Author: Kaluka wanjala

Earlier today, Uber announced the launch of Uber One in Kenya. This is the company’s new subscription option, which offers discounts and exclusive experiences for both rides and deliveries. The service costs Ksh 280 per month or Ksh 2,800 per year. “Uber has revolutionized Kenya’s mobility and delivery needs since our launch in 2015. We’re proud to keep building on this value with the deployment of Uber One.” said Imran Manji, Head of East Africa and Head of Business Development for Africa. Uber One offers member-only upgrades including top-rated drivers on rides and premium support. Uber One Benefits Some of…

Airtel has partnered with Mastercard to launch the Airtel Money GlobalPay Card in Uganda. According to the company, this payment solution is designed to connect Airtel money customers with global online marketplaces.  Through this partnership, Airtel’s 150 million mobile phone users in 14 African countries with access to Mastercard’s global merchant network, enabling safer and more secure international transactions. The Airtel Money GlobalPay is a virtual payment solution that Airtel Money users can link to their wallets. It can be used for a wide range of payments across global online merchants such as Facebook, Netflix, Uber etc. “At Airtel, we…

Nilos, a global payment platform powered by stablecoin, has announced expansion to West Africa. This was announced on LinkedIn by Eytan Messika, one of its co-founders This expansion will start with Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin and Togo. The expansion will help simplify cross-border transactions by allowing instant payouts in XOF. It will also allow last-mile termination through mobile money services. Cross-border payments across Africa have been characterized with high fees, currency volatility and slow processing times. Solutions like Nilos that use stablecoins can help individuals and businesses easily transfer funds and avoid the limitations of traditional banks. What Nilos Offers…

Eddie Kago has been appointed as the Base East Africa Lead for Coinbase, where he will focus on onboarding Africans to Ethereum. In a statement on LinkedIn, Eddie said, “I’ll be executing this alongside Derrick Ochago and the incredible team of builders that have been championing Base adoption in East Africa.” He further emphasized his mission at Coinbase: “I intend to work with real builders solving real problems to onboard millions on-chain. We will be looking for developers, creatives, founders, and community support systems interested in harnessing the capabilities of Base to achieve economic freedom.” As he steps into his…

Investing in U.S. stocks can be daunting to most Kenyans. The high barriers to entry such as high minimum investment amounts and lack of enough information available to the general public haven’t made it easier.  You don’t know where to start and who to trust with your money. This is where Ndovu comes in. Ndovu is a leading savings and investment platform whose mission is to make investing accessible to all Kenyans. Ndovu currently has over 100,000 customers who it has acquired through strategic marketing, paid media, organic content, and referral programs. The company says it is still keen on ensuring…

Safaricom has announced the completion of the first phase of construction for a Tier 3 data centre in Redhill, Limuru. This is one of three planned Tier 3+ data centres the telco intends to develop in the long term. Data centre tiers are a standardized ranking system issued by the global Uptime Institute, indicating a facility’s reliability and performance. The lowest tier is 1, and the highest is 4. With a Tier 3+ rating, Safaricom’s new data centre boasts 99.982% uptime and high-capacity cooling systems, making it suitable for hyperscalers such as Microsoft, AWS, and Oracle. “When we call it…

M-Pesa has today marked 18 years since its launch in March 2007. The service is currently available in more than 170 countries globally serving over 70 million customers. The mobile financial services provider has grown to over one million businesses and agents in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ghana and Egypt. To mark its 18th anniversary, M-Pesa has embarked on a series of activities across the country aimed at engaging the ecosystem stakeholders, including customers, investors, communities, technology partners, employees, regulators, and the media. The service supports over 55,000 integrations on its Daraja platform which…

Standard Chartered has announced a partnership with Village Capital to continue and expand its Futuremakers Women in Tech Accelerator across Africa, the  Middle East, and Pakistan.  Part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered (Futuremakers), the Bank’s global youth economic empowerment initiative for disadvantaged young people, and with funding from the Standard  Chartered Foundation, Futuremakers Women in Tech Accelerator will provide specialised training, catalytic funding, and access to a global network of peers, finance providers, industry leaders, and ecosystem partners.  Tanuj Kapilashrami, Chief Strategy and Talent Officer at Standard Chartered, said, “Empowering women is critical to economic growth, and central to our stand…

Electric bus company, BasiGo, has announced plans to expand its operations in Rwanda with the addition of 28 new electric buses. The first batch is expected to arrive in Kigali next month and will serve both city and inter-city routes.  BasiGo has committed to deploying 100 electric buses across the country in 2025, having secured the requisite capital last October. The company says it has received over 360 reservations for Electric buses from Rwandan bus operators. “BasiGo is proud to be delivering the largest shipment of electric buses to date into Rwanda,” said Jit Bhattacharya, CEO and Co-Founder at BasiGo.…

Earlier this week, Infinix officially unveiled its latest smartphone series, the Infinix Note 50 and Note 50 Pro. Both models have the same 6.78-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2436 pixels. They also have up to 144Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals. Powering these devices is the MediaTek Helio G100 Ultimate processor. The standard Note 50 is paired with 8GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage while the Note 50 Pro has either 8 or 12GB of RAM paired with 256 GB of storage. Both phones support virtual RAM expansion. A 5,200 mAh battery is…