Friday, November 22African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: Kenya

Medicine, South Africa News, Startups

SA startup, AURA, on what it takes to go global

AURA, South Africa’s leading security and medical response platform, recently announced its expansion into Kenya, followed closely by a move into the UK where it aims to have over 10,000 users receiving the company’s service within seven months. Later this year, the startup will look at possible expansions in Mexico and Nigeria. Warren Myers, AURA’s CEO believes that South African startups can compete with the best in the world thanks to a focus on smart innovations that answer real-world issues. “The biggest problems in the world are starting to feel fixable for the first time in history. Many people are still unaware of just what will be achievable with hyperscale technology tools like AI, IoT, blockchain, and nanotechnology, among others,” notes Myers. He adds that startups have a uniq...
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
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 ...
Botswana News, Egypt News, Main, Mauritius News, Morocco News, South Africa News

Competition law in post-pandemic Africa a key driver for market participation, consumer protection and fair practices

 With the growth of economies across Africa, competition law has remained one of the key drivers for effective market participation, consumer protection and fair business practices. However, the global pandemic introduced new challenges for competition authorities in Africa and abroad, with each enforcer pursuing the most beneficial enforcement method for its national or regional jurisdiction. According to Lerisha Naidu, Partner in Baker McKenzie’s Competition & Antitrust Practice in Johannesburg, “These efforts were aimed at curbing the persistence of unjustified price hikes, anticompetitive cooperation between competitors and other harmful business practices that sought to undermine competition. In addition to the urgent responses to the unprecedented impacts of the global COVID-19 c...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Africa Travel, Nigeria News, travel

Hotel Developments in West Africa

For being the second largest Continent on earth, Africa has a wide range of options for hotel development in many of its regions having more space for expansion and capital growth. The middle-class population is estimated to be near 350 million people by the African Development Bank. A portion of this population holds the probability to be potential travelers. These people can benefit the economy. The tourism and travel industry has an important part in keeping up with the rising number of travelers. Hotel development has been affiliated with advanced economies in countries like South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania in comparison to a mire of the West African countries while there is a noticeable development in the major cities lately. West Africa is the most densely populated area in enti...
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...