive, real-time fraud detection, continued adoption of strong digital identity verification and phishing-resistant authentication, and deeper collaboration and intelligence-sharing across sectors and borders.

In Kenya’s digital economy, trust is the infrastructure on which everything else is built.

The businesses and governments that understand this first will not only reduce fraud; they will earn the loyalty of digitally engaged Africans who have made it clear that if these objectives are not met, they will take their trust, and their transactions, elsewhere.

Two funds that allow investors to buy gold and top global firms like Nvidia, JPMorgan Chase, and Apple at the Nairobi bourse have made returns of up to 24 percent in the past year.

The Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has benefited from volatile global markets despite underperforming the rest of the local equities market.

The two listed funds, the Absa NewGold EFT and the Sanlam-owned Satrix MSCI World ETF, which have their primary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, expose local investors to global assets.

The Satrix ETF was cross-listed at the NSE 12 months ago at an introductory price of Sh761 per unit, and is now trading at Sh941.

The Absa NewGold ETF is now trading at Sh4,945 per unit, compared to Sh4,080 in July 2025.

In that period, investor wealth or market capitalisation at the NSE has appreciated by 55 percent or Sh1.41 trillion to Sh3.954 trillion.

The bourse has been boosted by gains of between 40 and 100 percent on blue chip stocks such as Safaricom, Equity Group, KCB Group, and Co-operative Bank of Kenya.

Rising demand for shares by local investors, including fund managers, has driven the equities gains, allowing them to outperform the alternatives such as bonds, real estate and ETFs.

The two ETFs, however provide access to global assets for local investors, allowing them to diversify their portfolios and hedge against losses in case of the shilling weakening against the dollar.

An ETF is an investment instrument of fund that holds underlying assets, in which investors can buy and sell units, much like they do with ordinary equities. ETFs can be structured to track a wide array of assets, including commodities, currencies, indices or a collection of stocks.

The Satrix MSCI World ETF captures over 1,300 large and mid-size cap stocks across 23 developed market countries, including the US, the UK, Japan, Switzerland and Germany.

The companies included in the fund all comply with size, liquidity and free float criteria of the closely watched MSCI World Index, whose top constituents comprise global giants such as Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, JPMorgan Chase and Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

The Satrix ETF rose to touch its all-time high price of Sh948 per unit earlier this month, underlining the improved prices of the global stocks.

A number of the US blue chips have gained on the back of capital flight to the world’s largest economy due to the geopolitical risk caused by the war in the Middle East.

‘Despite experiencing the direct effects of heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East during the second quarter of 2026, global equity markets demonstrated remarkable resilience, recording their strongest quarterly performance in six years,’ noted the Capital markets Authority (CMA) in its second quarter 2026 market soundness report published on Thursday.

‘According to the MSCI World Index, global equities delivered a positive return of 13.9 percent during the quarter, representing a significant recovery from the 3.47 percent decline recorded in the preceding quarter.’

The Absa NewGold ETF, which was listed on the NSE in March 2017, is a gold derivative fund whose price in the local market is linked to the real-world price of the precious metal.

In the last one year, the war in the Middle East has caused the price of gold to rise as investors sought the metal as a hedge against inflationary losses.

A succession of global economic shocks in recent years such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia -Ukraine war, the Middle East conflict between Israel and Hamas and the US tariffs on imports have led to a steady appreciation in the value of gold, and underlying assets such as the Absa NewGold ETF.

The ETF hit its highest ever price of Sh6,800 in late January, in line with the rise in the price of gold to $5,328 per troy ounce.

The stability of the shilling at Sh129 to the dollar has meant that he ETF has not made and exchange gain or loss this year when translating to the local currency, tying its gain neatly to that of gold in the market.

After holding at the elevated levels through to March, the price of gold has eased back to about $4,017 per ounce after the US and Iran agreed a ceasefire.

Despite the resumption of airstrikes between the two countries two weeks ago, the price of gold has remained fairly stable this month.

