Interview Edge
Every question we publish, searchable — plus a practice mode that gives you thirty seconds and a question, which is what the room actually feels like.
The CBK has held rates while inflation has risen all year. Is that the right call?
What they're testing: Whether you can distinguish the nominal rate from the real rate, whether you know what a rate can and cannot fix, and whether you'll commit to a view with a condition attached.
Walk me through what happens to a Kenyan importer when the Fed raises rates.
What they're testing: Whether you can walk a causal chain in order without skipping steps: US yields, capital flows, dollar demand, KES, imported input costs, margins.
What happens to a bank's net interest margin when the Central Bank Rate falls, and what does the bank do about it?
What they're testing: Whether you know that lending rates reprice faster than deposit rates, and whether you get to the volume-versus-margin trade-off without being led there.
Why might heavy government borrowing be bad for a Kenyan manufacturer?
What they're testing: Whether you can explain crowding out as a bank's risk-adjusted choice rather than reciting the term.
Inflation is at 6.6%. Should the central bank raise rates?
What they're testing: Whether you ask what kind of inflation before answering. A candidate who answers straight away has skipped the analysis.
If I gave you a Kenyan bank's results and four minutes, what would you look at?
What they're testing: Prioritisation. Whether you go to asset quality and margin before you go to the profit line.
Tell me about something happening in the Kenyan economy that you've been following.
What they're testing: Whether you follow anything at all, and whether you can hold a view for two minutes with a mechanism and a condition rather than a summary.
A bond you hold falls in price. Has anything about the bond changed?
What they're testing: Whether you understand that price moves are about the rate environment, not the instrument — and whether you separate default risk from interest rate risk.
Walk me through the three financial statements.
What they're testing: Whether you can be concise and structured under mild pressure. Ninety seconds, in order, no rambling. Most candidates either recite a textbook or trail off — the ask is a clean summary of what each statement tells you and what its bottom line is.
If you could only see one statement to judge a Kenyan bank's health, which would you pick?
What they're testing: Whether you know banks are different. The usual 'cash flow statement' answer is weak here — for a bank, the loan book and asset quality live on the balance sheet, and interest income drives the income statement. Naming why the general rule does not apply is the whole point.
Depreciation goes up by 10 shillings. Walk me through all three statements.
What they're testing: Whether you go income statement, then cash flow, then balance sheet — in that order, so you can check that the balance sheet still balances at the end. Getting the order right matters as much as getting the numbers right.
Why would you not use a DCF to value Equity Bank or KCB?
What they're testing: Whether you understand that for a bank, debt is raw material rather than financing, and working capital swings can dwarf net income — so free cash flow does not mean what it usually means. A strong answer names dividend discount or residual income as what you would use instead.
How would you value an NSE-listed company with no obvious local comparables?
What they're testing: Whether you can reason past the textbook. Regional or frontier-market comparables with a liquidity discount, a DCF with a locally-built discount rate, or sum-of-the-parts — and whether you name the weakness in whichever you pick.
What discount rate would you use for a Kenyan company, and where does it come from?
What they're testing: Whether you know the risk-free rate is a Kenyan government security rather than a US Treasury, and whether you can talk about country risk without hand-waving. Thin NSE trading also makes beta unreliable — saying so is a strength, not an admission.
A Nairobi retailer has negative working capital. Should I be worried?
What they're testing: Whether you pause before answering. Negative working capital at a retailer often means customers pay before suppliers do, which is efficiency, not distress. Whether you ask what kind of business it is before judging.
Tell me about a Kenyan company you find interesting and why.
What they're testing: Whether you follow anything. The trap is choosing Safaricom and saying nothing a newspaper reader could not. A strong answer names one number from their own filings and one thing that number tells you.
What do you think interest rates do over the next twelve months, and what would you do about it?
What they're testing: Whether you can hold a forecast and a condition at the same time. Interviewers do not need you to be right — they need to see that you know what would make you wrong.
Why do you want to work in finance and not something that pays similarly?
What they're testing: Whether your reason survives one follow-up. 'I like numbers' and 'I want to learn' do not. Something specific you did — a model you built, a story you followed, a decision you argued about — does.
How does a weaker shilling affect a Kenyan manufacturer that imports its raw materials?
What they're testing: Whether you get past 'costs go up' to margin, pricing power and whether they can pass it on. The best answers ask whether the manufacturer also exports, because that changes the answer entirely.
Which is riskier for a Kenyan investor — a 364-day Treasury bill or a listed bank's shares?
What they're testing: Whether you ask 'risk of what'. Default risk, price risk and inflation risk give three different answers, and a T-bill that is safe from default is not safe from inflation. Naming which risk you are answering about is the mark.
Thirty seconds, out loud, standing up if you can. The gap between knowing something and being able to say it only closes with reps. On a phone you can swipe the card.
The archive
Each one labelled with where it came from. We never let a question we invented pass as one somebody was really asked — that distinction is the only thing that makes an archive like this worth anything.
The CBK has held rates while inflation has risen all year. Is that the right call?
