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Ethical Business, Tubman Road, Nairobi (2026)

15/02/2026

Africa’s companies talk a lot about diversity. The results are less impressive.

Over the past decade, firms across the continent have embraced the language of equity. Targets are announced. Policies are launched. Sustainability reports grow longer every year.

Yet the numbers tell a cooler story.

In Kenya, women held 35% of board seats in 2024, slightly lower than three years earlier. About two thirds of chief executives remain men. Women make up around 40% of entry-level roles in the formal private sector, but only 28% of top executive positions.

This is not just a Kenyan problem. A 2025 McKinsey study of companies in Kenya and Nigeria found that while most leaders say gender diversity is a priority, fewer than six in ten firms regularly track results. Only 15% hold boards accountable. Many do not measure impact at all.

Where rules have teeth, change moves faster. South Africa now requires larger firms to meet sector-specific equity targets. Nigeria’s corporate-governance code mandates female representation on boards.

Some companies show what is possible. Banks such as Ecobank have expanded financing for women entrepreneurs. Safaricom reports that women now hold more than 42% of senior management roles. These gains came from changing systems, not issuing statements.

Still, corporate programmes reach only a small share of workers. Informal employment accounts for about 85% of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 90% for women. Real progress depends on education, childcare and labour-law enforcement, not just company policies.

Fairer workplaces will not be built through declarations alone. They require hard, unglamorous work, and the willingness to publish results.

Read the full story on our website and follow us for clear-eyed reporting on business, policy and sustainability across Africa.

IMAGE/Shutterstock

14/02/2026

Ride-hailing’s traffic problem

Ride-hailing apps have changed how African cities move. They offer safer journeys, flexible work and convenience. They are also making congestion worse.

In Nairobi’s city centre, average peak-hour speeds have dropped to 12 kilometres per hour, from 18kph in 2018. App-based taxis now make up nearly a quarter of all motorised trips. Similar patterns are emerging elsewhere. In Lagos, ride-hailing adds the equivalent of tens of thousands of extra cars to the road each day. In Cape Town, ride-hailing use has climbed while public transport numbers have fallen.

The environmental cost is rising. Studies across major African cities show that ride-hailing trips produce more carbon per passenger than minibuses, largely because vehicles spend so much time on the road without passengers. Even electric vehicles offer limited benefits where power grids remain carbon-intensive.

Governments are starting to push back. Rwanda has introduced peak-hour occupancy rules. Kenya is seeking more data from platforms. Lagos is considering congestion charges and fleet electrification. The aim is to balance innovation with cleaner air and moving roads.

Africa’s cities are still early in their motorisation journey. Choices made now will shape whether they become locked into car dependence or invest in mass transit that works.

Read the full story on our website and follow us for more reporting on Africa’s cities, climate and mobility.

IMAGE/Bolt/Courtesy

13/02/2026

Airtel Africa added 2,300 new towers across Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda last year, bringing 4G connectivity to 8 million more rural users. The expansion is boosting economic opportunity, but it comes at an environmental cost: off-grid sites burn 42 million litres of diesel each year.

Subscriber numbers grew to 157.3 million, mobile pe*******on in sub-Saharan Africa hit 51%, and mobile money transactions reached $923 billion in 2024, providing financial access to millions previously excluded from the banking system.

Emissions, however, are rising. Airtel’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions increased 9% to 1.94 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, while only 16% of its energy comes from renewables. Solar-hybrid systems at 850 towers have cut fuel use by 58%, but fully decarbonising 6,200 off-grid sites depends on securing green finance.

Connectivity is vital for development, but the infrastructure that delivers it remains carbon-intensive where electricity grids are unreliable. The question for Africa’s telecoms is whether access can scale without increasing emissions.

Read the full analysis on our website and follow us for more insights on technology, infrastructure and sustainable growth in Africa.

IMAGE/Directors Talk

13/02/2026

The hidden cost of connecting Africa

MTN has brought nearly 290 million Africans online, transforming how people send money, access information, and stay in touch. For users like Chioma Okafor in Lagos, what once meant a two-hour trip to the bank can now be done on a smartphone.

Yet this digital progress comes with an environmental price. MTN’s emissions have risen faster than its subscriber base, energy use is soaring, and e-waste from discarded devices continues to grow in countries that lack proper recycling systems. Take-back programmes cover only a fraction of the problem.