The Ugandan government has appointed directors to the board of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Plc, reviving the stalled recruitment of the firm’s chief executive under a new charter that gives Kampala veto powers over the hiring and firing of the company’s next boss.

In a notice on Thursday, the Ugandan government picked two of its senior officials, including the permanent secretaries in the Finance and Energy ministries, to represent it on KPC’s board.

This paves the way for the resumption of the recruitment process, which stalled midway after KPC directors differed over the legality of the CEO search without a reconstituted board in line with the company’s revised Articles of Association.

Under the revised articles, Kenya gave Uganda concessions, including two board seats, after the neighbouring country threatened to walk away from buying shares in KPC’s initial public offering (IPO) because of a lack of authority in the running of the company.

The articles followed Kenya’s sale of a 65 percent stake in the firm and its listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

While on the board, Uganda will have the powers to approve the hiring and firing of the CEO, KPC fuel transport tariffs, part of the board changes and changes to the firm’s dividend policy.

KPC’s board on May 7, 2026, put out an advertisement seeking to recruit a managing director following the resignation of Joe Sang, just weeks after the company’s shares started trading on the NSE.

Mr Sang left amid a fuel scandal that saw three senior public officials step down. The company’s chief finance officer, Pius Mwendwa, is the acting managing director.

The search for the new CEO triggered cracks in KPC’s boardroom over whether the firm should have initiated the recruitment of a new managing director without a fully reconstituted board that includes Uganda’s representatives.

The split froze the hiring after the firm failed to shortlist and interview the tens of candidates who sought the job.

The firm on Thursday confirmed that the entry of Uganda to the board will restart the process of getting Mr Sang’s replacement.

On Thursday, KPC announced the appointment of five non-executive directors, including Ramathan GGoobi, Uganda’s Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, and Irene Pauline Bateebe, who serves in the same position in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

‘The Board of Directors of the Kenya Pipeline Company… hereby notifies shareholders, the investing public, and all stakeholders that it has appointed the following individuals as Non-Executives of the Company from July 28, 2026,’ reads the public announcement.

Others appointed to the board include Samson Kipkemboi Burgei, who will be the alternate director to the Kenyan government’s Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning.

Meshack Otieno Kidenda, the first Director-General of the Kenya National Highways Authority, and Ronald Kenyanya Nyamosi, who will be the alternate director to the Managing Trustee/CEO of the National Social Security Fund, have also joined the KPC board.

In May, five KPC board members are said to have expressed discomfort with proceeding with the hiring of the CEO before Uganda’s representatives were appointed as directors.

In minutes seen by the Business Daily, the board insisted that nothing stopped it from proceeding with the exercise despite the reservations, noting that the Ugandan representatives would join them later.

Uganda spent over Sh30 billion to acquire the 20.15 percent stake in KPC.

In exchange for its significant IPO anchoring, Uganda received key powers, including a veto to hire and fire KPC’s chief executive officer.

Uganda secured further concessions in the operations of the company, including the approval of tariff increases, dividend policy, employee restructuring and rights issues.

‘So long as the CST and GoU (Government of Uganda) are eligible to nominate a CST director and a GoU director respectively, the following matters shall require the approval of a CST director and a GoU director… (a) the appointment of the managing director,’ reads Section 21 of the memorandum of association.

The section adds that the two directors should also be involved in “the appointment or removal of the chief executive officer, where such office is distinct from that of the managing director.”

Uganda will invest and hold a strategic stake in KPC through Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), the state-owned oil company that imports fuel into the landlocked country.

The country says its participation in the IPO was a deliberate strategic decision aimed at strengthening regional energy cooperation and safeguarding national interests.

The push for Kampala’s influence in KPC affairs comes less than two years after Kenya allowed the landlocked country’s state oil firm to import petroleum products through the Port of Mombasa, ending a row between the two neighbours.

About 90 percent of the top owners of KPC bought their shares through proxies during the IPO, keeping the identity of the investors anonymous.

Regulatory filings show that 18 of the top 20 shareholders of KPC are under nominee accounts after demand from Kenyan institutional investors and Uganda government helped the IPO become oversubscribed.

