Author: The Exchange

• Kenya’s wealthy are leading a strategic shift from luxury homes and foreign assets to energy-efficient, revenue-generating investments in 2025.
• Knight Frank report shows they’re they are turning their attention—and billions—on home-grown opportunities in technology, agriculture, data centres, and green energy.
• Nearly 77% of wealth managers surveyed said inherited assets represent less than 40% of their clients’ wealth portfolios. For half of them, that figure is under 30%.

Kenya’s wealthy individuals are fast redrawing the roadmap to riches. A new survey shows that East Africa’s largest economy is experiencing a bold departure from traditional wealth-building norms as High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) abandoning their fixation on foreign property and private residential rentals. Instead, they are turning their attention—and billions—inward, betting big on home-grown investment opportunities in technology, agriculture, data centres, and green energy.

According to the 2025 Kenya Edition of the Knight Frank Wealth Report, the country’s millionaires are increasingly self-made, …

• The strategic partnership between Cassava Technologies and Zindi aims to empower local talent to drive AI innovation by leveraging GPU-powered resources to solve Africa’s unique challenges.
• collaboration is poised to see both entities explore opportunities to leverage each other’s platforms, ecosystems, and communities to expand reach, growth and impact.
• Part of the partnership will involve the launch of a dedicated AI challenge aimed at uncovering emerging talent and high-impact innovations.

The pace of AI innovation in Africa has received a timely boost with two companies Cassava Technologies and Zindi, a platform that unites data scientists across the continent, agreeing to partner to accelerate uptake of the new technology.

In a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the two firms have agreed to speed up the delivery of GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-powered applications to address unique challenges in Africa, a move that is poised to significantly improve digital transformation across economies.

The move …

• Safaricom CEO Dr. Peter Ndegwa credits performance to strategic investments in technology, expansion into Ethiopia, and a diversified digital services portfolio.
• Group Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) rose sharply by 29.5 per cent to KES104.1 billion.
• Telco to pay shareholders a total of KES48.08 billion in total dividend for the year.

Nairobi-based Safaricom has made regional business history, becoming the first company in East Africa to post over $3 billion in annual revenue. The company’s total earnings rose by 11.2 per cent to KES388.7 billion for the financial year ending March 31, 2025, driven by strategic investments in technology, expansion into Ethiopia, and a diversified digital services portfolio.

The telco giant’s net income surged by 10.8 per cent to KES69.8 billion, marking one of its strongest financial years yet. As a reward to shareholders, the company announced a final dividend of KES0.65 per ordinary share, adding to an interim …

• The boost to creative industry is part of the Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus Programme (CANEX), which seeks to enhance growth and impact of the entertainment sector in the continent.
• Funding will be critical in promoting the production and distribution of high-quality films and TV series around the world, furthering Africa’s cultural appeal and influence.
• It will also help catalyse attracting and directing global capital into Africa’s film and TV production industry.

The push to develop the nascent creative industry in Africa has received a timely boost with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) unveiling a $1 billion fund to position the growing segment in the global arena.

In an update, the Afreximbank has unveiled Africa Film Fund, an initiative that is part of the lender’s Creative Africa Nexus Programme (CANEX), which seeks to enhance growth and impact of the creative industry across the continent.

“Film is a cornerstone of the Creative …

• The strategy focuses on transforming food security systems in a holistic way—from soil to shelf—targeting the most vulnerable countries.
• AU Plan envisages turning agriculture into a catalyst for prosperity, sustainability, and resilience across the continent.
• Blueprint is supported by the newly signed Kampala Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), which is a goal under African Union Agenda 2063 plan.

In yet another push to realize food security for the continent’s 1.4 billion population, the African Union (AU) has officially launched the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2035, committing to a set of goals to boost food production.

This ambitious blueprint, which was unveiled during a high-level conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, seeks to mobilize up to $100 billion in investments, positioning agriculture not just as a tool for food security, but as a catalyst for prosperity, sustainability, and resilience across Africa.