Africa’s digital revolution shows a difficult balance: expanding access drives opportunity but also exports environmental costs to communities least equipped to manage them.

📖 Read the full story on our website and follow us for more insights on Africa’s digital economy and sustainability challenges.

IMAGE/Telecom Review

12/02/2026

When Kenya opened the Turkwel Dam in 1991, it promised 106 megawatts of electricity. Few noticed the communities downstream that depended on seasonal floods for livestock and crops. Across Africa, large hydropower projects are often measured by electricity output, while the economic value of fisheries, floodplain agriculture, and groundwater recharge is ignored.

The consequences are real. In the Congo, proposed dams could reduce fish catches by up to 40 per cent, affecting food security for millions. Along the Zambezi, fisheries worth $300 million annually sustain communities in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Yet project assessments often overlook these impacts.

The poorest bear the cost. Floodplain farmers earn a fraction of urban households, while electricity benefits flow mainly to cities and industry. Some governments are starting to require downstream assessments, and technologies like fish passages or controlled water releases can help.

Without accounting for these hidden costs, hydropower projects generate electricity but destroy wealth that does not appear in national accounts. Millions of people experience these losses every day.

Read the full story on our website to understand how African countries can balance power generation with sustainable development.

IMAGE/The Citizen: Rusumo Hydro-electric Dam

12/02/2026

Kenya’s Tana River supports half of the country’s electricity, irrigates thousands of hectares, and sustains one of East Africa’s most biodiverse ecosystems. But these uses are increasingly in conflict.

Dams and irrigation have altered the river’s natural flow, shrinking mangroves, reducing fish catches, and sparking tensions between farmers, pastoralists, and communities. Climate change is making the river less predictable, with longer dry spells and intense floods adding pressure.

Efforts like modified dam releases at Masinga Dam and promotion of water-efficient irrigation offer hope, but experts say stronger enforcement, integrated planning, and a more diversified energy mix are needed to protect both livelihoods and the environment.

The Tana’s story is a reminder that managing Africa’s rivers requires balancing energy, food, and nature.

IMAGE/KMFRI

11/02/2026

Data is changing how poverty is addressed in Africa.

In Kenya, machine-learning models now analyse satellite images, mobile-phone data and census records to identify the poorest households for cash transfers in days rather than months. In Togo, mobile-money data helped the government reach nearly a million informal workers during covid lockdowns. In Rwanda, new poverty maps revealed hundreds of thousands of households missed by traditional surveys.

These approaches are faster, cheaper and reduce errors, but they have limits. People without formal documentation, migrants, or pastoralists can be overlooked. Weak data-protection laws also leave vulnerable citizens exposed. Analytics tracks income and assets, but social exclusion and political marginalisation remain harder to measure.

The real challenge is combining data with human judgement. Efficient targeting must go hand in hand with accountability and inclusion. Poverty is not just a technical problem; it is shaped by institutions, politics, and power.

Read the full story on our website.

IMAGE/Getty

11/02/2026

Shared waters mean shared stakes. Kenya and Seychelles are exploring what cooperation in the Indian Ocean could look like beyond headlines.

A new tourism and aviation partnership between the Seychelles Tourism Board and Kenya Airways aims to strengthen links between Nairobi and Mahé. Beyond boosting travel, it reflects a wider effort to align tourism growth with the sustainable use of ocean resources.

For Seychelles, air routes are vital to its economy. For Kenya, intra-African travel is becoming increasingly important as tourism recovers and diversifies. Closer links could support combined “safari and island” trips, bringing together wildlife tourism and marine experiences in one journey.

The opportunity is significant. Kenya welcomed 2.4m international visitors in 2024, while Seychelles has seen steady growth, including rising arrivals from Africa and Asia. Working together could help both countries compete more effectively in a crowded Indian Ocean tourism market.

The challenge lies in ex*****on. Strong marine protection, viable airline routes, and clear sustainability standards will matter more than agreements on paper. Climate change and pressure on coastal ecosystems make cooperation not just desirable, but necessary.

If done well, the partnership could offer a model for how African coastal nations balance tourism, conservation and economic growth. Shared oceans bring shared responsibility.

Read the full story on our website and follow us for more reporting on Africa’s blue economy and sustainable tourism.

IMAGE/Agencies

10/02/2026

Kenya turns up the heat on geothermal energy

Geothermal power now provides nearly half of Kenya’s electricity, but developing new wells is expensive—around 600 million shillings ($5 million) per well, with a 30% failure rate.