‘Food with character.’ That is how Emmanuel Akinmoyero, founder of Yakoyo, a Nigerian restaurant in Nairobi, describes their cuisine.

‘I have been around the world and tasted food from many different places, so I say this with confidence. Nigerian food isn’t just quickly thrown together; its flavour profile is carefully built. A vegetable dish, for example, won’t just have onions, salt and greens. It will also have tomatoes, capsicum, and fish or chicken, with each ingredient contributing to the depth of the final dish.’

That conviction is what led Emmanuel to open Yakoyo Restaurant in Nairobi.

‘We started in 2016 because there was demand for West African cuisine. I saw an opportunity to serve authentic Nigerian food, not only to homesick Nigerians, but also to curious Kenyan diners.’

Another motivation came from watching other cultures successfully commercialise their cuisines.

‘I’ve seen how different countries have turned their food into commercial assets, and I felt West African cuisine deserved the same recognition,’ he says.

While Yakoyo has since expanded to three branches in Nairobi’s Kindaruma, Lavington, and Kiambu Road, Emmanuel says the journey has been marked by growing pains.

When he started, he realised West Africans and Nigerians come here and go.

‘They may be here for school, work or a conference, but eventually they return home or move elsewhere.’

That reality meant the restaurant could not rely solely on the diaspora. Instead, its long-term growth has depended on winning over Kenyan diners, whom Emmanuel describes as curious and adventurous.

‘This is where Nollywood and social media have really helped us,’ he says. ‘People may never have eaten a Nigerian meal, but because of the movies, they know about fufu or okra, and that sparks their curiosity. The same goes for the online jollof wars.’

Today, they serve a diverse customer base of Kenyans, West Africans, and visitors from around the world. But growth has not come cheaply.

According to Emmanuel, one of the biggest hurdles has been the high cost of establishing and maintaining a business in Kenya. Beyond the initial capital required to invest, recurring expenses such as work permits place significant pressure on the business.

‘It is expensive to start a business in Kenya,’ he says. ‘To invest here, you need a minimum of about $100,000 (about Sh12 million).

Additionally, you must renew permits annually, which is also significant cost. Sometimes, when you compare what you are paying for the permits with the revenue the business is generating, you begin to wonder whether it is worth it.’

Maintaining authenticity has also proved costly. While some ingredients can be sourced locally, others have to be imported from Nigeria, pushing up the operating costs.

‘We bring in things like poundo, amala, egusi, and spices from Nigeria. Spices used to make jollof rice, for example, cannot be found here. Even when we find similar ones, they taste different.’

The restaurant has also grappled with high staff turnover, particularly in front-of-house roles.

‘Kenyans move around too much, especially within the hospitality sector,’ he says.

‘You find someone with the right attitude, invest time in training them and helping them understand how you want the business to run, then a few months later they’re gone and you have to start the process all over again. That constant retraining takes time and resources.’

Despite these challenges, demand for Nigerian cuisine continues to grow. Emmanuel says the restaurant now enjoys a steady stream of customers, with occupancy typically reaching between 70 and 80 percent on Fridays and Saturdays, its busiest days.

Their customers’ favourites?

‘Jollof rice, poundo, and pepper soup are some of our best-sellers,’ he says.

‘I must say the pepper soup is particularly popular with people recovering from a night out. It works very well with hangovers. Kenya has a strong drinking culture, and having two of our branches in areas with a vibrant nightlife has definitely boosted sales.’

Pot of Jollof Kitchen

Yakoyo is not an outlier. In recent years, Nairobi has seen a growing number of Nigerian restaurants open their doors, each betting on the city’s increasingly adventurous diners.

Among them is Pot of Jollof Kitchen, which launched in 2020 as a cloud kitchen serving only online orders.

‘Our goal was to raise awareness and educate the masses on what goes into preparing these dishes,’ Ukeme Udofia, one of the co-founders says.

‘We also wanted to introduce a quick-service concept, where customers could enjoy authentic Nigerian meals in under 30 minutes.’

