The World Security Report 2025 by Allied Universal and G4S has warned that Kenya’s business environment faces a year of heightened uncertainty, with political instability and civil unrest overtaking economic volatility as the top threats.
The report, released on Tuesday, paints a picture of a country where security concerns are now shaping business strategy as much as economic trends.
In the study, 45 per cent of Kenyan chief security officers identified political instability as their biggest risk in the year ahead, followed closely by 43 per cent who cited civil unrest.
Both figures are significantly above the Sub-Saharan African average. The findings come months after Gen Z-led demonstrations swept across major cities, disrupting operations and forcing businesses to reckon with the cost of instability.
More than one in five Kenyan companies expect to be directly affected by protests or demonstrations in the next 12 months—the highest rate recorded anywhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet amid the anxiety, there is a small measure of relief. Concerns over economic instability have dropped to 41 per cent, down from 52 per cent last year. Even so, fraud remains a persistent headache, cited by 41 per cent of companies as their leading external threat.
The demonstrations of 2024 and 2025 left a trail of economic damage, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors. Many businesses reported revenue losses, property damage, and rising insurance costs.
According to the report, nearly half of Kenyan security chiefs, 45 percent, said their firms lost revenue as a result of security incidents. Institutional investors echoed those concerns, warning that a major incident could wipe out as much as 32 per cent of a listed company’s market value.
“Political and civil unrest can have an immediate and costly impact on businesses and investor confidence, and security leaders are preparing to bolster their physical security programmes in response,” Laurence Okelo, managing director of G4S Kenya, said.
Adding;
“The predicted easing of economic instability provides some room for optimism, but companies must continue building resilience through security upgrades, workforce safety and contingency planning.”
Kenyan firms appear to be taking this message seriously. The report shows that 79 per cent plan to increase their physical security budgets this year, one of the highest rates in Africa.
Their top priorities include investment in new technology and infrastructure, risk assessments, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Across the continent, the trend is clear: security is becoming a boardroom issue, not just an operational one.
“Consistent with the 2023 findings, fraud is the dominating internal and external threat across the region, which can be tied back to economic instability. Despite these challenges, there are plenty of opportunities across the region, and it is encouraging to see the planned investment in smart security infrastructure and AI-powered video surveillance,” Christo Terblanche, regional president of G4S Africa, said.
The World Security Report surveyed 2,352 chief security officers from 31 countries, representing global firms with combined revenues of over $25 trillion.
In Kenya, 58 security executives participated, alongside 174 from Sub-Saharan Africa. The study also included views from 200 global institutional investors managing more than $1 trillion in assets.
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