OpinionKenGen has built Olkaria into one of the world’s largest geothermal power hubs, but the stalled $1 billion Microsoft-G42 data-centre project exposed a problem that now requires political commitment, regulatory coordination and a financing model built for hyperscale demand. Kenya must find a way to deliver hundreds of megawatts quickly, finance dedicated transmission and make technology buyers carry the cost without pushing more risk onto the Treasury or household power bills.
Policy & Regulation · 16 Oct 2026 · 9 min read
OpinionIn 2019, Redmond came to Nairobi hunting for scarce software developers. Seven years later, a $190bn compute bill and a three-gigawatt grid bottleneck have turned Africa’s premier coding centre into a government sales account.
Africa Business Stories · 15 Oct 2026 · 11 min read
First Reading.Licences that take months, rules that leave founders guessing and few safe places to test new products. FINTAK’s work with innovators and regulators across Africa points to seven fixes. Kenya’s draft payments law has just taken up one of them.
Policy & Regulation · 14 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
OpinionThe journey from an idea to a functioning business is less about polished strategy than survival, improvisation and learning which mistakes can kill the company before it develops scale. Ian Ortega argues that capital can sometimes postpone rather than remove that apprenticeship, while founders who bootstrap their way from zero to one learn the suppliers, customers, hidden costs and informal rules that no business-school framework can fully teach.
Africa Business Stories · 13 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
FINTAK PositionKenyan firms face headline tax rates broadly in line with regional peers, yet frequent rule changes, overlapping levies, short compliance deadlines and VAT refunds that can take 12 to 24 months are making long-term investment harder to price. FINTAK is pushing for a multiyear tax roadmap, longer transition periods and enforceable refund timelines as businesses weigh expansion, hiring and capital spending against rules that can change within months.
Tax & Regulation · 12 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
OpinionPesaLink’s portable payment ID could let Kenyans send money using phone numbers or other familiar identifiers without knowing the recipient’s bank, while lower transfer fees seek to make the rail easier to use. Its rollout also lands as Kenya debates a national instant-payment switch, raising a bigger question over whether PesaLink can evolve from bank infrastructure into part of a broader payments system, and under whose rules.
Payments · 8 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
OpinionKenya has licensed 281 digital credit providers and written rules against abusive collection. Borowers still face disputed charges, contested repossessions, and errors in credit records. Licensed lenders publish annual rates as high as 4,432%. The test is what happens after the license is granted.
Digital Lending · 1 Oct 2026 · 17 min read
First Reading.AI agents can now retrieve data, send files and initiate transactions without a person directing every step, creating a new problem for businesses deploying them. Kenyan law already attaches duties to organizations over customer data and automated electronic instructions, even as criminal liability for an agent’s unauthorized access still requires separate proof of intent and knowledge. The emerging governance challenge is therefore not simply what an agent was told to do, but what it was permitted to do, what it actually did and whether the institution can reconstruct the difference.
Policy & Regulation · 30 Sep 2026 · 12 min read
OpinionUber’s exits from Tanzania, Nigeria and Uganda expose a weakness in ride-hailing that an app cannot solve alone. Fares must cover the full working journey, and a platform that leaves must account for the people who built its market.
Policy & Regulation · 28 Sep 2026 · 11 min read
First Reading.Kenya’s draft National Payment System Bill would replace the 2011 law with activity-based licensing, mandatory interoperability, open-finance services and stronger Central Bank powers, while an accompanying policy proposes a national instant-payment switch. But the decisions that will shape competition remain largely unwritten, including who owns the new rail, who gets direct access, what participants pay and how a regulator that may also operate infrastructure separates those roles. Kenya has already digitised payments. It is now deciding who controls the architecture underneath them.
Policy & Regulation · 22 Sep 2026 · 22 min read
OpinionThe High Court did not invalidate the transaction over one defective meeting. It found that the price preceded the valuation, the contracts preceded parliamentary approval and a transfer of control was presented to the public as an ordinary sale of shares.
Policy & Regulation · 18 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
OpinionThe National Infrastructure Fund was created to move viable projects off the Exchequer. Its first income plan turns privatization proceeds into government debt, while the projects, the safeguards and part of the capital remain unsettled.
Policy & Regulation · 16 Sep 2026 · 10 min read
