Author: Kaluka wanjala

For agriculture in East Africa to sustainably feed a growing population, farmers must adopt AI tools to enhance productivity, increase yields, protect environments and reduce costs. Sama has seen the potential improvements firsthand with deployments for customers in Europe, North America and the Middle East. Drawing on that experience, Sama will continue partnering with companies to support initiatives to revolutionize agricultural sustainability in Africa, such as the East African Community’s Vision 2050 plan.  Speaking during the launch of a report on precision agriculture and the challenges AgTech models face, Annepeace Alwala, Sama Vice President, Global Service Delivery, said there is…

The digital identity and verification landscape is changing and pawaPass stands out as a key player pushing innovation. I had the opportunity to talk to Sylvia Brune, CEO of pawaPass, to discuss the company’s start, challenges they address and future plans.pawaPass helps businesses understand their options for verifying new users and reducing fraud, especially in cases where traditional IDs are not available. History of pawaPass The idea for pawaPass came about from a need identified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, the team aimed to launch a financial service in the UK for the African diaspora, facilitating the gifting of credit…

Visa is giving 3 NCBA Visa cardholders an exclusive experience to be part of this year’s Olympic Games. The spend and win campaign will send the lucky winners and their plus ones to Paris for The Olympic Games, courtesy of Visa. Through the campaign, current and potential customers stand a chance to win the grand prize of a fully paid trip valued at over Kes. 400,000 for each winner and their companion to watch the Olympics Games. Additionally, customers shopping with their NCBA Visa cards also stand to win NCBA Visa branded merchandise. Commenting on the partnership, Tirus Mwithiga, Group…

While artificial intelligence (AI) use cases are growing at an unprecedented rate, expert information is scarce for pioneering data centres. Vertiv recognises this knowledge gap and the urgency of accessing this information, leading to the launch of their AI Hub. Partners, customers, and other website visitors will have access to expert information, reference designs and resources to successfully plan their AI-ready infrastructure. The Vertiv AI Hub features white papers, industry research, tools, and power and cooling portfolios for retrofit and greenfield applications. The new reference design library demonstrates scalable liquid cooling and power infrastructure to support current and future chip sets from…

By now, you have probably heard the news that Copia is in administration after failing to raise funding. The startup has not had difficulties raising funding before and has so far raised a total of over $123 Million. The most recent round was December 2023 when it raised $20 Million so it is strange to see it face difficulties 6 months later.  Context Copia is a ecommerce startup founded in 2013 by Tracey Turner and Jonathan Lewis. Through the platform, customers could order goods and have them delivered to remote areas that may not be the main target of most…

Smartphone batteries have been getting bigger with every new release. At the moment, a 5000 mAh battery is standard but we do have a number of phones with 6000 mAh batteries and even some with 7000 mAh batteries. This is quite big for a smartphone but as battery technology improves, we should see even bigger batteries.  In Kenya, you can get a few smartphones with 7000 mAh batteries as of June 2024. I have compiled a list of the 3 smartphones worth checking out if you are interested in a smartphones with a massive battery. Under each phone, i have…

NTT DATA has announced the appointment of Thembeka Ngugi as its Head of Marketing & Demand Generation for NTT DATA Middle East & Africa. The move aims to continue the acceleration of business growth in Africa and the Middle East. Thembeka has over two decades of success in conceptualising strategic marketing plans and spearheading award-winning campaigns to reposition and enhance brand image. Leveraging her expertise, she will play a pivotal role in shaping and executing marketing strategies that align with NTT DATA’s vision for growth by enhancing the company’s presence across the Middle East & Africa. Thembeka’s appointment comes at…

Over the past couple of years, Infinix has been innovating the battery and charging tech powering its smartphones. We saw the introduction of Infinix’s All-Round 260W Fast Charge and 110W wireless charging  last year. These charging speeds and still not widely available on most of its smartphones in Kenya but we still get decently fast charging speeds on some. These include the Infinix Note 40 Pro that I reviewed recently.  The Infinix Note 40 Pro supports both wired and wireless charging, has a relatively large battery and supports reverse charging. Having used this phone for a few weeks, I thought…

Binance has announced that its platform now has over 200 million registered users. This is impressive for the platform to achieve 7 years since its inception. 30 million of the users were added to the platform within the last 12 months. With this, Binance is currently the leading platform accounting for over 36% of the total crypto users globally. Binance is also regarded as the most liquid exchange according to Kaiko Research. Binance also revealed that it’s customer assets, which are publicly available and disclosed through our Proof of Reserves, have increased by $ 42B year-to-date. This means it holds…

Samsung is set to hold yet another unpacked event next month. The company is expected to unveil new foldable devices at this event. This will be the second unpacked this year as the first one was held in January where the company unveiled the Galaxy S24 series. The July event will be held in Paris. Some of the devices we expect to see at the event include the new foldables (Galaxy fold 6 and flip 6) and the new Galaxy Watch7. Samsung is also expected to showcase the Galaxy Ring at the Paris event. With the event roughly a month…