Steering a Ship in Crisis

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October 22, 2025

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Hello 👋🏽 It's Brian from The Kenyan Wall Street.

How do you steer a ship that is already leaking?

That’s the question facing Akua Brayie Owusu-Nartey as she steps up as CEO in WPP Scangroup, a once-dominant ad empire that is now weathered by years of executive exits, profit warnings, and lost clients.

Akua Brayie Owusu-Nartey - New CEO WPP Scangroup

The company that once sold imagination has been running low on its own. Behind the gloss of strategy decks lies a story of departures, stalled innovation, and creative fatigue.

Can a new leader inspire faith where numbers have failed? Or has the market moved too far, too fast for legacy giants to catch up? For Owusu-Nartey, the real task isn’t rebranding Scangroup; it’s proving that what’s left can still create…

Harry Njuguna interrogates here >>>>>

A Slight Slip in Remittances

By Harry Njuguna

Kenya’s lifeline from abroad just flickered. After a record-breaking August, remittances slipped slightly in September to about KSh 54 billion. The figure is still enormous, sustaining the country’s most reliable stream of foreign cash. Most of it came, as always, from Kenyans in the United States, whose dollars now prop up everything from household budgets to the shilling itself. But a new 1% U.S. tax on money sent overseas could change that rhythm next year. What feels like a minor adjustment in Washington could mean billions lost in Nairobi. For now, the flow holds steady, but the ground beneath it is beginning to shift.

Read the full article here >>>>>

The Taxman’s Cut From Fringe Benefits

By Chelsy Maina

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has decided to keep the Fringe Benefit Tax rate unchanged at 8% through the end of 2025, signaling stability amid tightening fiscal scrutiny. The tax, which targets perks like low-interest employee loans and company cars, ensures that such benefits are treated as part of taxable income. For employers, it’s a reminder that even the smallest corporate favor comes with a cost.

Shining on the International Stage

Elly Savatia - Winner of the 2025 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation

By Brian Nzomo

Elly Savatia’s win at the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation is more than a personal victory, it’s a signal that African tech is maturing beyond convenience into conscience. His AI-powered Terp 360 doesn’t just translate speech into sign language; it translates intent into inclusion. For millions who live in silence, it’s a gesture that says they were never invisible, only unheard. The £50,000 award is less about the money than the meaning; a recognition that empathy, too, can be engineered.

Read the story here »»»»»

Opinion

Why Kenya is Becoming a Long-Term Real Estate Powerhouse

By Leo Toroitich

Kenya’s real estate boom isn’t just a story of bricks and mortar but a reflection of faith in a country that’s still building itself. Every new expressway, every apartment tower, every gated estate rising from former farmland speaks to an optimism that refuses to fade, even in the face of inflation and fiscal strain. The housing deficit looms large, yet so does the appetite to fill it…driven by a young, restless middle class seeking permanence in a volatile economy.

Read the article here »»»»»

Happening This Week

Join us on Thursday, 23rd October at 6:00 PM EAT, for a live webinar hosted by @AndrewWBarden , CEO of The Kenyan Wall Street, in partnership with the European Investment Bank @EIB .
Our speakers Adolfo Alonso Cires, Aéko Ongodia, and Mercy Kimalat will explore how private
— Kenyan Wall Street (@kenyanwalstreet)
11:03 AM • Oct 15, 2025