The cloud kitchen has since grown into a physical outlet, with its customer base expanding beyond Nigerians and other West Africans, including a growing number of Kenyan diners.

‘Watching Kenyans return again and again for meals that were once unfamiliar to them is one of the most satisfying parts of our job,’ he says.

The restaurant’s best-sellers include jollof rice with fried chicken, sweet fried plantain, egusi soup, goat meat pepper soup and a variety of swallows, including pounded yam.

Debunking one of the most common misconceptions about the cuisine, he says people often assume Nigerian meals are spicy and filled with chilli.

‘Customers can decide their preferred level of heat when it comes to chilli in their meals,’ Mr Udofia says. ‘That’s the only adjustment we make to our recipes.’

The restaurant has also discovered an unexpected crossover with Kenyan cuisine. According to them, ugali pairs remarkably well with almost all Nigerian soups.

Which of his dishes does he feel best represent Nigerian cuisine?

‘If Nigerian food had a passport, jollof rice would be the photo on the front cover,’ he says.

The growing popularity of Nigerian cuisine, Mr Udofia believes, is closely tied to the wider influence of Nollywood, Afrobeats and social media.

‘There has been a rise in expatriate migration to Kenya. Many of our movies have been watched by Kenyans, Afrobeats has become a shared African cultural language in which you hear phrases such as, ‘I love you like my Jollof rice’. Then there is social media which continuously fuels the interest and curiosity in Nigerian food long before people taste it for the first time.’

A tattoo often tells a story. It may commemorate a milestone, honour a loved one, express personal identity or simply reflect one’s sense of style. For many young people, tattoos and piercings have become an accepted form of self-expression.

But not every tattoo tells a good story. Some become lifelong reminders of a decision made without considering one critical question: Was it done safely?

As the world marks World Hepatitis Day under the theme Hepatitis: Let’s break it down, we must break down one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding tattoos and piercings; that every procedure is safe.

The reality is that when body art is done using improperly sterilised kits, it can expose individuals to life-threatening infections, including Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C are viral infections that attack the liver. They spread when infected blood or certain body fluids enter another person’s bloodstream. Hepatitis B can also be transmitted via unprotected sex and from an infected mother to her baby during childbirth, while Hepatitis C is most commonly spread through injection drug use, sexual transmission and use of contaminated equipment.

These infections rarely make headlines, yet they remain among the leading causes of chronic liver disease globally. Often referred to as “silent infections,” hepatitis can live in the body for years without obvious symptoms while progressively damaging the liver.

By the time many people realise something is wrong, the disease may have advanced to liver cirrhosis, liver failure or even liver cancer. The danger is not the tattoo itself. The danger lies in unsafe practices.

Every time a needle pierces the skin, there is potential for blood exposure. If equipment is reused or inadequately sterilised after being used on someone carrying the hepatitis virus, the infection can easily be passed to the next client. Unfortunately, this risk is significantly higher in unlicensed tattoo and piercing parlors that operate without proper infection prevention and control standards.

As tattoos become increasingly popular among young adults, conversations about safe body art should become just as common.

Choosing where to get a tattoo or piercing should involve more than comparing prices or artistic talent. It should involve asking important health questions. Is the establishment licensed? Are new, single-use needles opened in front of the client? Is the equipment professionally sterilised? Are practitioners wearing fresh gloves for every procedure? Any reputable studio should be transparent about its hygiene practices.

The same vigilance applies to anyone offering tattoo services at social events, festivals or informal settings. Convenience should never come at the expense of safety.

Fortunately, hepatitis is preventable, detectable and, in many cases, treatable.

Vaccination remains the most effective protection against Hepatitis B. While the vaccine is routinely administered to children as part of Kenya’s immunisation programme, many adults may not know whether they completed the vaccination schedule or remain protected.

Knowing your vaccination status is an important step in safeguarding your health.

Equally important is testing. One of the greatest challenges in eliminating hepatitis is that many infected individuals feel perfectly healthy.

