BY ISAAC SWILA Giant telecommunication firm Safaricom has embarked on ambitious project aimed at digitising the particulars of its M-Pesa users through a new guideline that will involve taking photos of those who register new sim cards. The new venture will see M-Pesa’s agents take amongst others, particulars of customers registering new sim-card, including their photos, which will be used whenever they transact business via the platform – for both deposits or withdrawals. As a measure of ensuring that the venture gets off to a flying start, the telco’s Corporate Affairs manager Stephen Chege told The Nairobi Business Monthly that…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Since the 18th Century the world has looked to fossil fuel as a source of energy to serve its ever-growing population. For a while, it was the only alternative for those living in poverty and who still lacked access to electricity. Coal was in ample supply at the time hence it made economic sense to use it to supply the rapidly growing energy demand at an affordable price. Today coal and other fossil fuels are still popular. For instance, according to a report by the World Energy Council, in 2015 coal still produced 40% of the world’s…
The Coca-Cola Africa foundation (TCCAF), an entity funded through Coca-Cola and which implements community development programmes throughout Africa, together with Amref Health Africa, have entered into a partnership that focuses on enabling the economic empowerment as well as improving the health of over 500,000 people living in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. This partnership comes as a part of TCCAF’s project, Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN), that has a mission to reach at least 6 million people in Africa with improved and sustainable access to safe water by the year 2020. As of now, the initiative has been able to reach…
Nicholas Nesbit is the new Chair of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA. He is also the country general manager of IBM East Africa. Not new to KEPSA, the renowned engineer takes over as Chair from Dennis Awori, the current Chairman of Toyota East Africa, who served for the last two years. Before becoming the general manager of IBM, Mr Nesbitt founded KenCall Outsourcing, the first call center in East Africa, and acted as its CEO. Prior to this he had also helped found a consultancy firm called MarketRace, LLC. He also held the position of vice president at Qwest…
Global payment technology company Visa recently announced that its platform mVisa will allow its consumers, of visa-affiliated banks, to send money to each other domestically without paying for any transaction costs. The multinational company’s platform, mVisa, was introduced in Kenya last year. It is a new mobile payment system that scans a unique retailer’s quick response or QR code to make payments. It is expected to accelerate digital commerce in the country. Visa has partnered up with various institutions to offer person-to-person (P2P) transactions. The institutions that have accepted mVisa, or have acquired retailers to accept mVisa, are KCB Bank,…
Kenya has been ranked the most innovative country in East Africa, as well as the fifth most innovative country in Africa. This is according to the Global Innovation Index 2017: Innovation feeding the world, which is a partnership between the Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Kenya came in fifth after South Africa, Mauritius, Morocco and Tunisia in Africa. It ranked third in Sub-Saharan Africa and globally it was ranked position 80, outperforming her development-level peers. The region of sub-Saharan Africa is considered to be performing well in innovation because, since 2012, it has got the…
By Isaac Swila For a man who witnessed first-hand the vagaries of poverty while growing up as a poor kid in Hangzhou, China, life also offered its fair share of kindness. At 52, he is a billionaire of monumental proportions. Today, Jack Ma is looked at in awe, adored and considered an epitome of entrepreneurship, dedication and hard work. He is a role model to millions of upcoming entrepreneurs, not just in his native China, but also across the world. Driven by a compelling desire to scale the heights and succeed in life, Ma worked his socks off in life…
A strong team of founders, according to Venture Finance in Africa’ research (VF4A), is the key driver of startup success in Africa. The finding was made from a study by VF4A that aimed at better understanding the critical success factors for African startups. The study also sought to identify the key ingredients that determine why a venture outperforms its peers and was based on data collected from 1866 ventures in 41 African countries and 111 Africa-focused investors from 39 countries around the world. “We are entering a new stage of startup growth on the Continent. Not only has the number…
The first multinational oil company to be quoted in the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Total Kenya Ltd, has legally changed its name to Total Kenya Plc. This comes after it finished legal changes to its company’s status and started operating as a Public Limited Company. The bourse-listed company, in a notice to its shareholders, said, “We hereby inform our customers, business partners and general public that following approval by the company’s shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on 16th June 2017, we have effective 23rd June 2017 changed our name from ‘Total Kenya Ltd” to ‘Total Kenya Plc.” in…
United Bank for Africa (UBA) has rolled out two Mastercard electronic payment solutions in order to deliver cashless solutions to Kenyans. The UBA Debit Mastercard and UBA Mastercard Platinum cards will help improve financial inclusion in the country with focus on innovation, financial literacy and customer protection. The Platinum card will offer UBA customers with several benefits including legacy lifestyle gold tier membership, shopping and shipping discounts, Mastercard discounts among others. In line with its strategic vision, UBA is introducing innovative payment solutions that aim at meeting the needs of people across Africa. The Debit Mastercard gives the cardholder full…