Retail chain Naivas Supermarket's headcount has crossed 10,000 after the opening of new branches in the past 12 months, making the company one of the largest private sector employers in the country.

Disclosures made by Mauritian conglomerate IBL Group, which is part of the consortium that holds a 51 percent stake in Naivas, show that the supermarket had 10,750 employees ahead of the opening of its 100th branch last week.

This is an increase from about 8,000 employees on the retailer’s payroll just over a year ago with 87 branches.

The retail sector has been one of Kenya’s top employers over the years due to the high number of workers needed to run a branch, including cashiers, logistics and distribution staff and salespeople.

The headcount places Naivas ahead of the Nairobi Securities Exchange’s (NSE) largest firms in terms of workers, excluding the indirect jobs that these firms create through supplier contracts.

By the end of March 2023, Safaricom, the NSE’s largest firm by market capitalisation, listed 5,362 permanent employees across the group.

Equity Group, the second largest listed firm by market cap, said that by the end of 2022, it had a total of 13,065 permanent and temporary employees across eastern Africa, out of which 8,160 were in Kenya.

KCB Bank Kenya had 5,458 employees by the end of last year, with the Group’s total headcount in the region standing at 16,580.

EABL said in its sustainability report for 2023 that it had provided direct jobs to more than 2,000 full-time employees and contractors in the East African region by the end of June.

The growth of retail chains such as Naivas, QuickMart and Carrefour has partially helped replace the jobs that were lost due to the collapse of former retail giants Nakumatt and Tuskys, which went bankrupt due to large debt or mismanagement.