dondeng.eth

CEO - @KopoKopoInc. FinTech strategist. Backend architect. Motorcycle rider. Basketball hooper. Scaling systems & startups — on and off the court.

[sim 🇧🇷🇲🇽🇸🇳🇫🇷🇭🇹 @simscircuit]

INCREDIBLE ARABIC COMMENTARY ON LEWIS HAMILTON'S FINAL LAP TO THE WIN.

THIS IS POETRY. READ THE SUBTITLES!!

[video & translation by @landorablee]

[dondeng.eth @donden1]

@ESPNF1 Lewis Hamilton

[Kopo Kopo, Inc. @KopoKopoInc]

We had an incredible #K2ConnectDevMeetup session with developers today, walking through the K2 Connect APIs.

@KopoKopoInc has you covered, from SDKs to APIs to WooCommerce plugin and more.

#KopoKopo #DevCommunity #K2ConnectDevMeetUp #K2Connect #BuildWithKopo

[Faith Odhiambo @FaithOdhiambo8]

The Finance Bill, 2026 was published on 30th April and is now before Parliament and every Kenyan deserves to know what is in it.

The government targets Ksh3.63 trillion in revenue for 2026/27 and a wider budget deficit of 5.3% of GDP in the 2026/27 fiscal year (July-June) up from 4.7% in 2025/26. These are not unreasonable fiscal objectives but the manner in which the burden of achieving them is distributed is a cause for serious concern.

On tax filing timelines, the Bill moves the income tax return deadline to April 30th which is two months earlier than the current June 30th and compresses nil return filing to January 31st. This reduces the time available for audit completion, cash flow planning and compliance. For small businesses and individual traders, this is not administrative reform. It is an additional compliance cost they can ill afford.

On mitumba, the Bill inserts a new Section 12H into the Income Tax Act which deems profit at 5% of customs value payable upfront before goods are released by KRA as a final tax. A trader importing a bale worth Ksh1 million pays Ksh50,000 regardless of whether they make a profit or a loss. I cannot in good conscience describe this as equitable.

 The Bill increases residential rental income tax from 7.5% to 10%. Absent a serious enforcement framework, this will drive non-compliance rather than revenue. The government must fix the enforcement gap before it increases the rate. One without the other is burden-shifting.

On digital financial services, the Bill removes existing VAT exemptions on money transfers and payment processing. These are the tools of financial inclusion that millions of Kenyans including the very people this government says it wants to reach rely on daily. Making them more expensive will not serve the objective of a broader tax base.

 By including interchange and merchant service fees within the definition of management or professional fees for withholding tax purposes, the Bill introduces a compliance burden into automated banking processes. That burden will be passed on to businesses and ultimately to consumers.

The amendment to Section 24 of the Income Tax Act empowers KRA to deem at least 60% of a company's undistributed income as dividends for tax purposes. This fails to account for legitimate decisions on reinvestment, working capital and business growth. It is a retrogressive measure that sends the wrong signal to the investors Kenya needs.

A 25% excise duty on telephones for cellular and wireless networks is proposed. A phone is not a luxury. It is how Kenyans bank, communicate, conduct business and access government services. Parliament must interrogate this carefully.

On PAYE, Kenyans were led to expect relief and a restructuring of the tax bands to ease the burden on salaried workers. That proposal does not appear in this Bill. That is not a minor omission. An explanation is owed to every employed Kenyan who was waiting for it.

To be fair, the Bill is not without merit. The reduction of corporate tax for non-resident companies from 37.5% to 30% improves our investment climate. The extension of the tax amnesty to cover liabilities up to 31st December 2025 provides a genuine and welcome pathway to compliance. VAT exemptions on electric buses, bicycles, dialysers, animal feed raw materials and PPP infrastructure are sensible measures. The clarity introduced on trust taxation ensuring beneficiaries are not taxed on income already taxed at the trust level and the recognition of gratuity contributions as exempt income are also steps in the right direction.

Be that as it may, we cannot afford a repeat of June 2024. Parliament must discharge its oversight role with the seriousness this moment demands. They should not merely rubber-stamp what the Treasury has placed before it. Every clause must be scrutinised. Every punitive or ambiguous provision must be rejected or amended.

#FinanceBill2026 #PublicParticipation

[Ory Okolloh-Mwangi @kenyanpundit]

The deterioration of law and order will have far reaching consequences. Everyone is free styling.

