Kenya News Archives - Page 12 of 17

30Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News

USD 87 Million Needed to Support Equitable Vaccine Access, Mitigate Effects of COVID-19 in East and Horn of Africa

Download logoThe COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the lives of thousands of migrants, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities throughout the East and Horn of Africa, leaving many individuals, communities and economies vulnerable and in need of additional support and protection. COVID-19 induced movement restrictions and measures are directly impacting the daily lives of IDPs, refugees and host communities, especially in countries where many people rely on remittances. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is seeking approximately USD 87 million to support vital response and recovery activities in the East and Horn of Africa. The funds requested in the COVID-19 Strategic Response and Recovery Plan (SRP) 2021 for East and Horn of Africa will en...

28Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Fintech, Kenya News, Nigeria News, Tech

Ajua Acquires WayaWaya

Leading Customer Experience Platform for Africa to Integrate Intelligent Messaging and Payments Platform Across its Product Suite Ajua, the integrated Customer Experience Management solution for businesses in Africa, has acquired WayaWaya, the Kenya-based Artificial Intelligence [AI] and Machine Learning [ML] known for its innovative Janja platform, that enables borderless banking and payments across apps and social media platforms, for an undisclosed sum. WayaWaya founder and lead Janja product builder, Teddy Ogallo, joins Ajua as VP of Product APIs and Integrations. The acquisition of WayaWaya allows Ajua to integrate Janja to automate much of the customer experience journey by integrating janja.me product into their product stack, closing the customer experience loop as the...

Affordable digital banking to revolutionise price-sensitive East African payments market

21Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, Kenya News

Affordable digital banking to revolutionise price-sensitive East African payments market

In a region still dominated by cash and mobile money options, like M-Pesa, new collaborations between fintechs are looking to capture the price-sensitive market with innovative, open-loop digital payment solutions in East Africa. According to Mark Dankworth, President International, Ukheshe Technologies, the region is poised for a surge in digital banking growth, with the likes of MCQR and virtual cards likely to make the biggest impact. This follows the Kenyan retail-tech startup, Tanda, leveraging Ukheshe Technologies’ cutting-edge Eclipse API to increase their digital banking offering in Kenya and East Africa to include QR payments, digital wallets and the issuing of physical and virtual cards. The move will empower Tanda agents and merchants throughout East Africa to implement 100,000 ...

12Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Startups

Kenyan retail-tech startup Tanda secures funding for regional expansion from HAVAÍC

Kenyan agency banking startup Tanda is expanding its operations regionally after securing funding from early-stage African tech investor HAVAÍC, Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota and three other investors. Tanda has also secured key strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Interswitch which will further accelerate its growth. The company’s expansion comes on the back of successfully pioneering and proving the viability of the interoperable agent and merchant model in Kenya, a model that has only been validated in West Africa prior to Tanda. Commenting on HAVAÍC’s decision to invest in Tanda, Rob Heath, Partner at HAVAÍC says, “Tanda is solving one part of the very deep and complex problem of financial inclusion that is not only Kenyan, but a problem across all emerging and undev...

7Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Somaliland

WorldRemit founder Ismail Ahmed launches Sahamiye Foundation to tackle Somaliland’s development challenges and unlock entrepreneurial potential

Ismail Ahmed will seek to commit $500 million of his own wealth and investments over the next 10 years to Somaliland-focused development programmes. Sahamiye Foundation will aim to double Somaliland’s literacy rate to 90% by 2023. A team led by WorldRemit founder Ismail Ahmed has today launched Sahamiye Foundation, a philanthropic organisation focused on using technology and innovation to tackle Somaliland’s most pressing development challenges. Over the next 10 years, Ismail Ahmed’s ambition is to be able to commit $500 million of his own wealth and investments to Somaliland-focused development programmes. The Foundation, based in London and Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital, will initially focus on education, healthcare and infrastructure projects across Somaliland. The Foundation seeks...

