East Africa’s telecommunications giant Safaricom, has been listed on the prestigious Forbes Global 2000 List. The list comprises of the leading 2000 public companies in the world, with all firms being ranked based on their sales, profit, assets and market value. Safaricom which posted an astonishing 240 billion Kenyan Shillings ($2.4 billion) in sales for the last financial year with its overall profits hitting 63 billion Kenyan Shillings ($623 million), is the only Kenyan business on the list. Other notable African businesses on the list include; Absa Group, Commercial International Bank, Dangote Group, and MTN Group. Of the companies based…
Author: Tobey
The Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK); Patrick Njoroge, unveiled new generation currency notes 12 days ago. The Governor made it known that the move was in order to check illicit flows and counterfeits. Dr. Patrick Njoroge explained that, “We have assessed the grave concern that our large banknotes particularly the older Sh1000 shillings series. They are being used for illicit financial flaws in Kenya and even other countries in the region,”. To ensure that this is stopped, the Central Bank Governor announced that the old 1,000 Kenyan Shillings notes will be retired effectively from the 1st of…
According to reports by Standard Media, users of cooking gas in Kenya, will soon no longer be able to conveniently buy or refill gas cylinder at neighborhood kiosks or petrol stations. Refills only be carried out at outlets run by oil marketing companies who own the brand of your gas cylinder, instead. This is as a result of new regulations abolishing the current exchange pool which was created in 2009. The current mandatory cylinder exchange pool which is comprised of 50 marketers, enabled consumers to trade their gas cylinders at any outlet without regard to the brand of their…
The Head of the Mobile Money Segment Of Regional Expansion at Safaricom Brian Wamatu has recently been charged to court for unlawfully copying and sharing private subscriber information with unauthorized individual known identified as Mr Charles Njuguna Kimani with intent to defraud Brian Wamatu was arraigned in court alongside his colleague Billy Kinuthia who is the Senior Manager in charge of Network Systems Audit at a Safaricom. The two colleagues were also accused of wrongfully demanding 300 million Kenyan Shillings from the Telecommunications company. They denied the charges and were released on a bail of 1 million Kenyan Shillings cash…
Users of Telkom Kenya will now be able to enjoy free minutes for Telkom to Telkom calls, free data at night, and free WhatsApp, by signing up for the network’s new daily data offering. The bundles are packaged as Daily 500MB and Daily 2GB, both of which are available on the 4G network. The Daily 500MB bundle comes with 500MB data, as well as an extra 500MB for use between 12 am and 6 am. It also comes with 60 free minutes and 50MB of free WhatsApp all at only 49 Kenyan Shillings. The Daily 2GB plan, comes with 2GB…
The rollout of Kenya’s new generation currency will cost the Government approximately 15 billion Kenyan Shillings, in an exercise that is estimated to last three years. This is according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Patrick Njoroge. While appearing before National Assembly Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, the Governor, stated that the regulator would ensure a smooth transition within the stipulated deadlines. Mr. Patrick said “We do not hope to go beyond three years and plan to spend 15 billion Kenyan Shilling, every year the government incurs expenditure that entails mopping all old notes…
Bolt the transportation company formerly known as Taxify, has announced the launch of its newest service; ‘Bolt for Business’. The new offering, will allow companies to manage and also pay for all corporate trips from one central location. The newly appointed Country Manager for Bolt Kenya; Olaoluwa Akinussi, said: “A growing number of Bolt trips are taken for business purposes, whether it is commuting to work, rushing to client meetings or getting to the airport. Most companies still require invoices from their employees to be able to reimburse for the cost of the trip.” Mr. Olaoluwa added that “Through this,…
While the United States continues to lead the charge for the western powers to avoid Huawei due to fears over security, the Chinese tech giant has sought to further bolster its position in Africa, where it is already very well established. Just last week, the company signed an agreement to reinforce its cooperation with the African Union. Sub-Saharan Africa Specialist and Economist at French Financial Services firm; Coface, Ruben Nizaris, says the deal is “a way to show that Huawei is still present in Africa and that they want to remain a major player by positioning themselves in this very…
Just a week after the CEO of Uber; Dara Khosrowshahi hinted that Uber was experimenting with cross-promoting its food delivery service UberEats, in the company’s main ride-hailing Uber app, the company is currently rolling out a way for users to place Eats food delivery orders inside the main Uber app. This is according to TechCrunch. If for example, a user does not already have the standalone Uber Eats app, and lives in one of the hundreds of cities where Eats operates alongside ride-hailing sibling, the Eats logo will now show up in the top right corner of the main Uber…
According to Tech Trends KE, devices from Huawei, will no longer come with Facebook’s apps pre-installed. A recent report has also indicated that this might affect other Facebook social apps, including WhatsApp and Instagram. Huawei devices which already have Facebook apps installed, will continue to be supported and receive regular updates from Facebook. While this might not seem like a big problem for Huawei especially in its Asian market, the move further demonstrates the extreme ends that the US government can go to blacklist a company. Facebook has however only stopped pre-installation. All of its apps, will still be…
Telecommunications company; Telkom Kenya has announced the launch of free Wi-Fi hotspots at selected points in the Nairobi CBD. The project which is called ‘Link Kenya Project’, is by Telkom Kenya, in association with the Nairobi County Government and Meelin Media Limited. There are already three internet hotspots which have been identified within the central business district, at Aga Khan Walk, Memorial Park and Ambassador. Each of the hotspots has a double-sided 55-inch LCD screens that will run paid advertisements to support the initiative and also help with maintenance. Link Kenya Project’s goal, is to ensure that everyone has…
Betting company; Betin Kenya has filed a petition in Court challenging the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) demand of over 11 billion Kenyan Shillings in accumulated taxes. Betin Kenya in its petition, argues that the funds demanded by the Kenya Revenue Authority, will have a negative impact on their business and also result in huge losses as the company would be unable to conduct its basic operations including the payment of salaries, as well as payments to suppliers and other service providers. According to the Kenyan Wall Street, reports indicate that the Kenya Revenue Authority, has written notices to Safaricom and…
In a move seen by most as an effort to prevent anyone from abusing the withdrawal process of old 1,000 Kenyan Shilling notes from circulation, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has made it known that without a bank account, you will not be able to exchange more than 1 million Kenyan Shillings of old currency with the new notes. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has also directed commercial banks to first seek its approval before allowing such a transaction. Speaking on the regulations which will guide the process, the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, stated that…
Apple on Monday the 3rd of June 2019, announced the demise of its groundbreaking iTunes platform in favour of three more tailored apps, as it refines its offerings to be a stage for digital music, films, podcasts and more. These three standalone apps will run across the iPhone, iPad and Mac offerings and will allow users the ability to access and manage their media subscriptions and downloads separately on the desktop, as well as sync them across multiple Apple devices. The new Music app will give users access to their entire music library, including downloaded songs, songs that were purchased…