[Frank Mwiti @frank_mwiti]

HISTORY. JUST. GOT. REWRITTEN. 🤯🔥

Sabastian Sawe has shattered the limits of human endurance, becoming the first athlete EVER to break the 2-hour barrier in official race conditions with a jaw-dropping 1:59:30‼️

And it didn’t stop there…

On his marathon debut, Yomif Kejelcha stormed into the history books too, smashing 2 hours with an astonishing 1:59:41 😱

Meanwhile, Jacob Kiplimo blazed through in 2:00:28 — a time that still outruns the previous world record 😤💨

This wasn’t just a race.

This was a full-blown revolution on the roads. 🛣️✨

[Kopo Kopo, Inc. @KopoKopoInc]

Big news 🎉

@KopoKopoInc is now a licensed Digital Credit Provider in Kenya, approved by the Central Bank of Kenya.

This is a big step in our mission to empower Kenyan businesses with accessible and responsible credit.

Read the full story on our blog: https://t.co/pNCgD12HNn

[NBA Africa @NBA_Africa]

Kenya stand up 🇰🇪🏀

BWB Africa 2022 Alumni Madina Okot was drafted 13th overall by the Atlanta Dream in the 2026 WNBA Draft 🌍

Join us in celebrating this incredible achievement 🇰🇪

[Gagan Biyani 🏛 @gaganbiyani]

People have asked me how I feel about Udemy’s sale to Coursera. Honestly, I’m kinda pissed about it.

I want to be clear - I’m grateful for the opportunity to start and benefit from Udemy’s success. It changed my life.

But there’s another side to Udemy. A story of what could have been.

After our Series B, founders owned less than 30% of the company. Our investors took over and installed their own CEO to run it. We all liked this new CEO and honestly, for years it looked like a brilliant move. The company kept growing and growing. They launched B2B and built a $500M ARR business. Eventually, the company IPO’ed for $3B.

Yet all along there were clear cracks under the surface. Over Udemy’s history, there have been 7 CEO’s. The board replaced the second CEO with dud after dud. I’d often try to meet with the board or the new CEO, and was completely ignored. Eren had influence as Chairman of the Board but Oktay and I were so ignored they didn’t even invite us to the IPO. LOL WTF. There are like 50+ people invited to these things and nobody thought: “oh maybe we should invite the people who fucking invented the thing we’re all celebrating.” It shows how little respect they had for founders and for product innovation as a discipline.

I think they wanted a CEO they could control, a buttoned-up suit instead of a brash founder/CEO that is risk-taking, visionary, but a bit of a pain. For awhile, it looked like it didn’t even matter who was CEO - the company was run by the incredibly talented team that reported to them anyways.

Well, it worked until it didn’t.

The company made no major product innovations for 15 years. Instead, they took the original idea (video-based courses) and sold it in every place imaginable. It got us to $800M run-rate. That’s no joke; that takes serious execution and a great team that hustled hard to win the market.

But eventually the consumer business stopped growing. The B2B business has now flattened out as well. Meanwhile, Coursera was catching up.

Original Coursera was a far worse product than Udemy, but it got a ton of press. Learning ivory tower bullshit from academics doesn’t get you a real education, but it does create prestige. They raised from better investors on better terms, and had better leadership.

Udemy to this day has more revenue than Coursera, but Coursera won the court of investor opinion. They got higher multiples from both private and public markets.

Coursera innovated heavily. They added corporate courses to their university catalog, built fully-online degree programs, and offered a B2B competitor that kept Udemy on its toes. Still, the Udemy B2B business (and team) out-performed and so the two companies were deadlocked. Coursera was better at B2C, Udemy at B2B.

A merger was inevitable.

But WHY IN GODS NAME did we sell to Coursera instead of the other way around? Why are the combined companies under $3B in market cap?

Three reasons:
First, edtech didn’t live up to its promise. While these two companies had solid revenue and cash positions, their growth slowed, and public markets balked. This meant compressed multiples and significantly lower valuations.
Second, the companies stopped innovating. They are selling a product to businesses that their customers don’t love. They were category leaders, but they lead the category into mediocrity. They captured a significant share of learning and development (L&D) spending, but L&D as a whole actually lost budget within their organizations. That’s Udemy’s fault, and it doesn’t even realize it.

That brings me to my final point: I personally believe Udemy traded upside opportunity for downside risk. Us founders were unproven and young. We made lots of mistakes, including fighting amongst ourselves. A good investor would have supported us through it because they believe founders drive the highest long-term returns. Instead, they brought in outside CEOs to replace us. I sometimes wonder if they recognize this error; everyone makes mistakes and maybe they learned from it.

Either way - the consequences are real. By ignoring the founders, Udemy failed to innovate, which led to slowing growth which led to mediocre public market results. Furthermore, they don’t have a good evangelist and public markets don’t like a headless horse.

I sold my Udemy stock awhile ago. I think the merger was critical for both companies’ survival. Now, though, the new combined entity needs to innovate again.

On B2B, Coursera needs to help L&D become the heroes of the AI era so the entire market starts growing again. On B2C, they need to build the most educational AI product on the planet. (I’d focus on the former, since the latter is a lot harder and riskier).

Coursera can still achieve our original vision and likely build a $10B+ company in the meantime. Even though I’ve got no stake in its future, I’m mission-driven and I REALLY hope they figure it out.

The current education system sucks and the world deserves something better.

[Koech |🇰🇪 @okwach_kich]

@KBCChannel1 Older than the atomic bomb

[Ademba Allans @Ademba_47]

This is Anniversary Towers right now. #TukoKadi

[Nyamisa Chelagat @Nyamisa_Chela]

“Why are you being emotional” is a weapon always used against women when they ask questions.
@SakajaJohnson shame on you. @KoinangeJeff shame on you too. You lack empathy and you don’t know how to read the room. Giggling like idiots after more than 40 people died.

[dondeng.eth @donden1]

Mbagathi road currently - River Mbagathi in Singapore 😎 ⁦@JohnsonSakaja⁩ , ⁦@KeNHAKenya⁩ ⁦@KURAroads⁩

[The People’s President @bonifacemwangi]

Angella Okutoyi, Kenya's best-ever female tennis player, is playing college tennis for Auburn University. This is her final year, and after graduating, she plans to join the WTA Tour as a professional.

In January 2026, Angella Okutoyi shared an emotional public appeal on social media about her lack of sponsorship and financial struggles as she prepared to turn fully professional.

Ministry of Sports Cabinet Secretary @Waziri_Mvurya @moyasa_ke responded directly: “I have received Angella Okutoyi’s appeal and spoken to Kenya Tennis Federation leadership. We will engage the Tennis Federation of Kenya to explore immediate support options and ensure she is well-prepared and financially supported.”

The government lied, and now we must step up. @Okutoyiangella2 is the reigning African champion and the 2020 Wimbledon Junior Doubles winner. She deserves our support. https://t.co/YOrukWZhR4

[𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 @politicsusa46]

For anyone who would like to hear Mark Carney’s outstanding Davos speech in full here it is. This is what true global leadership looks like.

Canada should be immensely proud today, because they are leading the fight back when others dare not.

🎥 TikTok - https://t.co/BExGV2YIDq

[Carol Radull @CarolRadull]

Angella Okutoyi is calling on corporates to come on board.

Let’s back this talent.

#NoWeakness

[Ochieng' Stephen @kenyansportsguy]

Angella Okutoyi speaks after a phenomenal 2 weeks in Nairobi🙌🏿

🔸 Winning 4/4 titles🏆
🔸Atmosphere better than Grand Slam💥
🔸Winning after losing aunt🕊️
🔸Preps for professional tennis career after school
🔸Cracking top 4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ ranking🤝🏿

What a tee💥

#TennisKE #AngellaOkutoyi

[Nyamisa Chelagat @Nyamisa_Chela]

Warning!
This will be a very long thread...

1/12
Guys, I’m trying to understand CBC better, especially now that my child is in Grade 8. I was going through her assessment books and I realized a lot of this assessment isn’t like a normal exam where you can clearly say “right” or “wrong.”

It’s mainly EE / ME / AE / BE—and I’m genuinely trying to understand how that grading is decided and how it stays fair across different teachers and schools.

Now, stay with me, mnielezee juu genuinely I may be the one that does not understand.

[dondeng.eth @donden1]

@Naftali_Kagrass @shikumungai_ @ntsa_kenya It’s just speeding and drunk driving. I don’t know how you would change the design of those roads.

[dondeng.eth @donden1]

@Naftali_Kagrass @shikumungai_ @ntsa_kenya Maybe the speed at which you can approach the roundabout? Bunyala is after the hill but Haileselassie also has a lot of those night accidents. Granted the Nyayo one is the worst…even the tiny lanagata road roundabout at the mortuary has cars ploughing into rumble-strips no less