What they are testing: Whether you can distinguish the nominal rate from the real rate, whether you know what a rate can and cannot fix, and whether you'll commit to a view with a condition attached.
Walk me through what happens to a Kenyan importer when the Fed raises rates.
What they are testing: Whether you can walk a causal chain in order without skipping steps: US yields, capital flows, dollar demand, KES, imported input costs, margins.
What happens to a bank's net interest margin when the Central Bank Rate falls, and what does the bank do about it?
What they are testing: Whether you know that lending rates reprice faster than deposit rates, and whether you get to the volume-versus-margin trade-off without being led there.
Why might heavy government borrowing be bad for a Kenyan manufacturer?
What they are testing: Whether you can explain crowding out as a bank's risk-adjusted choice rather than reciting the term.
Inflation is at 6.6%. Should the central bank raise rates?
What they are testing: Whether you ask what kind of inflation before answering. A candidate who answers straight away has skipped the analysis.
If I gave you a Kenyan bank's results and four minutes, what would you look at?
What they are testing: Prioritisation. Whether you go to asset quality and margin before you go to the profit line.
Tell me about something happening in the Kenyan economy that you've been following.
What they are testing: Whether you follow anything at all, and whether you can hold a view for two minutes with a mechanism and a condition rather than a summary.
A bond you hold falls in price. Has anything about the bond changed?
What they are testing: Whether you understand that price moves are about the rate environment, not the instrument — and whether you separate default risk from interest rate risk.
Walk me through the three financial statements.
What they are testing: Whether you can be concise and structured under mild pressure. Ninety seconds, in order, no rambling. Most candidates either recite a textbook or trail off — the ask is a clean summary of what each statement tells you and what its bottom line is.
If you could only see one statement to judge a Kenyan bank's health, which would you pick?
What they are testing: Whether you know banks are different. The usual 'cash flow statement' answer is weak here — for a bank, the loan book and asset quality live on the balance sheet, and interest income drives the income statement. Naming why the general rule does not apply is the whole point.
Depreciation goes up by 10 shillings. Walk me through all three statements.
What they are testing: Whether you go income statement, then cash flow, then balance sheet — in that order, so you can check that the balance sheet still balances at the end. Getting the order right matters as much as getting the numbers right.
Why would you not use a DCF to value Equity Bank or KCB?
What they are testing: Whether you understand that for a bank, debt is raw material rather than financing, and working capital swings can dwarf net income — so free cash flow does not mean what it usually means. A strong answer names dividend discount or residual income as what you would use instead.
How would you value an NSE-listed company with no obvious local comparables?
What they are testing: Whether you can reason past the textbook. Regional or frontier-market comparables with a liquidity discount, a DCF with a locally-built discount rate, or sum-of-the-parts — and whether you name the weakness in whichever you pick.
What discount rate would you use for a Kenyan company, and where does it come from?
What they are testing: Whether you know the risk-free rate is a Kenyan government security rather than a US Treasury, and whether you can talk about country risk without hand-waving. Thin NSE trading also makes beta unreliable — saying so is a strength, not an admission.
A Nairobi retailer has negative working capital. Should I be worried?
What they are testing: Whether you pause before answering. Negative working capital at a retailer often means customers pay before suppliers do, which is efficiency, not distress. Whether you ask what kind of business it is before judging.
Tell me about a Kenyan company you find interesting and why.
What they are testing: Whether you follow anything. The trap is choosing Safaricom and saying nothing a newspaper reader could not. A strong answer names one number from their own filings and one thing that number tells you.
What do you think interest rates do over the next twelve months, and what would you do about it?
What they are testing: Whether you can hold a forecast and a condition at the same time. Interviewers do not need you to be right — they need to see that you know what would make you wrong.
Why do you want to work in finance and not something that pays similarly?
What they are testing: Whether your reason survives one follow-up. 'I like numbers' and 'I want to learn' do not. Something specific you did — a model you built, a story you followed, a decision you argued about — does.
How does a weaker shilling affect a Kenyan manufacturer that imports its raw materials?
What they are testing: Whether you get past 'costs go up' to margin, pricing power and whether they can pass it on. The best answers ask whether the manufacturer also exports, because that changes the answer entirely.
Which is riskier for a Kenyan investor — a 364-day Treasury bill or a listed bank's shares?
What they are testing: Whether you ask 'risk of what'. Default risk, price risk and inflation risk give three different answers, and a T-bill that is safe from default is not safe from inflation. Naming which risk you are answering about is the mark.
No match
Nothing in the archive matches that yet. Try a broader word — or send us the question you are looking for.
The archive is young and we are not going to pretend otherwise. It grows every week, mostly from readers who have just sat the panel.
What were you actually asked?
If you have sat a graduate or internship interview in Kenya — a bank, a Big Four firm, an insurer, a telco, anywhere — tell us one question you were asked. We publish it with the employer and the cycle, never your name.
Thank you — that's genuinely useful. Every question you send makes the archive worth more to the next person sitting that panel.
The questions come from the stories.
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