4Apr

By Josephine WawiraNo Comments

Business, Kenya News, Main

Why a Plastics Pact is recipe for better environmental management practices

The year is 2016, outside a busy supermarket in one of Nairobi’s estates. Shoppers flow in and out carrying their groceries and other shopping items with plastic carrier bags. These are the order of the day, but their pollution to the environment is devastating. A year later in 2017, the Kenyan government would enact the ban on production, sale and use of plastics carrier bags. The ban is considered one of the sternest in the world and whose success rate is now recorded at approximately 80%. Fast forward to 2021, we have made tremendous strides in the fight against plastic pollution as a nation, with a ban on specific single use plastics in all protected areas taking effect from June 2020. There are also ongoing and ambitious plastics initiatives in the country, such as the Kenya Plastic A...

31Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Tech

G4S binding together technology and security at Bamburi Cement, Kenya

By G4S Nicholas Mbithi, Contract Manager, in Kenya tells about how G4S is working with Bamburi Cement, the largest manufacturer of cement in Eastern Africa Bamburi Cement, based in Kenya, is the largest manufacturer of cement in Eastern Africa, producing around 5,000 tonnes of it every day. Its operations are vast, with two mega plants located in Mombasa and Athi River that run 24/7. Each plant fills 300 trucks with cement on an average day, creating a formidable logistical operation. Anyone who has used cement to mix concrete knows the importance of having the correct ratio of water, cement and sand. Too much water and you’re left with an unmanageable mess… too much sand and it grinds to a halt. Providing security at these vast sites presents a similar challenge - too much interference an...

30Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Burundi News, Kenya News, Rwanda News, Tanzania News

GUUD Africa Secures Tender to Work on East African Community Single Customs Territory Solution

- Project first started in 2016 where vCargo Cloud (“VCC”) worked on a Proof-of-Concept (“POC”) platform for the project - Completion of project will see seamless transmission of trade-related documents between participating EAC SCT member authorities. KENYA, 30 March 2021: Singapore’s GUUD (Africa) Pte. Ltd, via its wholly owned subsidiary, vCargo Cloud Kenya Limited., has won the project tender to kickstart official development work on the East African Community (“EAC”) Single Customs Territory (“SCT”) solution. A landmark project for the region, it will be one of the first regional single window projects within the African continent that will facilitate the transmission of trade-related documents for 5 countries within the EAC region. The EAC SCT project was first embarked on by the EAC...

15Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, South Africa News

South African business, AURA, expands into East Africa with new Kenyan office and GM

AURA, South Africa’s leading security and medical response platform, has announced its imminent expansion into Kenya which will be led by its new General Manager, Hilary Itela. Partnering with KK Security, owned by GardaWorld, Aura will offer its emergency and medical response services in Nairobi and Mombasa. Warren Myers, CEO, AURA says that the intention is to address the fragmented and idle response capacity in Kenya while also democratising access to critical services by making them more widely available and more affordable than ever before. With over 15 years’ experience in various management roles in East and Central Africa, Itela brings with him a wealth of specialist expertise within various verticals including security, e-commerce, logistics, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and renewable...

9Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Events, Kenya News, Medicine, South Africa News, Startups

Announcing Winners of the 8th Edition of the Sankalp Africa Summit Awards

Over 1,200 delegates virtually convened for the 3-Day summit on ‘A Resilient Africa - Forging Solutions for the Impact Economy’ Sankalp Forum, an initiative of Intellecap hosted its 8th Edition of the Sankalp Africa Summit, in a virtual format, from the 2nd to 4th March 2021, one of Africa’s largest inclusive networking platform focusing on entrepreneurship and the impact investing ecosystem. Some of the key highlights of the summit include the awarding of the top three most innovative young entrepreneurs in Africa and sharing of sector insights on, rebuilding a resilient universally accessible health system capable of rapidly detecting, assessing, reporting; rebuilding robust local institutions in Africa to attain globally competitive levels post Covid-19; and eliminating social and econo...