We’ve all watched it happen. One day, a business is a household name. The next, it’s on the evening news for all the wrong reasons.

Nakumatt, once East Africa’s retail king collapsed in 2017 under the weight of poor management and financial missteps. Uchumi, another retail giant struggled for years before finally giving in to governance failures and bankruptcy in 2018.

Chase Bank in 2016, it went from respected lender to receivership in a matter of days.

Imperial Bank, fell in 2015 after a massive fraud scandal. Sometimes, it’s not the economy, competition, or bad luck that kills a company, it’s what’s quietly happening inside. 

Fraud, mismanagement, and “small oversights” are the real profit assassins, and they don’t just happen in bad companies. They happen in respected, even admired businesses with loyal teams who thought, “It could never happen here.”

According to the PwC Global Economic Crime Survey 2024, procurement fraud, specifically, is among the top three most disruptive economic crimes experienced by companies globally, just behind cybercrime and corruption.

Did you know that organizations lose an estimated 5% of all revenue to fraud each year? According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), that translates to a global loss of $4.5 trillion.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has found that most fraud is discovered only after 12–18 months, by which time recovery is almost impossible.

The Hard Questions Every Kenyan Business Leader Should Ask

• Do you know exactly who has access to your company’s funds right now?
• Could someone approve a payment to themselves without it raising a flag?
• If a trusted team member resigned tomorrow, could you account for every shilling they handled?

Many Kenyan businesses are so focused on bringing money in, they forget to protect the money they already have. And in a country where mobile payments, instant transfers, and cash deals are part of daily life, the “back door” can be wide open.

Technology has made business faster, but also riskier. Mobile money scams are growing. AI-generated fake invoices are popping up.  In short: fraudsters are upgrading their tools. If you’re still guarding your business like it’s 2010, you’re playing a losing game.To survive and thrive, Kenyan businesses need controls that match our realities:

1.    Share financial responsibilities: No one person should handle the whole payment process from start to finish, it’s safer when tasks are split.

2.    Do regular independent checks: Have an outside expert review your accounts often, not just when the law requires it.

3.    Control mobile money use: Set daily limits, double-check transactions, and require more than one person to approve payments.

4.    Know your suppliers personally: Verify they’re real, legitimate, and not overcharging you for “phantom goods.”

5.    Watch transactions in real time: Use affordable tools that alert you immediately if something unusual happens with your money.

6.    Train your team on fraud risks: Teach staff how to spot warning signs, like suspicious emails or payment requests.

Kenyan entrepreneurs are famously resilient. We hustle. We adapt. We bounce back. But resilience alone won’t stop fraud.

Every shilling you earn deserves to be protected as fiercely as it was earned. Strong internal controls don’t slow you down, they keep you in the game.

So here’s my parting shot: