Postmaster General and chief executive officer, John Kipyegon Tanui, says the corporation recorded more than 10 per cent financial growth in the 2024/2025 financial year The shift from traditional mail services to digital payments, e-commerce logistics and a national digital addressing system is turning out to be the Postal Corporation of Kenya’s survival strategy.
Postmaster General and chief executive officer, John Kipyegon Tanui, says the corporation recorded more than 10 per cent financial growth in the 2024/2025 financial year following a postal tariff review and expansion into new business lines. Tanui attributed the growth to portfolio diversification as the corporation moves away from declining traditional services such as ordinary mail and private letter box rentals.
“The old revenue streams are declining as expected, while the new streams we have been investing in are accelerating,” he said in an interview. The decline in conventional mail services mirrors global trends in which physical correspondence has steadily been replaced by email, instant messaging, and other digital communication platforms.
According to Tanui, the recent review of postal rates helped cushion revenues from legacy services but could not reverse changing consumer behaviour. Ordinary letter mail and private letter box rentals continue to face declining demand, prompting the corporation to accelerate migration to digital alternatives such as Virtual P.O.
Boxes and door-to-door delivery services. The corporation is instead seeing stronger growth in courier and parcel delivery, particularly through Express Mail Service (EMS), driven by the rapid expansion of e-commerce in Kenya and across the region. Rental income from Posta Kenya’s vast property portfolio is also increasing as the corporation leases unused space and modernises key buildings for commercial use.
At the same time, digital payment revenues are expected to rise as adoption of its Postapay platform gains momentum. “The new rate card is doing what it was designed to do — protect revenue per item in the legacy book, reflect true cost-to-serve in courier and parcels, and create headroom to invest in digital and logistics propositions that customers actually want,” Tanui said.