The Addis Ababa voyage...

Kenya's #1 newsletter among business leaders & policy makers

July 02, 2025

Safaricom’s Ethiopian venture, once seen as a high-stakes bet, is rapidly transforming into one of East Africa’s most compelling telecom growth stories.

I am Brian from The Kenyan Wall Street and these are our day's business stories:

Leading Stories 

📡 Safcom’s Voyage in Addis Ababa

By Harry Njuguna

Safaricom Ethiopia CEO Wim Vanhelleputte

Safaricom’s bold Ethiopian gamble is beginning to pay off: the telco’s local unit just crossed 10 million active users, pulling in over 31,000 new subscribers daily and lifting the parent company’s shares to their highest since 2022. Mobile data, now the lifeblood of its revenue, jumped nearly 140%, driving a 65.4% rise in total service income to KSh 8.9 billion.

Behind the numbers lies a quiet revolution: 4G towers blooming across 150 towns, a workforce that’s 97% Ethiopian, and millions discovering the digital world for the first time. M-PESA, voice, and messaging are catching fire too, even as forex shocks bite and break-even looms on the horizon. As CEO Wim Vanhelleputte tells it, the mission isn’t just market share, it’s to wire a nation into the future. Read more.

🔴 Meanwhile, in Kenya, Safaricom’s dominance continues to erode, falling below 65% for the first time in years as competition sharpens across voice, SMS, and data segments. Airtel has quietly surged ahead, adding nearly three million new subscribers and reaching an all-time high market share of 32.2%. Read here.

📬 The Fall and Fall of Posta 

By Harry Njuguna

Once the country's courier backbone, Posta Kenya is crumbling under the weight of digital disruption and nimble private players. Domestic letter volumes have plunged nearly 90% in a year, while private operators now deliver five times more mail. A belated digital pivot, steep price hikes, and clunky bureaucratic shifts have only alienated users further. Even with a state-led rescue plan, Posta risks becoming a relic in Kenya’s fast-evolving logistics landscape. Read more.

⏰ Rewind

Posta Kenya Under Pressure as E-Commerce Shoppers Seek Better Delivery Options

A growing number of e-commerce customers who rely on the national courier Postal Corporation (Posta) for the last-mile delivery of packages

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📱 Almost Everyone now owns a smartphone 

By Chelsy Maina

Kenya’s smartphone boom, once driven by affordability and a hunger for connection, is finally plateauing. With most urban adults already equipped with devices, the market shows signs of maturity rather than momentum. Telecom companies and digital platforms, which once thrived on onboarding millions, are now shifting from rapid expansion to retention, refinements, and richer user experiences. The frontier of growth is no longer about getting phones into hands, but about what those hands are doing with them, and who gets to profit next. Read more.

Olympia Capital Posts KSh 17.6M Profit in FY2025, Boosted by Asset Revaluation

Olympia Capital reported a KSh 17.6M profit in FY2025, with strong asset growth and KSh 391M in total income, driven by property revaluation.

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Kenya to Relocate Nuclear Power Project to Siaya After Kilifi Pushback

Kenya's plans for its first nuclear power plant have found new footing in Siaya after fierce community opposition derailed earlier efforts

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KSh 17.7 Bn UK Fund Targets 500 Kenyan Startups

UK) will channel KSh 17.7 billion into Kenya’s innovation landscape to benefit more than 500 start-ups, support 5,000 digitally driven SMEs.

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NSE Gainers & Losers 

Source: NSE

Regional Focus 

Zanzibar Partners with Tether to Advance Blockchain Education and Financial Innovation

Zanzibar has taken a formal step toward blockchain integration and digital asset education through a new partnership with Tether

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AfDB Loans City of Johannesburg US$139mn in First Lending to a Subnational Entity

AfDB has approved a ZAR 2.5 billion (approximately $139 million) corporate loan to the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

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On your watchlist

CBEX promised prosperity but delivered one of Africa’s biggest financial heartbreaks. What began as a fast-growing crypto platform quickly turned into a high-tech Ponzi scheme, swindling over $847 million (USDT) from thousands of investors across Kenya, Nigeria, and beyond.

Keep up with what’s happening on our X and LinkedIn pages. Stay updated with the latest financial news on our website The Kenyan Wall Street.