Without testing, they may unknowingly live with the virus for years while also risking transmission to others. Early diagnosis allows timely treatment, reduces complications and significantly improves long-term health outcomes.

This year’s World Hepatitis Day theme reminds us that eliminating hepatitis is not only about medicine; it is about removing barriers to information, testing, vaccination and treatment. It is also about challenging the myths that prevent people from protecting themselves.

For young people especially, protecting your health should never be seen as limiting your freedom of expression. You can still get the tattoo that tells your story or the piercing you’ve always wanted. The difference is ensuring that your story is one of confidence, creativity and informed choices; not one of preventable illness.

As Kenya works towards eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, each of us has a role to play. Ask questions before getting inked.

Get vaccinated against Hepatitis B if you are not already protected. Know your status through testing. Encourage your friends to do the same.

And the reason is simple, while tattoos may last a lifetime, so can the consequences of unsafe choices.

Your body tells your story. Make sure it is one of expression, confidence, and good health.

More than 1,700 packages of power line hardware, accessories, and meter boxes imported by a contractor on behalf of Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) risk auction due to a tax standoff with the taxman.

The packages, contained in some seven containers held at the Syokimau Inland Container Depot, are meant for use in the Last Mile Connectivity Project (LCMP), targeted at improving inclusion of households in the national grid and ultimately achieving universal access.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) said the goods, which arrived in the country in April 2026, have overstayed at its depot and will be auctioned next month to reclaim unpaid customs taxes if not cleared within the stipulated deadline.

KPLC, however, claims the goods are tax-exempt, as they’re meant for a last-mile electrification project it is executing on behalf of the government, and is funded through donors.

‘The goods listed in the KRA notice could have been imported by an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor engaged to implement a last-mile project,’ a KPLC spokesperson told Business Daily in an emailed response.

‘Under the terms of the project, the contractor bears sole responsibility for the procurement, supply, and installation of all materials necessary for the execution and completion of the works. This includes clearing of the goods from the port upon issuance of the exemption letter by the government.’

According to the spokesperson, the exemption letter, issued by the National Treasury, has already been provided to KRA for the commodities, but the taxman is yet to release the goods.

KRA did not respond to questions on why the goods continue to be withheld, nor did it confirm whether the exemption letter for the KPLC consignment has been received.

Items used for grid connection under the project, including metre boxes and transformers, are exempt from customs and value-added taxes.

KPLC, therefore, seeks exemption letters from the National Treasury for its contractors under the project, to facilitate duty-free importation of materials.

Typically, KRA holds imported goods deposited at its customs warehouses for 90 days pending payment of taxes, after which it publishes a notice alerting owners to collect them.

If the goods remain uncollected 30 days after the notice, KRA is allowed by law to dispose of the items at a public auction to recover unpaid customs taxes. The uncollected KPLC consignment could face a similar fate if the tax standoff isn’t resolved soon.

KPLC is currently executing the sixth phase of the last-mile connectivity project, which is financed by the African Development Bank.

The government has been implementing the project through Kenya Power and the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation.

Under the programme, households close to or within 600 metres of an earmarked transformer are connected to power at subsidised rates of an average Sh15,000.

Beneficiaries initially paid Sh30,000 for the job. In the year ended June 2025, Kenya Power reported 163,092 last mile customers.

The first phase, funded by the AfDB, connected 314,200 customers in all 47 counties and was completed in 2020.

The second and third phases, funded by the World Bank and AfDB, respectively, were completed in 2022 and added a further 598,500 connections across 46 counties.

Ongoing phases launched in 2023 are targeting an extra 260,000 customers through funding from the European Union, European Investment Bank, French Development Agency and Japan International Cooperation Agency, with a combined investment of Sh24.2 billion.

A sixth phase funded by the AfDB started in 2025 and focuses on strengthening electricity network through substations and medium-voltage lines, while benefiting an estimated 150,000 customers.

Separately, the Government of Kenya, through Kenya Power and Rerec, has connected more than 163,000 customers under an ongoing programme covering all 47 counties.

