The Nation Media Group’s SwahiliHub.com is a rare treat of local digital content in Kenya

Published on May 9, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Something is really wrong with the whole local content scene in Kenya even as everyone is scrambling to build the next African Instagram and iTunes, as well as a whole slew of different mobile and desktop innovations. You could say, quite honestly, that everyone is jumping on the local digital content bandwagon hoping to make that next big thing on the scale of Ushahidi and Safaricom’s M-Pesa. However, when it comes to the basics, I think that’s where everyone could possibly be missing the potentially really big opportunities.

One thing I like about the Nation Media Group (NMG) is that even as they struggle to succeed in a big way on the local digital content scene in East Africa, they just keep trying, again, and again, and again. I love their persistence. Its quite refreshing to say the least. On the other hand, even though I have “issues” with some of NMG’s digital content initiatives which I have written about here in the past, at least they are trying to fill the obvious and sometimes not so obvious opportunities in the East African marketplace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consider the Bantu language (and culture) of Kiswahili, or Swahili for short. It is predominantly spoken in East and Central Africa as well as in certain Indian Ocean Islands by probably close to 100 million people. In a good number of countries, Kiswahili is the first language for most people followed by English and/or French. Kiswahili is more than a language since its also a Culture that and a Peoples that live on the East African coast. You could say, in not so many words, that Kiswahili in all its myriad forms is actually a unique African Heritage. Personally, I grew up in Mombasa at the Kenya Coast where Kiswahili is the main language spoken and it is beautiful to listen to, as well as speak.

So, here is the thing, as everyone and every business is seeking local digital content mojo and millions in Kenya, its surprising how little content there is in Kiswahili. Yes, there is the rare web site or mobile app that has Kiswahili content but these are few and far in between. Which is why I love the brilliance of NMG’s SwahiliHub.com. They are tapping into an opportunity that could potentially position them as the clear media leader for local digital content in Kiswahili. The web site itself is not really a standalone initiative since it leverages on NMG’s existing online and offline content properties in East Africa such as Taifa Leo, Mwananchi, and QFM. In addition, by aggregating all these assets in one “portal” all you need to do is go to one destination for your multimedia and daily Kiswahili “news fix”.

SwahiliHub.com is indeed a rare and comprehensive treat of daily Kiswahili digital content. NMG is also clearly spending big bucks to get it to take off with big print ads in their newspapers as well as Google Ads already online promoting it online. Saying NMG intends to make SwahiliHub.com a success is an obvious point. I think they could actually succeed in a space that few have bothered to pursue in building local Kiswahili digital content properties thus far.

However, there are a few glaring problems in my view with SwahiliHub,com such as that the web site does NOT seem to be mobile web optimized (yet?). I am not sure why this is the case but it needs to be addressed since the majority of Internet users in the East African region go online via mobile, and entry-level mobile phones in this respect. In addition, the way that the site has QFM streaming immediately you open it is NOT cool as it assumes you want to hear it or even have the bandwidth to access it. Barring these two issues, its a good effort from NMG and I do expect SwahiliHub to do well going forward. Good effort NMG :)

Kenya Airways, Cellulant partner to launch ‘KQ Mobile’

Published on May 7, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Press Release

… new mobile phone-based customer service platform to ease ticketing and enhance services

Nairobi, May 7, 2012… Kenya Airways, in conjunction with local IT firm Cellulant, has launched a new mobile technology platform that will enable the airline’s customers to enjoy enhanced interactive services.

In a trendsetting move, Kenya Airways now becomes one of the first airlines in Africa to deliver a mobile phone-based solution as part of its customer service information enhancement programme.

Speaking when he confirmed the new development, Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni said that the information will be delivered on their customer’s mobile phones via multiple channel solutions.

The recently launched service dubbed ‘KQ Mobile’ can be accessed through the short code *737# and will allow the airline’s customers to conveniently access information on their flight status, timetable, cargo services, ticketing and query their Msafiri Miles status.

