Author: Kaluka wanjala

Absa Bank has announced plans to expand its agency banking network from 600 outlets to over 17,000 outlets in the next 2 years. The bank’s agency network stands at 600 at the moment and will be expanded in two phases. The first phase will expand the network to 3000 outlets. Through this expansion, Absa hopes to expand accessibility to essential financial services for individuals and businesses within their localities. Customers can use the agency network for cash deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions. This is inline with the bank’s long-term goal of financial inclusion. 17,000 outlets is a good start but is…

Datacentrix has been recognised as IT Services Partner of the Year by Huawei, a global provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices. The award was presented at the recent Huawei Africa Connect 2024 event. Taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, Africa Connect featured a number of expert Huawei speakers, a 2,500m2 exhibition space and over 2,000 participants. According to Louis Van den Berg, Business Development Manager at Datacentrix, the company has continued to excel with Huawei locally. “Datacentrix earned the title of IP Services Partner of the Year in 2023 for its prowess on the networking side of the…

Kenya Airways PLC has for the first time reported a profit after tax since 2013. For the first half of the financial year ending June 30, 2024, the airline achieved a profit after tax of Kshs 513 million, from the Kshs 21.7 billion loss reported in the similar previous period. The airline attributes the growth to its strategic turnaround plan, Project Kifaru, which emphasises customer obsession, operational excellence, financial discipline, innovation, and sustainability. “The impressive performance reaffirms the operational viability of our business and underscores the effectiveness of the collective efforts by our board, management, and staff,”said Kenya Airways Chairman, Michael…

Uber has finally bowed to pressure and agreed to raise ride charges in Kenya by 10%. The ride hailing app confirmed this yesterday saying the price changes will apply to all its products.  Over the past few weeks, taxi drivers using apps like Uber and Bolt have been complaining saying most of the rates these apps charge are just too low. They claim that the high cost of living and high commission taken by the apps may put them out of business. Some drivers have even been demanding more money from the riders from what is indicated on the app. …

 Binance has announced that from January to July 2024, it prevented over $2.4 billion in losses from potential scams and fraudulent activities that could have impacted more than 1.2 million users. This achievement is the result of Binance’s comprehensive risk management measures, which help to effectively detect and flag suspicious transactions across the platform. Binance employs a sophisticated internal risk engine that conducts real-time monitoring on a 24/7 basis, leveraging a hybrid of artificial intelligence (AI)-based and manual review. This allows the Binance team to dynamically and precisely detect suspicious transactions and take action to protect users quickly. The risk engine operates across…

Bolt has announced a strategic partnership with Hakki Africa to provide vehicle financing for drivers on its platform, in efforts to enhance their earnings. This partnership aims to deploy 1,500 vehicles over the next 18 months to drivers on Bolt’s platform that reach certain criteria for consideration. Driver partners shall have access to lower loan down payments and will receive incentives based on their performance. Hakki Africa offers a credit scoring system and other fintech solutions to provide loans to taxi drivers who have limited access to traditional financial services in Kenya. This partnership between Bolt and Hakki Africa provides…

OPPO is set to launch the Reno 12 series in Kenya later this week. The launch event will be on August 22 in Nairobi. This is the successor to the Reno 11 series that was launched in Kenya earlier this year. I have the OPPO Reno 12 5G for review and will be sharing my thoughts on it in a few days. The OPPO Reno12 series launch comes after the global launch of OPPO’s strategy to democratize AI for all mobile phone consumers across the brand’s device range. Reno12’s series launch will introduce two groundbreaking AI Phones with the Reno12…

d.light has announced the launch of its new customer loyalty program – the first of its kind in the off-grid solar space. d.light officially launched the loyalty scheme, called “d.light Points Program”, in Kenya on 7 August, with plans to extend it to customers in Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria later this year. d.light’s aim is that more than 500,000 customers will benefit from the program before the end of 2024. The d.light Points Program rewards customers who make regular and frequent payments towards their PayGo products with points that can be redeemed for discounts on future purchases and other rewards…

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has announced a strategic partnership with American connectivity innovator Globalstar to deliver advanced 5G connectivity solutions across Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf. Strive Masiyiwa, founder and Chairman of Liquid Intelligent Technologies said, “I’m really excited by the connectivity solutions now emerging from breakthroughs in 5G private networks technologies. With this technology we are now able to provide services to large businesses like mines with their own 5G private networks that can also enable NextGen services like AI; this is huge”. The partnership will provide Liquid with exclusive rights in the Gulf, Middle East and Africa…

 Wimbart is conducting the second edition of its pan-African research, ‘Startup Performance Reporting in Africa: Aligning Startup and Investor Expectations.’ The survey aims to understand the intricacies of investor relations within the African tech ecosystem and is now open for participation from startups and investors. Findings from the inaugural report revealed that nearly one-third of startup investors do not receive periodic updates from their portfolio companies, which causes investor dissatisfaction and potentially hinders future funding. This year’s edition will build on these findings by incorporating new insights from startup founders, aiming to track progress and chart the trajectory toward improved reporting in Africa’s tech ecosystem. Supported by…