To keep electricity affordable, the government is proposing tax exemptions for new geothermal projects, aiming to cap tariffs at nine shillings per kilowatt-hour (~$0.07). The National Geothermal Strategy 2026–2036 also targets adding a new site every two years and boosting private sector participation.

With electricity access at 79% and peak demand reaching 2,362 MW in 2025, geothermal energy is central to Kenya’s low-carbon, reliable power future.

Follow our page for more stories on Africa’s clean energy transition.

IMAGE/Source: GEG / Lydur Skulason: Wellhead plants at British Green Energy Geothermal’s Olkaria site.

10/02/2026

Kenya’s clean-cooking experiment has hit a major setback. Koko Networks, a pioneer in providing affordable bioethanol stoves and fuel, shut down earlier this year, leaving more than 1.5 million households without access to clean energy. Over 3,000 fuel dispensers across Nairobi and other urban centres fell silent.

Koko had sold small quantities of bioethanol for as little as 30 Kenyan shillings per refill, far cheaper than liquefied petroleum gas. Its business model depended on carbon-credit revenues, attracting over $300 million in investment and guarantees. By 2023, the company claimed to have displaced around 18,000 tonnes of charcoal each year, protecting roughly 90,000 trees.

The collapse exposes the fragility of carbon-financed energy models in markets with weak regulatory frameworks. Koko failed to secure government approval to monetise carbon credits and faced import restrictions for bioethanol. Without these approvals, its subsidies were unsustainable. Thousands of households are now forced back to charcoal or kerosene, fuels linked to indoor air pollution and deforestation.

Kenya’s goal of 80% clean-cooking access by 2030 now looks increasingly out of reach. The episode raises broader questions about how Africa’s energy transitions can reach the poorest households while remaining resilient to regulatory and financial shocks.

Read the full story on our website to learn more about the challenges and lessons from Kenya’s clean-cooking journey.

IMAGE/Koko Networks

09/02/2026

Eveready’s second life: a familiar brand in a changing energy economy

For generations, Eveready was best known for the batteries found in Kenyan households across the country. Today, the Nairobi-listed company is charting a very different path.

Facing declining demand for disposable batteries and rising competition from imports, the 70-year-old firm is pivoting into solar power, energy storage, electric-vehicle financing and carbon markets. The shift reflects wider pressures on legacy manufacturers as Kenya accelerates its transition to clean energy.

Kenya already sources more than 90% of its grid electricity from renewable energy, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, and government policy aims for a fully clean power mix by 2030. But competition in solar and electric mobility is intense, and carbon markets remain complex and uncertain.

Eveready’s bet is that decades of brand trust can be converted into relevance in new, capital-intensive clean-energy sectors. Whether that gamble pays off will offer a revealing test of how traditional firms adapt in a decarbonising economy.

Read the full story on our website
Follow us for clear, independent reporting on Africa’s energy transition and ethical business economy

IMAGE/Uzalendo

09/02/2026

Africa’s Great Lakes are approaching a tipping point

They hold nearly a quarter of the world’s surface freshwater and support more than 80 million people across ten African countries. Yet Africa’s Great Lakes continue to receive far less scientific and policy attention than they deserve.

This week in Kigali, scientists and policymakers meeting at the African Centre for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE) delivered a clear warning: pollution, climate change and weak regulation are degrading these vital lakes faster than governments are responding.

From agricultural runoff and untreated sewage to industrial pollution and emerging threats such as pharmaceutical residues, water quality is declining across Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, Malawi (Nyasa), Turkana, Albert, Edward and Kivu. Fisheries are under strain. Ecosystems are faltering. In many cases, policymakers are still working with outdated or incomplete data.

Bridging the gap between science and policy remains the central challenge. While initiatives such as the Africa Women in Science programme are helping to build new scientific leadership, regional co-ordination and political commitment are still lagging behind the scale of the crisis.

A co-ordinated regional strategy to 2030 is now on the table. Whether it succeeds will depend on political will.

The evidence is already clear. Action cannot wait.

Read the full story on our website: [www.ethicalbusiness.africa](http://www.ethicalbusiness.africa)
Follow us for credible, in-depth reporting on climate, policy and sustainable development across Africa.

IMAGE/Napoleon Mugenzi

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Monday	08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 17:00
Thursday	09:00 - 17:00
Friday	09:00 - 17:00
Saturday	09:00 - 12:00