Author: John Nyabuto

Samsung has unveiled its 2026 television range in Kenya. The company is bringing its new Mini LED TV range to the local market, growing its premium home entertainment portfolio. The new lineup showcases Samsung’s newest display technology with brighter visuals, richer colours, larger screen options and AI-powered viewing experiences. These experiences are designed for sports, movies, gaming and everyday entertainment. According to Samsung, the Mini LED range is powered by its Vision AI Companion, which combines intelligent picture and sound technologies to create a more personalised viewing experience. Among the new features is AI Soccer Mode, which automatically optimises picture…

Renew Capital has selected 15 startups from more than 500 applicants across 48 African countries to advance to the next stage of its inaugural Renew Venture Lab: EmFi Series, a program focused on accelerating embedded finance innovation across the continent. The selected startups will receive advanced technical training and be considered for investment after emerging from a highly competitive application process that highlighted growing interest in embedded finance solutions for Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Africa’s SMEs remain the backbone of the continent’s economies but continue to face an estimated $330 billion annual credit gap. At the same time,…

Nuvion has announced the integration of Ripple USD (RLUSD) into its AI-powered global banking and cross-border payments platform. This gives businesses and fintechs access to faster, stablecoin-powered international payments and settlements. The integration allows businesses to move funds seamlessly between traditional banking systems and blockchain-based payment networks through a single platform. This reduces reliance on legacy correspondent banking infrastructure. According to Nuvion, the addition of RLUSD expands its payment and treasury capabilities by enabling faster cross-border settlement, seamless conversion between fiat currencies and digital assets, enterprise-grade digital asset infrastructure and improved global liquidity management through a unified API. “We believe…

For years, cloud adoption was positioned as a fast track to agility, scalability and digital transformation. Today, as organisations operate increasingly distributed environments, many are entering a new phase of cloud maturity; one that requires them to rethink accountability for security across public cloud, private cloud and on-premises infrastructure. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, cloud technologies are ranked as the second most significant technology expected to affect cybersecurity over the coming year, after only AI. This finding suggests that, while many businesses are well advanced in their cloud journeys, cloud security and governance remain high priorities. This also…

Flutterwave has announced a strategic investment from Circle Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Circle Internet Group. The investment is an extension of Flutterwave’s involvement in the launch of the Circle Payments Network in 2025, and will support the company’s efforts to embed USDC settlement directly into the payment flows that businesses already use. The integration will allow merchants to accept payments in local currencies while settling in USDC. Flutterwave said the move is part of its broader strategy to position stablecoins as core financial infrastructure for Africa while maintaining a compliance-first approach that aligns with regulatory requirements and enterprise…

Swedfund has announced an additional USD 5 million investment in the TLG Africa Growth Impact Fund II (TLG II). The new commitment brings Swedfund’s total investment in the fund to USD 20 million. This is in addition to an initial USD 15 million investment in 2025. The funding forms part of TLG II’s second close, alongside investments from Proparco, Calvert Impact Capital and several existing investors. The investment will help remove one of the key barriers to business growth on the continent: limited access to appropriate financing for SMEs. While SMEs are critical to employment and economic development, many SMEs…

Visa is expanding access to Visa Pay for additional issuers across Africa and Central Asia through a software development kit (SDK) that helps banks, mobile money operators and fintechs embed Visa Pay capabilities into their existing mobile applications and launch virtual cards and payment experiences quickly and securely. Visa Pay is an interoperable and secure way for banked and unbanked consumers to pay, get paid, and move money across participating banks, fintechs and mobile networks. With integrated issuer processing capabilities, built-in customer experience, tokenization readiness and Visa-certified security and compliance components, the SDK helps accelerate and simplify the deployment of…

Pathways Technologies has unveiled Pathways Innovate 2026, a new initiative designed to help businesses, government agencies and organizations rapidly transform operational challenges into practical AI and data-driven solutions. The program was launched under the theme “Build The Solution Your Business Has Been Waiting For,” and is inviting organizations to submit real-world business challenges that can be developed into scalable AI or data prototypes within an accelerated six-week innovation cycle. According to the company, the initiative is intended to bridge the gap between ambitious digital transformation strategies and deployable solutions by allowing participants to collaborate directly with its engineering and AI…

OPPO Kenya has expanded its retail footprint with the opening of a new Experience Shop at The Hub Karen. The new outlet becomes OPPO’s 14th Experience Shop in Kenya and its eighth in Nairobi. The Experience Shop is designed to give customers an opportunity to test the latest OPPO devices, receive expert product advice, purchase genuine accessories and access after-sales support and repair services in one location. The opening comes shortly after OPPO introduced its latest smartphone lineup in the Kenyan market, including the Reno 15 Series, the A6 Series and the Find N6 foldable smartphone. “The Hub Karen is…

Specialist development finance agency FSD Africa and Jubilee Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop innovative insurance and investment solutions aimed at expanding financial inclusion across East Africa, beginning with Kenya. The partnership will bring together FSD Africa’s flagship insurtech accelerator, BimaLab and J-Hub, Jubilee Group’s innovation and technology division, to design, pilot and scale digital insurance products targeting previously underserved customers. Using BimaLab’s Insurtech-Insurer Partnership Framework, selected insurtech startups will collaborate with Jubilee to build and launch new technology-enabled insurance products in real market environments. The initiative will initially launch in Kenya before being scaled across…