Evolving Customs & International Trade | Business Redefined
The June 30th, 2026 East African Community gazette for duty rates within the Common External Tariffs framework revealed multiple requests for stay of application across the region. The signal here is member states grappling with the trade-off between protecting local industry & aligning with the pursued liberalised markets under the AfCFTA arrangement. We look into the latest developments around customs & regional trade including Kenya's customs collection inching closer to the Kes 1.0 trillion mark (Kes 988.0 billion in 2025/26).
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Unlocking Africa's Next Frontier | Business Redefined
Seamless Technologies boasts of having the largest payroll aggregation in Africa & now wants, through Seamless Technologies, to leverage the capabilities enabled by that war chest to get the continent up to speed in deploying AI to accelerate development. We sit down with CEO & Co-founder, Dr. Emmanuel Okeleji, to discuss what's next for the company, its exploits into financial services & what it means for the continent.
July 22, 2026
Scaling Family Owned Businesses | Business Redefined
From establishing structures, to capital optimization & navigating succession, family owned business ventures face a raft of challenges as they look to scale their operations. We speak to Florence Wanja, Stanbic bank East Africa Head, Business and Commercial banking & place the spotlight on these businesses & see how we can create an enabling environment for the unique challenges they face.
July 21, 2026
Nairobi International Financial Centre | Business Redefined
The Nairobi International Financial Centre pitches itself as a capital magnet that can attract as much as US$10.0 billion worth of investment flows into the country by close of 2028. A conversation with the CEO, Daniel Mainda, to unpack the roadmap to this ambitious target.
On the agenda:
- The plan to get Africa's second Carbon Exchange up & running by close of Q1 2027 & implications for the vast pool of green financing
- The companies' certification pipeline & what this means for the country as an investment hub
- The policy/regulatory environment & whether more concessions beyond Corporate Income Tax & Capital Gains Tax can be unlocked
- What would all this mean for the country's macros & day-to-day life of the citizens
Finance Act 2026: Key Changes & Implications | Business Redefined
The first raft of Finance Act 2026 measures kicked in on July 1st as the government seeks Kes 98.6 billion worth of additional tax revenue in the financial year 2026/27. After the brief hiatus via Finance Act 2025, this year will see resumption of the September 1st effective measures. We speak to Wangoi Karuga regarding what has taken effect & the implication for businesses & households.
July 7, 2026
Residential Real Estate as an Asset Class | Business Redefined
Residential real estate is grappling with one major challenge - unlocking patient, long-term capital that aligns with the upfront heavy capex & long runway to returns that characterizes its undertakings. Mi Vida homes CEO, Samuel Kariuki, tells us why solving this will be a big part of bringing onboard institutional grade developers to the region's residential real estate landscape at scale.
Also on the agenda:
- The latest on demand & supply dynamics on the residential real estate front
- The evolution of residential rental yield returns & what this means for the asset class
- Institutional offtake & what that signals around the appetite for deep pocketed investors in real estate
- The rise of REITs in Kenya's capital markets
Sustainability in Financial Services | Business Redefined
Stanbic Bank Kenya closed 2025 having 'greened' 9.0% of its credit portfolio, 100.0bps higher than the previous year.
In 2025, the bank disbursed Kes 4.5 billion worth of financing towards green buildings; Kes 2.5 billion towards climate smart agriculture & another Kes 273.0 million towards solar energy.
The bank's Ag. Chief Executive Officer, Abraham Ongenge, argues that as far as sustainability financing goes, the tide has turned.
The challenge is not any more so much the inadequacy of bankable projects, but rather whether one can find adequate patient & low cost capital to meet the pipeline of projects without an aggressive yield demand.
In the recent past, Kenya has seen two issuers go to the capital markets & raised debt via green notes, both of which not only attracted strong over-subscription but also pushed the market on pricing.
Notably, Safaricom Plc's 5-year note at 10.4% stretched the limits of what we'd consider tight credit spreads for issuers deemed to be of strong investment grade.
I asked Ongenge whether Stanbic Bank Kenya, with a strong balance sheet & the backing of a strong parent entity, could be looking to follow this route as it scouts for low priced financing for its sustainability.
June 24, 2026
Family Bank Goes Public | Business Redefined
The list of banking counters at the Nairobi Securities Exchange expands as Family Bank goes public.
The lender will be listing by introduction, floating 1.66 billion shares at an introductory price of Kes 18.0/share, pitching the bank's entry market cap at Kes 29.9 billion (US$231.21 million).
We speak to Family Bank's CEO & MD, Nancy Njau, to dig into the listing within the bank's broader strategy.
On the agenda:
- The 2025 Kes 8.0 billion cash call & how it ties in with going public in June 2026
- The bank's retail heavy franchise & how it is likely to position post-listing
- The experience from the OTC market & what listing in the main market seeks to unlock
- Kes 18.0/share, the path to valuation & expectations around price discovery
Pan-African Human Capital Management | Business Redefined
How can organisations strengthen their capacity to scale through optimised human capital management & business productivity?
A conversation with Q-Sourcing Servtec to explore this subject & unpack emerging issues in the human capital landscape across Africa.
On the agenda:
- Gig work & the localisation of human capital management strategies
- Upskilling for the AI disruption in the labour market
- Human capital management & streamlining the administrative burden that comes with it
Banking Across Eastern Africa | Business Redefined
We take a look at emerging issues in the banking sector across Eastern Africa.
On the agenda:
- Recapitalisation in South Sudan & why there's push back from players from the region operating in that market
- Liberalisation in Ethiopia & the routes to market entry that are being considered
- The retail rush in Kenya & why everyone wants a piece of the pie in that segment of the market
- Uganda's rising infra spending & the opportunity it is creating for well capitalised & large ticket hungry lenders
- The evolving global macros, stress in credit portfolios & how this is impacting the region's banking