As an eco­pre­neur for over 30 years, I have come to appre­ci­ate that under­stand­ing eco­nom­ic shifts is not sole­ly the domain of finan­cial experts. It’s about seek­ing cred­i­ble infor­ma­tion and con­nect­ing the dots to every­day life. This past week has been filled with finan­cial updates, and like many Kenyans, I’ve been close­ly study­ing them, par­tic­u­lar­ly the recent­ly released PwC analy­sis of the 2025/26 nation­al bud­get and the Cen­tral Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) lat­est decisions.

While most head­lines focus on tax­a­tion and deficits, I believe some­thing much more pro­found is qui­et­ly unfold­ing at CBK: a bold shift that could trans­form how mon­ey flows in our coun­try and direct­ly impact the lives of every­day Kenyans.

Before we zoom in on the CBK, let’s not over­look a small but sig­nif­i­cant trend in the bud­get. For the first time in a long while, we observed tar­get­ed allo­ca­tions to green devel­op­ment: KSh 8.2 bil­lion for the blue econ­o­my, KSh 4.5 bil­lion for agro-indus­tri­al parks, and the imple­men­ta­tion of a nation­al green finance tax­on­o­my by the CBK itself. These are encour­ag­ing signs that our econ­o­my is start­ing to align more delib­er­ate­ly with sustainability.

On June 10th, the CBK announced a sixth con­sec­u­tive reduc­tion in the base lend­ing rate, low­er­ing it to 9.75%. While this may sound tech­ni­cal, think of it as the CBK telling banks, “Don’t just hold your mon­ey, lend it.” This action aims to encour­age banks to issue more loans to busi­ness­es and indi­vid­u­als, stim­u­lat­ing growth from the grassroots.

How­ev­er, what CBK is doing behind the scenes is even more trans­for­ma­tive. After a nine-year freeze, the Cen­tral Bank has reopened its doors for new com­mer­cial banks to be licensed, pro­vid­ed they meet strict cap­i­tal require­ments. This allows more banks to enter the mar­ket, lead­ing to increased com­pe­ti­tion, inno­va­tion, and poten­tial­ly low­er inter­est rates.

At the same time, CBK has for­mal­ized 126 dig­i­tal lenders that pre­vi­ous­ly oper­at­ed in the infor­mal space. These insti­tu­tions must now adhere to strict rules: clear terms, fair pric­ing, and prop­er con­sumer protection.

Let’s break this down for the aver­age per­son. More finan­cial insti­tu­tions mean more access points for cred­it, espe­cial­ly for those often over­looked by tra­di­tion­al banks. A ven­dor need­ing urgent funds no longer has to wait days for approval. A small-scale farmer look­ing to buy sup­plies before the rains may soon access quick, reg­u­lat­ed loans through their mobile phone.

And while bor­row­ing costs may still feel high today, the pres­ence of many play­ers will grad­u­al­ly cre­ate a fair­er and more com­pet­i­tive lend­ing envi­ron­ment. It’s like intro­duc­ing more super­mar­kets in a town: prices go down, ser­vice improves, and options increase.

What we are wit­ness­ing is not just mon­e­tary pol­i­cy; it is strate­gic courage. Instead of rely­ing sole­ly on gov­ern­ment spend­ing or tax­a­tion, the CBK is now empow­er­ing the pri­vate sec­tor to dri­ve the econ­o­my for­ward. By free­ing up cash, open­ing lend­ing chan­nels, and demand­ing trans­paren­cy, they are equip­ping the peo­ple with essen­tial tools.

Yes, Kenya still faces fis­cal pres­sure. Yes, we’re nego­ti­at­ing a new deal with the IMF. How­ev­er, at least one key insti­tu­tion is not wait­ing pas­sive­ly. The CBK is act­ing bold­ly, proac­tive­ly, and inclusively.

Of course, this tran­si­tion requires strong reg­u­la­tion. We must guard against preda­to­ry lend­ing, data abuse, and risky spec­u­la­tion. How­ev­er, when insti­tu­tions rise to the occa­sion with such courage, we must sup­port them. We should ask ques­tions, stay informed, and ensure that these poli­cies pro­duce real, vis­i­ble impacts on the ground.

I believe this is a turn­ing point. Kenya’s econ­o­my is tired of one-size-fits-all solu­tions. It now needs bold inno­va­tion, care­ful inclu­sion, and dar­ing think­ing. The Cen­tral Bank has shown that even insti­tu­tions can think like eco­pre­neurs — inno­v­a­tive, bold, yet ground­ed in long-term sustainability.

Let’s keep watch­ing. Let’s keep learn­ing. And most impor­tant­ly, let’s stay hope­ful. Think green, Act green!