Kenya’s Islamic finance sector should move beyond simply offering alternatives to conventional banking and develop products that make financial institutions genuine partners in the businesses they fund, Thirty-Three Energy CEO Mohamud Salat has said.
Salat said Shariah-compliant financing should be built around real assets, productive economic activity and a clear sharing of both risks and returns between financiers and their customers.
Speaking at the Islamic Finance Forum and Dialogue Conference in Nairobi on Thursday, Salat said the strength of Islamic finance lies in its ability to connect money with actual business activity rather than treating financing as a simple transfer of funds.
He said his view was shaped by his experience in the financial sector, including seven years working in audit at KPMG, where he examined the operations, policies and procedures of various institutions. Although he did not audit Islamic financial institutions during that period, he later gained direct experience as a customer of financial institutions operating under different systems.
That exposure, he said, allowed him to encounter both markets where Islamic finance products were available and others where they were not.
Salat said he preferred the term ethical finance because the principles behind Sharia-compliant financing could apply to a wider group of people beyond the Muslim community.
He said one of the clearest ways to distinguish genuine Islamic finance from conventional financing was the relationship between the financier and the business being funded.
“The beauty of ethical finance is that it focuses on financing real assets rather than simply moving money from one place to another. For us, it could be as simple as approaching a bank with a vessel of oil at a loading point in Saudi Arabia or another country. The bank could finance 80 or even 100 percent of the requirement; the fuel is brought to Kenya, sold, and the returns are then shared.”
He challenged financial institutions to remain involved throughout the life of a project instead of only contacting customers when they fail to meet their obligations.
“For you to see the difference, whether you've got the real Islamic finance that you're looking for or not, is how often does your banker call you after you finance the project? Does he call you because you've defaulted, or does he follow the journey with you from the loading all the way to offloading and selling?”
Salat’s call comes as Kenya works to strengthen the legal and regulatory environment for Islamic finance.
The Central Bank of Kenya says the Banking Act allows institutions to conduct business in line with Islamic law, including provisions that permit a “return” instead of interest on certain savings accounts.
However, the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025–2028 identifies several challenges affecting the growth of Islamic banking, including limitations in the Banking Act, exemptions required from the CBK, a lack of standardised legal structures and a shortage of professionals with skills in Islamic banking.
Despite these challenges, Kenya has already expanded its use of Sharia-compliant financial instruments. In July 2024, the country issued its first Sukuk, a Sharia-compliant bond, worth Sh3 billion through the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The funds were intended to support the construction of 3,069 housing units under the affordable housing programme.
Salat said sectors that require large amounts of capital could provide further opportunities for Islamic finance, particularly oil and gas.
He said a single fuel cargo can cost between $30 million and $50 million depending on its size, creating room for financial institutions to develop financing products around petroleum imports and trade.
Kenya imported 9.76 million cubic metres of petroleum products in the financial year ended June 2025, according to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority. The country imports refined petroleum products, with international petroleum transactions conducted in US dollars.
EPRA’s pricing system also takes into account the landed cost of petroleum cargoes, as well as storage, transportation, financing and other related costs when determining wholesale prices.
Salat said the size of the petroleum market gives banks and other institutions holding capital an opportunity to design products that directly finance companies involved in importing and distributing fuel.
“So, I feel once again, as many have said, this is the right time for us to have this kind of conversation. Develop the product that ethical, Sharia compliant, and we make sure we share the risk and return. And that's what I would insist during this conversation.”
He also encouraged individuals to explore Sharia-compliant pension funds, saying broader participation by savers, businesses and financial institutions would help build Kenya’s ethical finance market.
The push for new products comes as Kenya’s banking industry holds a large pool of capital that could support new forms of financing. CBK data shows that banks had Sh8.41 trillion in total assets and Sh6.27 trillion in deposits as of December 2025.
Salat said greater innovation could help channel part of that capital into businesses while keeping risk-sharing, real assets and ethical investment at the centre of Islamic finance.