Businesses and households have suffered losses and inconvenience following a technical glitch in Kenya Power’s token vending system that persisted for more than 17 hours by Thursday afternoon.

The glitch, which began on Wednesday night after a widespread power outage, affected customers attempting to buy tokens via the *977# USSD code or the M-Pesa paybill. The purchase attempts were met with ‘failed transaction messages instead of confirmation of their purchases.

‘Transaction failed. M-Pesa cannot complete payment of Sh1,000.00 to KPLC PREPAID. Please try again shortly,’ read a message from M-Pesa.

Others received an ‘internal system error’ prompt directing them to try another payment method.

Unlike in previous incidents, when customers could switch to the M-Pesa paybill if the USSD service failed, this time the disruption appeared to affect both channels simultaneously. This left many prepaid customers with no immediate way of purchasing electricity tokens. A review of social media platforms revealed widespread frustrations by businesses and households as many of them reported stalled operations and inconvenience of non-functional electronic equipment such as fridges and television sets.

The outage also disrupted businesses that depend on a constant power supply, with some being unable to continue operations after exhausting their prepaid units. Households were also affected, as customers whose electricity had run out were left unable to recharge their meters.

Kenya Power acknowledged the disruption, stating that it was experiencing technical issues affecting its token vending system. However, the company has not released a formal notice regarding the issue.

‘Good morning. Please note that our token vending system is currently facing a technical issue. Our team is already working on it to restore normal services. In the meantime, please keep trying. We apologise for any inconvenience caused,’ the utility company responded to a customer complaint on X.

Safaricom also acknowledged the problem, informing one customer that an issue affecting electricity token purchases was being resolved.

‘…there is a system issue affecting token purchases, but we are working on a resolution. We apologise for the inconvenience,’ Safaricom said in a response on X to a customer.

The payment system failure occurred just hours after a nationwide blackout plunged much of the country into darkness on Wednesday evening.

Technical disturbance

Kenya Power attributed the outage to a technical disturbance on the national grid. The blackout began shortly after 8:30 pm and affected Nairobi, the Coast region, Mt Kenya and parts of the Central Rift. Meanwhile, the North Rift and Western regions remained supplied with electricity.

Electricity was restored in phases throughout the night, with Kenya Power announcing that power had been fully restored to all affected customers by around 2 am on Thursday.

This latest disruption is similar to one experienced in July 2023, when prepaid customers were unable to purchase electricity tokens for several hours due to a network disturbance affecting Kenya Power’s payment channels. At the time, Kenya Power advised customers to use banks and Airtel Money as alternative payment methods before services were restored later that day.

Kenya has also experienced several major nationwide blackouts in recent years. In December 2025, a disturbance on the Kenya-Uganda interconnector triggered a nationwide outage, while in December 2023, another blackout disrupted operations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. In August 2023, the country experienced one of its longest power outages.

Safaricom Plc’s funding contribution to its Ethiopian startup rose by Sh1.4 billion in three months to June 2026, underlining the telecoms increased interest in the business co-owned with partners including its parent Vodacom, Sumitomo Corporation, British International Investment (BII) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

New disclosures from Safaricom place its total funding contribution to the business at Sh159.6 billion ($1.234 billion) at the end of June 2026 from Sh158.2 billion ($1.223 billion) in March.

The disclosures however do not provide a breakdown on the type of funding for Safaricom in the three months period.

The telecoms operator raised its stake in the Ethiopian unit to 54.1 percent in March 2026 from 51.67 percent a year earlier after a funding round that was restricted to entities in the Vodacom family –Safaricom and its parent firm Vodacom Group Limited.

Total funding for the unit topped Sh345.7 billion ($2.672 billion) in the quarter and included Sh298.3 billion ($2.306 billion) in equity, Sh15.5 billion ($120 million) in local currency debt and Sh31.8 billion ($246 million) in foreign currency debt from Standard Bank and the IFC.