Powered by Cellulant, the new KQ Mobile platform can also be accessed while roaming across all 56 Kenya Airways destinations. The service comprises bulk SMS and USSD platforms.

Bulk SMS enables the sending of SMSs to the airline’s staff and customers through local and international mobile operator networks. USSD (which stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) platform enables a subscriber’s phone handset to perform certain business/information transactions by dialing a certain code.

“At Kenya Airways, our commitment to diversify customer service information delivery channels beyond the traditional platforms remains one of our key business priorities. Our partnership with Cellulant is expressly geared to explore new avenues to achieve this goal,” Naikuni said.

He added: “Our ultimate goal is to leverage the convenience element presented by a mobile phone to deliver a range of services and information to our customers, staff and stakeholders.”

With the activation of KQ Mobile, Kenya Airways is now well positioned to deliver customer information on a real-time basis, as well as tailor services to its customers.

According to Cellulant’s Chief Business Officer Paul Ndichu, the new partnership with KQ will afford the national carrier a range of interactive mobile based platforms to engage its passengers and customers among other stakeholders including staff.

“The goal of the partnership is to leverage the mobile phone to provide various information services to KQ customers, staff and other stakeholders in order to improve communication, enable itinerary and disruption management, payments and, importantly, to provide passengers the opportunity to customize their travel experience with ease,” Ndichu explained.

In Africa, Cellulant is one of the leading mobile technology firms in Africa, creating and delivering innovative solutions that connect millions of customers to diverse services on the mobile phone while enabling corporations better understand and serve their customers.

The company has pioneered mobile-centric innovations across multiple industry segments including banking, insurance, agriculture and utilities. In Nigeria, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, it has recently piloted an e-wallet to power distribution of fertilizer through the agricultural value chain.

Orange Kenya’s Holla Tariff for free daily calls, SMS & Internet goes permanent.

Published on April 25, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

press release

• Permanent tariff informed by Orange Mobile customer demand and uptake of the new offer
• 24 hour bundle includes unlimited free calls and SMSs within Orange network, 20 free off-net SMSes and free 10 MB data daily
• The Holla tariff includes free access to Facebook Zero

Nairobi, April 26, 2012… Integrated telecommunications service provider Orange has today announced that its bundled offer Holla is now a permanent tariff.

“Due to the positive response from Orange customers during the promotional period, we have decided to transform Holla into a permanent tariff,” said Telkom Kenya Chief Executive Mickael Ghossein.

Holla a 24-hour, daily bundled tariff targeting the youth is part of Telkom Kenya’s strategy to aggressively tap into this market segment.

Rechargeable via a daily KSh10 subscription, the bundled tariff will allow Orange pre-paid customers to enjoy round-the-clock, free on-net calls, free on-net SMSs, 20 free off-net SMSs and 10 free MB of mobile data daily. The Holla tariff will also allow for free and complete access to social networking site, Facebook.

To reward its loyal customers, Ghossein also announced that the company would enable all its active Orange mobile pre-paid customers to enjoy the benefits of Holla for free this Friday, April 27, 2012, through a free subscription for 24 hours.

“We are calling this the Open Orange Holla Day and encourage all our customers to enjoy the free subscription of 24 hours and share their feedback with us,” he said.

The Holla tariff is aligned to the Orange brand promise of launching innovative products and services that will enable Orange customers to experience the reliability and quality of the expanded Orange Mobile network.

The latest CCK quarterly sector statistics report for the October – December 2011 period, indicates that Orange Mobile subscribers increased by 35.46 % to 2,889,910 subscribers from 2,133,462 recorded during the same period in 2010. The company currently has 10.3% of the mobile market share in Kenya.

“Mobile telephony represents the larger platform through which people are accessing the internet and Orange is intent on making their usage as enriching and rewarding as possible,” said Ghossein.

Considering mobile (web) marketing in Kenya and/or Africa? 6 things you need to know.

