Business & Economy
Featured News Stories
Leadership Change at StanChart Kenya; Nedbank Offers to Acquire 66% of NCBA Group
Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has appointed Birju Sanghrajka as its new Managing Director and CEO, a move pending regulatory approvals. He will succeed Kariuki Ngari, who is set to retire on April 16, 2026, after serving seven years in the role and 24 years with the bank. In another major development in Kenya's banking sector, South African lender Nedbank Group has submitted a tender offer to acquire approximately 66 percent of NCBA Group's ordinary shares. The proposal values NCBA at 1.4 times its book value. This acquisition offer is aimed at securing a controlling stake in the Kenyan financial services provider.
Kenya Proposes VAT Cut and Safaricom Stake Sale; ODPC Confirms Worldcoin Data Deletion
The Kenyan government's Finance Bill 2026 proposes an 8 percent reduction in input VAT for agricultural exporters, cutting the rate from the current 16 percent to alleviate costs. Separately, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) projects a significant increase in the country's foreign exchange reserves to KSh 1.84 trillion. This boost is driven by the proposed partial sale of the government's stake in Safaricom PLC to Vodacom, which aims to increase import cover to 6.2 months. In a regulatory action, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) confirmed the complete deletion of all biometric data collected from Kenyan citizens by Worldcoin's parent company, Tools for Humanity.
Launch of TeraWave Satellite Network, Robotic Surgery, and AI Data Center Cooling Unit
Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced its plan to launch over 5,400 satellites to create TeraWave, a new global communications network to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink. In another technological advancement, Metropolitan Hospital in Nairobi performed the first robotic-assisted knee replacement surgeries in East and Central Africa, in collaboration with India’s Marengo Asia Hospital. Additionally, Motivair by Schneider Electric has launched a new 2.5MW high-capacity coolant distribution unit (CDU). This unit is designed to meet the escalating cooling demands of next-generation AI data centres which generate significantly more heat.
