A LinkedIn profile, a corporate website, and the financial disclosures on the ongoing Quickmart Initial Public Offering (IPO) reveal an incestuous relationship between suppliers, board members, and owners of the fast-growing retail chain.
After examining Quickmart’s IPO information memorandum, a LinkedIn profile and a corporate website, we have uncovered disclosures that have left unanswered questions.
Is one of the supermarket chain’s suppliers also a board director? If so, should that relationship have been disclosed to prospective investors?
A LinkedIn account for Wambui Kinuthia states that she is a Quickmart Board Member and a Kahuna Group Founder and Executive Director. The second part is very important and we will get there shortly.
A review of the Kahuna Capital website shows that the firm manufactures and supplies private-label products, explicitly featuring Quickmart’s “QuickChoice” tissue line as an example of its custom-branding work. In short, while Ms. Kinuthia’s profile identifies her as a Quickmart board member, her company concurrently supplies the supermarket chain with its proprietary branded products.
The IPO information memorandum does not mention Wambui Kinuthia as a director, however it does mention Gladys Wambui Kinuthia was one of the shareholders with a 4.8% stake in the retailer.
As of publishing we could not independently verify if Gladys Wambui Kinuthia and Wambui Kinuthia are one and the same.
It gets more interesting.
Wambui’s LinkedIn profile states that she is a director at Resource Business Investments Limited, an enterprise controlled by Quickmart founders and director. The prospectus says that Quickmart founder and director Duncan Kinuthia who is the largest individual shareholder with a 20.7 % stake is also a director at Resource Business Investments.
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.
To be fair, 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 however 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.
These are some of the questions prospective investors should ask as the IPO continues.
