Quickmart founder and director Duncan Kinuthia, along with board member Wambui Kinuthia, are at the center of potential conflict-of-interest questions as Kenya’s fastest-growing supermarket chain executes its initial public offering (IPO).
According to Quickmart’s listing prospectus, the retailer paid over KES 876 million between 2023 and June 2026 to Resource Business Investments Limited, a real-estate and advisory firm linked to Mr. Kinuthia. The disclosures come as the company seeks to reassure prospective investors about its corporate governance ahead of its planned stock market debut.
In its October 2026 information memorandum, Quickmart discloses that 18 of its store locations are leased from related entities, including Resource Business Investments, Basic Capital Investment Limited, and Basic Land Investment Limited. Together, the three property firms received KES 2.09 billion in payments over the three-and-a-half-year period.
Resource Business Investments was the largest recipient among the entities, drawing KES 144.3 million in 2023, KES 155.9 million in 2024, KES 161.1 million in 2025, and KES 84.9 million in the first half of 2026 for retail space leases and property-related advisory services.
Mr. Kinuthia, a non-executive director who holds a 20.7% stake in Quickmart’s parent company, Sokoni Retail Kenya Limited, is listed in the memorandum as a director of Resource Business Investments. His official biography also connects him to Basic Capital Investment Limited and Basic Land Investment Limited.
It gets more interesting.
Further review of public filings and professional profiles suggests additional corporate ties.
A LinkedIn profile for Wambui Kinuthia lists her as a Quickmart board member and a director of Resource Business Investments where Duncan Kinuthia is a director.
She is also identified as the founder of Kahuna Group—whose subsidiary, Kahuna Capital Investments, advertises manufacturing private-label tissue products for Quickmart’s proprietary “QuickChoice” brand.
The offering memorandum lists Gladys Wambui Kinuthia as a 4.8% shareholder in Sokoni Retail Kenya, though the filing does not confirm whether she is the individual behind the LinkedIn profile, nor does it detail any family ties between the named figures.
The prospectus makes no mention of Kahuna or any tissue-supply agreements in its reviewed related-party sections, focusing instead on landlord relationships and consulting contracts.
While the documents do not establish that any transaction was improper or that the supplier arrangement breaches disclosure rules, the overlapping roles highlight potential governance friction points.
Quickmart acknowledged in the filing that its leasing arrangements could give rise to “actual or perceived conflicts of interest.” At the end of 2025, 13 of the chain’s 64 stores were leased from founder-associated entities, representing approximately 25.7% of its total rent expense.
However, the prospectus elsewhere states that directors and senior executives have “no known conflicts” that could materially impact the share offering.
Quickmart stated that its board policy requires directors to disclose conflicts and recuse themselves from relevant decisions. The company maintained that all leases were executed on arm’s-length terms comparable to market rates. It added that consultancy agreements with related parties, including Resource Business Investments, were formally terminated in July 2026, though the underlying property leases remain active.
The listing document does not fully detail the ownership structure of Resource Business Investments, state the financial figures for its tissue purchases, or provide independent valuation reports within the reviewed sections to substantiate the arm’s-length leasing terms.
As Quickmart prepares to go public, the undisclosed vendor connections and landlord ties leave prospective investors to weigh whether the retailer’s internal safeguards are sufficient to manage potential self-dealing as it scales its retail footprint.