908 Kenyans aged 40 and below are dollar millionaires - Report

An estimated 908 Kenyans aged 40 or less are in Kenya’s high net worth individuals (HNWI) list, this is according to the just published Knight Frank 2022 Wealth Report.

The 908 Kenyans are self-made dollar millionaires implying a net worth of at least $1 million (Ksh.113.85 million) including their primary residence.

The under 40’s represent 27 per cent of all dollar millionaires in the country, a list that had 3,362 Kenyans at the end of 2021 compared to 3,323 in 2020.

This means that 39 more Kenyans were added to the dollar millionaires list in the year as Kenya’s wealthy defied the stay of the COVID-19 pandemic to grow their incomes in the year.

Nevertheless, the number of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs), or persons with noteworthy of at least $30 million (Ksh.3.4 billion), fell by two to 88 from 90 in the same period.

Entrepreneurship has been credited with the growth of Kenya’s young & wealthy with businesses around technology and digitization representing the best route to millions of dollars.

“The report clearly shows that wealth in Kenya is held by younger people who by their nature are going to be more entrepreneurial and that gives them the opportunity to be more flexible and take advantage of opportunities when they arise,” Knight Frank Wealth Report Editor Andrew Shirley told Citizen Digital.

Despite the fall-out from the pandemic which had seen the number of Kenya’s ultra wealthy register a general slide in 2020, Kenyans have leveraged emerging opportunities such as online commerce, digitization of the workplace and the need for personal protective equipment (PPEs) to create new money.

According to Shirley, the rise of the young and wealthy is not a surprise based on the agility and flexibility of the youthful population to adapt to shocks.

“I have always been impressed by the high level of entrepreneurship in Kenya, having lived in Kenya before. You can see people creating money virtually out of nothing. Fortunes start from small seeds,” he added.

The wealthy in Kenya, according to the report, see opportunity in technology and digital adoption, environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), wealth inequality, domestic governance & policy and climate change.

Risks are meanwhile seen from climate change, new COVID-19 variants, global financial transparency, equity market shocks and changing government policy.

28 per cent of the HNWIs or nearly three in 10 plan on getting a new passport or citizenship.

Between 2019 and 2021, Kenya’s wealthy increased their private jet flights by 199 per cent with local flights being the most popular ahead of Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

49 per cent of the wealthy persons have their money in property with development land leading in preference ahead of private residences, hotels, retail and retirement homes.

The individuals have nevertheless marked increased interest in healthcare and agriculture,

13 per cent of the HNWIs are invested in crypto assets, 19 per cent have overseas properties while six per cent have investments in non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The number of HNWIs is expected to grow by 27 per cent in the next five years while that of UHNWIs is set to jump by 14 per cent in the same period.

Kenya is tipped to produce two dollar billionaires (persons with net worths of at least Ksh.113.85 billion) by 2026.