‘Safaricom Ethiopia is funded through shareholder equity, deferred vendor payments and third-party borrowings. Shareholders of the Global Partnership consortium for Ethiopia (GPE) contributed to US$2.306 million as of June 30, 2026,’ Safaricom said in a funding update for the unit.

‘This funding includes a license fee of $850 million (Sh109.9 billion) and the $150 million (Sh19.4 billion) M-Pesa license fee. The operating entity has also borrowed from the local market.’

The fresh disclosures come as Safaricom Ethiopia races against time to attain profitability at EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) level by March 2027.

The unit reached 14.7 million active customers in June this year to boost the drive to profitability.

Safaricom Ethiopia saw its number of three-month active customers rise by one million in the quarter to June 2026, from 13.63 million 90-day active customers as of the end of March this year.

The number of active customers on the network soared 46.1 percent year-on-year from 10.06 million in June 2025.

Safaricom and its parent firm diluted the stakes of three minority investors –Sumitomo, BII and IFC– in the unit’s funding round through 12 months to March 2026.

Stakes by the three entities stood at 23.5 percent, 9.5 percent and 6.81 percent respectively in March this year, while Vodacom’s share of the business was 6.02 percent.

The co-investors in its Ethiopia subsidiary retain powers to buy back the 2.78 percent stake lost when the latest equity investment in the unit was made in the year to March 2026.

In its latest annual report, Safaricom disclosed a shareholders’ agreement between parties, allowing the minority owners to clawback their lost stakes at a future date.

The parties could do so by acquiring shares directly from Safaricom and Vodacom, or through a proportional capital injection in cash calls that Safaricom and Vodacom sit out.

‘In accordance with the shareholders’ agreement, the non-participating shareholders retain the right to acquire their respective ‘catch-up’ shares from the group at a future date to restore their original ownership proportions,’ Safaricom said.

CIC Insurance Group has partnered with Philippines’ largest microinsurance provider as it ramps up low-cost covers to strengthen a segment it pioneered 26 years ago.

The insurer, which secured a licence for a micro-insurance subsidiary in October last year, has partnered with CARD Mutual Benefit Association (CARD MBA), becoming the latest underwriter to turn to Asia for expertise in scaling uptake of covers targeting the informal sector.

CIC first introduced a micro-insurance product in 2000 in partnership with Vision Fund Kenya (then known as Kenya Agency for the Development of Enterprise and Technology) and strengthened its offering in 2007 under the ‘Bima ya Jamii’ package. However, the segment lost momentum over time.

The insurer is now seeking to regain ground and challenge rivals such as Britam and APA, which have since established dedicated micro-insurance units.

‘The focus is to develop relevant products that can be afforded by the majority of Kenyans. This reflects our conviction that the future of insurance will not be defined by how we serve those who have access but how we effectively reach those who have been historically left behind,’ said Patrick Nyaga, chief executive at CIC Insurance Group.

CIC Impact, which is the CIC’s micro-insurance subsidiary, is targeting to expand its product lines in bid to capture Kenya’s informal sector which supports the majority of jobs in the economy.

CARD MBA will support CIC in areas such as building and scaling up micro-insurance products, strengthening governance, actuarial sustainability and risk management, as well as enhancing IT and management information systems.

The Philippines firm is the largest mutual micro-insurer in the South East Asia country where it insures more than 25 million individuals, giving it 83 percent market share. The firm currently settles claims within four hours.

‘We have to remember that we are not selling a product, we are strengthening the resilience of communities. We are here to offer expertise in areas such as technology and running a claims management system that can settle claims within hours,’ said Jaime Alip, founder and chairman emeritus at CARD.

Most of Kenya’s insurance products have resonated largely with the formal sector, leaving the insurance penetration in the economy at below three percent.

‘If we are to close this protection gap, we must go beyond conventional models and develop insurance solutions that are simple, affordable, relevant, and accessible to the people. This is the greatest opportunity before us as we partner with the best in class,’ said Nelson Kuria, chairman at CIC Group.

Housing is often discussed as a matter of walls, roofs and finishing. That is too narrow a view. In economic terms, housing is one of the clearest tests of whether a country is translating growth into dignity, security and opportunity for its citizens.