Backed by …

• In 2024, seven out of eight member states of Eastern Africa’s IGAD were staring down an alarming food crisis.
• This threat has triggered a rallying cry to reimagine and rebuild food systems across Eastern and Southern Africa.
• The food crisis is fed by a dangerous cocktail of climate shocks, land degradation, erratic rainfall, and inefficiencies in food supply chains.

In 2024, seven out of eight member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) were staring down an alarming food crisis. According to an update from the World Bank, over 62.9 million people—or one in every four of the region’s population—are suffering from acute food insecurity.

The stark reality is not just a call to action; it is a rallying cry to reimagine and rebuild food systems across Eastern and Southern Africa.

At the intersection of climate change, population growth, urbanization, and economic instability, the region faces a …

• Collaboration marks a step towards leveraging stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure to boost Onafriq’s payment network.
• Companies say by integrating USDC, they seek to simplify financial transactions for institutions and individuals, reduce costs, and strengthen trust.
• Currently, over 80% of intra-African payments are routed through correspondent banks outside the continent and settled in foreign currencies.

Payments company Onafriq has joined hands with Circle, stablecoin market leader and issuer of USDC, in a deal aimed at transforming cross-border payments and digital financial services across Africa.

In a statement, the two firms noted that their collaboration marks a significant step towards compliantly leveraging stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure to boost Onafriq’s payment network, positioning it at the forefront of the digital payment’s revolution for real-world financial applications.

“Our partnership with Circle is an important milestone, reinforcing Onafriq’s commitment to harnessing technology to remove complexity from cross-border payments. By integrating USDC, we aim to simplify …

• For Africa, the answer to “how many registered voters in the United States” is more than a number. It influences the course of global partnerships, including US and Africa trade ties.
• At the ballot, the US electorate influence trade agreements, security partnerships, the flow of aid, and direction on climate action.
• From frozen foreign aid to bilateral trade deals, every ballot cast by one of roughly 168M registered voters in the US holds the power to shape the future.

“How many registered voters in the United States?” This is the question that routinely spikes in online searches ahead of presidential elections in America. While the answer—currently over 168 million registered voters according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission—may seem like a mere domestic statistic, the weight of their vote poses political and socioeconomic implications stretch far beyond the US shores.

In an era of global diplomacy and strategic partnerships, the …

• Afreximbank is set to equip traders with vital tools to navigate both tariff and non-tariff barriers in AfCFTA.
• In a June 30 to July 2, 2025, forum in Abuja, the lender will coach both prospective and existing exporters on emerging intra-Africa trade issues.
• So far, limited understanding of AFCFTA’s technical and operational aspects has barred many firms from leveraging the bloc’s benefits.

Lender Afreximbank is rolling out a bespoke training, targeting traders across Africa with key insights on how to leverage on the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the world’s largest trading bloc by member countries, to grow their investments.

Statistics show that ntra-African trade has the potential to increase by over 52 per cent this year if the AfCFTA is fully implemented, and could reach a value of over $70 billion annually in the short term.

Furthermore, studies by the United Nations Economic Commission …

• In a stinging critique, Doanh Chau, President of Vietnam Gas says Kenya and Africa is not short on talent or resources—it is suffering from a chronic failure in leadership, vision, and execution.
• He says Kenya and Africa’s woes stem from unreliable electricity to misplaced infrastructure priorities and a governance culture geared more toward optics than results.
• Doanh Chau: “Leaders talk big, but systems don’t move,”. For Chau, African leaders should stop performing for the next donor visit or global conference and start building strong institutions that work for their people.

A hard look at Kenya, and Africa by extension

In a sharply worded critique following high-level meetings in China, Doanh Chau, President of Vietnam Gas, offers an unflinching examination of Kenya’s leadership and, by extension, the broader challenges facing Africa. His central point? Africa is not short on talent or resources—it is suffering from a chronic failure in leadership, …