Is Private Debt the Answer for Kenya's Small Businesses?

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Is Private Debt the Answer for Kenya’s Underserved Businesses?

By Brian Nzomo

Kenya’s MSMEs face a KSh2.5 trillion financing gap, but the problem is not simply a shortage of lenders. Most small businesses do not fit neatly into conventional credit models. Private debt is emerging as an alternative, particularly for viable businesses that may lack sufficient collateral or need repayment terms that better match their cash flows. In this interview with The Kenyan Wall Street, Stanley Mutuku, CEO of Lofty-Corban Investments, explains where private debt fits into Kenya’s financing market, what borrowers give up in exchange for its flexibility, and how investors distinguish an overlooked business from a bad credit risk. He also makes the case for looking beyond the headline financing gap to the quality of businesses that private lenders can realistically serve. The conversation offers a closer look at whether private debt can expand access to formal capital without simply becoming another expensive source of credit.

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Kenya Airways Eyes Hospital, Hotel Business in Broader Revival Strategy

In an ambitious bid to tap into East Africa's lucrative medical travel market, Kenya Airways is planning to transform its Pride Center facility near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) into a fully fledged international hospital, anchoring a broader diversification push away from sole reliance on passenger flight revenue.Alongside health tourism infrastructure, Kenya Airways is prioritizing an aggressive push into air freight to support local agricultural supply chains, as well as spinning off its Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) division as a standalone technical entity, and expanding its training academy. To complete its ecosystem at JKIA, the carrier is planning an airside transit hotel to accommodate delayed or layover passengers directly within the airport boundary.

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Heads Up

Food4Education's Wawira Njiru Wins the German Africa Prize 2026

By TKWS Staff Reporter

Kenyan social innovator and nutritionist Wawira Njiru is the recipient of the German Africa Prize 2026, awarded by the German Africa Foundation in recognition of her pioneering approach to reimagining school feeding as economic infrastructure. Through Food4Education (F4E), the not-for-profit social enterprise she founded in 2012, Wawira Njiru works to build scalable national systems that combine school feeding with local food production, job creation, and economic development. The 20-member jury of the German Africa Prize said it "recognises Njiru's work in connecting food security with economic participation and strengthening local value chains." Building on 14 years of experience in Kenya, F4E is now sharing its lessons, technology, and operational expertise through partnerships with other African governments. In Zambia, for example, it is supporting the government to strengthen a nationally led school feeding system.

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