Author: Kaluka wanjala

Huawei Africa Connect 2024 Sub-Saharan Africa kicked off at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, with attending Huawei senior leaders declaring a new era for the enterprise-focused annual event. Previously called Huawei Eco Connect, this year’s edition reaffirmed the company’s commitment to sub-Saharan Africa and providing innovative solutions to partners in these markets. Opening the event, David Wang, Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board for Huawei, commented that it was exciting to see so many governments and businesses in the region racing to go digital and many pioneers were already deploying intelligent…

Samsung has this evening unveiled its next-gen foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6. These are the successors to the Samsung foldables from 2023. Just like the S24 series from earlier this year, Galaxy AI tooK centre stage at the launch of these new smartphones from Samsung. Both the Fold6 and Flip6 are available on pre-order in Kenya from today till 31st July. The phones will be available for Ksh 148,000 for the Flip6 and Ksh 264,000 for the Fold6. Having interacted with both devices for a few minutes, I am impressed with the build quality. They feel…

Innovate Africa has launched with an initial $2.5 million rollout. Co-founded by Kristin Wilson and Christian Idiodi, the sector-agnostic fund aims to support up to 20 startups in its first year to solve complex, recognised problems such as insecurity, unemployment, and poverty with purpose-driven technology. Since 2019, the African funding landscape has witnessed positive growth, with disclosed exits surpassing $2.3 billion – representing a significant 13.4% of the total $17.2 billion raised by African startups. Despite this growth, early-stage founders face challenges navigating the path from ideation to market fit. The persistent lack of early-stage funding further compounds these difficulties,…

Redington has announced a strategic distribution partnership with Vertiv to empower channel partners across Africa to leverage the transformative potential of Vertiv’s technology and expand its reseller network. The partnership leverages Redington’s established presence and expertise in emerging markets, particularly in data centre transformation and artificial intelligence (AI), alongside Vertiv’s industry-leading power and cooling technology, resources, and over 50 years of experience in critical infrastructure services. This powerful combination will unlock new opportunities for Vertiv to extend its reach within the regional channel market. The distributor’s comprehensive reach across Africa, coupled with its strong in-house services team, will provide additional value to…

Tanzanian-born fintech, Nala, has announced that it has raised $40 million in a series A funding round led by Acrew Capital with the participation of DST Global, Norrsken22, and HOF Capital. Nala allows individuals in UK, US and EU to send money to 249 banks and 26 mobile money services in 11 African countries. The startup initially offered local money transfers in Tanzania before pivoting to offering foreign remittances in 2021. According to the company’s founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes, the funding will be used to accelerate Nala’s ambitions by building two things: He added, “This $40 million funding round…

Samsung Unpacked July 2024 event is happening later today where we expect a number of hardware releases. This is the second unpacked event of 2024 as the first one happened back in January where we saw the launch of the Galaxy S24 series. The July unpacked event is set to start at 1 pm in Paris (2 pm Kenyan time). You will be able to watch the livestream on YouTube using the link below. At the unpacked event, the star of the show will be the 2024 foldables from Samsung. These include the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip…

Aleph Holdings has today announced the appointment of Rachel Karanu to be the Client Partner Lead for the East Africa region. She brings years of experience that she will use to lead the regional sales team, develop new opportunities, and foster new relationships to further Aleph’s position in the market.  Karanu has over 15 years of experience in sales. Before her latest appointment at Aleph, she was the Commercial General Manager at TrueBlaq Limited. She was previously the Head of Brand Partnerships at Mdundo Limited and Head of Business Development at CreativeVMLY&R. Speaking on this appointment, she said, “I am…

Stanbic Bank Kenya has affirmed its commitment to SME growth and capacity building through innovative, customized and relevant solutions. The Bank made this announcement during the Kenya Annual Manufacturing Summit & Expo, popularly known as the Changamka Shopping Festival, organized in partnership with the Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industry. Speaking to the theme of the festival, “Celebrating Kenya’s Manufacturing Milestones, Stanbic recognized the importance of the manufacturing sector to Kenya’s economy, affirming its support for the industry which is the highest-wage employer in the private sector, providing 15.9% of direct jobs, amounting to 362,300 positions. “SMEs are the…

Samsung has announced Samsung Hospitality TV compatibility with AirPlay, allowing hotel guests to connect their iOS and iPadOS devices to the TVs in their rooms easily and securely. Guests will be able to enjoy the convenience of watching their favourite shows and movies from popular streaming services, listening to personal playlists on various music platforms, viewing photos, practising presentations, playing games and more on the TV in their room. By simply scanning a unique, on-screen QR code, guests can privately and securely connect their iPhone or iPad to the Samsung Hospitality TV. Ensuring both convenience and robust security, no personal…

Epson has launched the AM-C400 and AM-C550 MFPs to deliver improved solutions to the A4 market. These new products offer all the energy saving and productivity advantages afforded by Epson’s existing Line Inkjet printers but in a smaller, A4 format.  This launch expands Epson’s existing A4 inkjet line-up and provides an ideal solution for users with higher print volumes. For the channel they represent an easily maintained, profitable solution that supports sustainability agendas. “Epson’s new AM-C400 and AM-C550 MFPs are designed to meet the needs of users requiring high print volumes, offering fast print and scan speeds, high paper capacities,…