Kenya’s housing challenge is not abstract. An annual deficit of about 200,000 units, against the backdrop of rapid urbanisation, has left millions of households in overcrowded and unsafe conditions. The goal of delivering 277,000 affordable housing units currently under construction, with 45,000 targeted by year-end, is therefore not merely ambitious, it is necessary.

But scale alone does not solve a structural problem. Affordable housing can neither be built on hope, nor can it be delivered through old financing models and bureaucratic delays. It requires a different way of thinking about land, capital, construction and long-term estate management.

That is the rationale behind the Affordable Housing Board’s approach. The programme is treated as an ecosystem, not a construction exercise. Financing is affordable on both the supply and demand sides. Public-private partnerships have been deepened. And the institutions supporting the market, from mortgage finance to land administration, are working with greater precision and speed.

The role of the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company in widening access to affordable mortgage finance is important. So too the digitisation of land records through systems such as Ardhisasa, which help reduce fraud, improve transparency and make the market more bankable. These are not side issues, they are the infrastructure of a functioning housing market.

Equally important is what happens after the keys are handed over. Too often housing delivery ends at construction, yet the real value of an estate depends on how it is managed over time. Poorly managed estates quickly deteriorate into liabilities.

That is why professional estate management matters. The onboarding of 19 property managers is an important step toward ensuring that affordable housing communities remain financially sound, well maintained and liveable in the long-term.

There is also a strong economic case for modern construction methods. New technologies and locally available materials can lower costs by as much as 25 percent while expanding employment.

Each unit built supports jobs in cement, steel, transport, plumbing, electrical works and site supervision. The multiplier effect is real and extends far beyond the building site.

This is why housing sits at the centre of Kenya’s broader economic transformation agenda. It is not a peripheral social programme. It is an industrial policy, a jobs strategy and an urban planning intervention rolled into one. And we are executing it properly, and it is stimulating local manufacturing, expanding skilled employment and widening household wealth creation through homeownership.

Still, execution always determines success. The first priority is to improve the enabling environment. Land acquisition has to be faster, approvals more predictable and coordination across national and county governments more coherent. Delays at any one point raise costs for everyone else in the chain, from developers to buyers.

The second is to deepen financing. Pension funds, insurance companies and diaspora capital all have a role to play in unlocking the scale of investment required.

Kenyan workers abroad already send substantial sums home every year. With the right vehicles, part of that capital can be channelled into housing investment and ownership. Platforms such as Boma Yangu provide a practical route for Kenyans in the diaspora to participate directly in the programme.

The third is skills. Kenya cannot deliver housing at this scale without a larger pipeline of trained workers and managers. Technical and vocational institutions must be better integrated into the housing value chain so that young people can enter construction, project management, maintenance and estate services. The programme has created not only homes but also careers.

Sustainability should also be built in from the start. Affordable housing should not become a future burden through high utility costs, poor water systems or inefficient design. Energy efficiency, green materials and water conservation are no longer optional extras. They are part of what makes a home affordable over its lifetime.

Perhaps most importantly, the programme has remained responsive to the people it is meant to serve. Housing should not be designed in isolation from the communities that will inhabit it.

Beneficiaries must have a voice in the planning of unit layouts, social amenities and supporting infrastructure such as schools, health facilities, roads and recreation spaces. A housing project succeeds when it reflects how people actually live.

The final point is simple. Affordable housing cannot be separated from transport, jobs, education and healthcare. Homes are only truly affordable when they are connected to the rest of urban life. That is why integrated planning matters. A well-located, mixed-use development does more for a family’s future than a cheap unit in a disconnected settlement.

Kenya now has an opportunity to do something lasting. We have moved from rhetoric to delivery and from short-term fixes to structural reform.

The housing programme offers a chance to expand dignity, strengthen communities and build a more inclusive economy.

If we and we will get housing right, it will have done more than put up buildings. It will have created a foundation for shared prosperity.

That is the real task before us.