In Kenya today, entrepreneurship is no longer just about ambition, innovation, or the courage to start a business. It is about survival. It is about waking up every morning and fighting to keep your business alive for one more day in an economy where the cost of doing business continues to rise while the purchasing power of customers continues to shrink.
For millions of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the country, money is everything, no matter how little it may be. Every shilling matters. Every transaction matters. Every cost matters. Entrepreneurs are no longer operating in an environment where they can afford to waste or be inefficient. Businesses are now built on tight margins, unpredictable cash flows, and constant financial pressure.
The numbers paint a painful picture. At least 450,000 SMEs shut down in Kenya every year. That translates to nearly 30,000 businesses collapsing every month and close to 1,000 shutting their doors every single day. These are not just statistics printed in reports and forgotten the next day. Behind every collapsed biashara is a family that depended on it, employees who lose their livelihoods, suppliers left stranded, and dreams buried under economic pressure.
When SMEs struggle, the economy suffers. SMEs are the heartbeat of Kenya’s economy. They create jobs, drive innovation, and sustain millions of households. When they begin to suffocate under the weight of high operational costs, taxes, endless regulations, delayed payments, and insecurity, the effects ripple across the entire country. The pain is eventually felt in homes, schools, markets, and communities.
As an entrepreneur, one of the greatest battles I have fought, and continue to fight, is cash flow. Most Kenyan SMEs operate in an environment of irregular income. Customers delay payments because they, too, are struggling financially. Suppliers demand instant settlement. Rent is due every month without fail. Employees expect salaries. Taxes must be paid. Utility bills never wait. At the same time, theft, inflation, and operational expenses continue to rise.
In the middle of all these pressures, there was one silent expense quietly draining my business without me fully noticing it at first: transaction costs.
Like many Kenyan entrepreneurs, I rely heavily on mobile money to run my operations. I pay suppliers through mobile transfers, settle staff payments digitally, and handle daily operational expenses through mobile transactions. At first glance, each transaction charge appeared small and manageable. A few shillings here. A few more there. Nothing alarming.
But one day, I decided to sit down and calculate the cumulative amount I was spending on transaction charges every month.
The results shocked me.
I realized I had been losing a significant amount of money through small charges that I had normalized over time. Individually, they looked harmless. Collectively, they were quietly eating into my profits and squeezing my already strained cash flow. It felt like financial bondage disguised as convenience. The painful truth is that many SMEs in Kenya are losing thousands of shillings every month through transaction fees without fully realizing the long-term impact.
That is why the announcement by I&M Bank caught my attention immediately.
The bank announced that it would eliminate transaction charges on all bank-to-mobile wallet transfers for both personal and sole business customers. “Ni Sare Kabisa,” they said. For the first time in a long time, I felt like there was a financial institution that genuinely understood the daily frustrations of entrepreneurs and ordinary Kenyans trying to survive a difficult economy.
This was not just another marketing campaign. It was a practical solution to a real business problem.
Two days later, I walked into two different banks in Nairobi and initiated the process of closing my accounts. I had found a bank that aligned with the realities of modern biashara. There was simply no justification for continuing to pay heavy transaction charges elsewhere when I could move money at absolutely no cost with I&M Bank. Zero. Sufuri. Nunge. Nothing. It was NI Sare Kabisa.
Four months later, the difference has been significant.
The money I used to lose through endless transaction charges is now being redirected into my business operations. It may not seem like much to large corporations, but to SMEs operating on thin margins, every saved shilling can mean additional stock, transport costs, employee support, or simply surviving another difficult month.
In today’s Kenya, entrepreneurs are not asking for miracles. They are asking for breathing space. They are asking for solutions that make it easier, not harder, to do business. Sometimes, supporting SMEs does not require grand speeches or complicated policies. Sometimes, it simply means removing unnecessary costs that silently drain businesses every single day.
For me, eliminating transaction fees was not just about convenience. It was about dignity, sustainability, and survival.
Read Also: Transaction Stress Is a Biashara Problem: Why I&M Bank’s Free M-Pesa Transfers Matter More Than Ever