Published on April 15, 2012 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

As mentioned in my latest post on this blog, mobile marketing in all its myriad forms will change marketing as a whole in Kenya and the rest of Africa in the coming years. The reason for this is simple – when mobile is used as as marketing media, it is one of the most cost-effective, ubiquitous, measurable, targeted and scalable medias in the world today and more so in countries like Kenya in Africa. The reach for mobile media in Africa is over 600 million mobile subscribers and Kenya has over 28 million mobile subscribers. However, how can one get started? What do you need to do and what are the pitfalls of mobile marketing. As mentioned in my latest blog post, mobile has “sub-channels” for marketing comprised of USSD, SMS, Mobile Web and IVR. For purposes of this post and what I know best, I would like to talk about 6 things you need to consider if you want to market via the Mobile Web in Kenya and/or the rest of Africa:

  • Mobile Web and/or Mobile Apps?: Of late, there has been much debate globally as to whether its more practical to build a mobile app or a mobile web site for marketing purposes. For all the hype that mobile apps get today, its easy to get caught up in the same and invest loads of cash building one for your business or brand. However, the reality is that the market in Africa for mobile apps is still very nascent and most mobile apps hardly get downloaded and used by the majority of mobile subscribers. On this basis, my recommendation would be to build a mobile web site or a campaign mobile landing page for your brand(s) or business that is optimized to be accessible on the majority of mobile devices used in Africa. From research, current, Nokia is still the dominant mobile device in Africa and as such would be common denominator when building a mobile web site. Smartphones and tablets are still only gaining traction in Africa and as such it would best to gradually target these devices over the next couple of years or so.
  • Performance or Branding Mobile Campaigns?: When running marketing campaigns on mobile web advertising platforms such as InMobi it is firstly important to determine if your marketing campaigns are focussed on performance or branding objectives. Perfromance campaigns are driven towards explicit outcomes based on metrics such as number of  customer acquired, app downloads, leads generated, etc. This means that every click is supposed to lead to a a specific and measurable outcome. At the same time, a branding campaign is driven around implicit campaign objectives such as building brand awareness or visibility to a broad audience. In both cases, its possible to optimize each campaign type based on whether its performance or branding driven.
  • Calls-To-Action Based On Campaign Objectives: In addition to determining what campaign objectives are based on branding or performance goals, each campaign is designed to go to a specific mobile web “destination” after the click on a text or banner ad. This is NOT always going to mobile web site but could also be any of the following:
    • Click to Call
    • Click to Social Media (Twitter Follow or Facebook Like, etc)
    • Click to SMS
    • Click to Map (Google Map Location).
    • Click to Download (Mobile Coupon, Mobile App, etc)
    • Click to Lead (usually to a Lead Generation Form)
    • Click to Video (YouTube for instance)
    • Click to Web (Mobile Web Site or Campaign Landing Page).
  • Digital Marketing Terminology: Mobile marketing uses lots of interesting terminology to describe different aspects. These terms are broadly used across all forms of digital marketing and are important to know as follows:
    • CPM – Cost Per Thousand refers to the cost for a thousand ad impressions served.
    • CPC – Cost Per Click refers to the cost of a click for the campaign.
    • CPA – Cost Per Acquisition refers to the number of customers who sign-up as a result of the campaign
    • CTR – Click Through Rate based on number of clicks achieved for the number total impressions of the ad that are seen by viewers.
    • CPL – Cost Per Lead for a campaign
    • PV – Page Views seen for a mobile web site in a campaign.
    • UV – Unique Visitors reached for a specific period in the campaign.
    • FR and NFR – Fill Rates and No Fill Rates for Ad Inventory on a mobile ad network which can determine bidding prices and reach.
    • FC – Frequency Capping refers to the limit set for a time period for a user to see an ad so manage campaign fatigue from viewers who see it.
    • CP – Campaign Pacing refers to how a campaign budget is spent usually with a daily limit to ensure an even spread for the campaign period.
  • Creatives for Text, Banner Ads and Rich Media: Mobile marketing creatives need to be developed to drive clicks that determine how well your campaign will perform. These include text ads, banner ads and rich media creatives. In my experience, rich media is the most complex to pull off since the resources required to execute it are significant and delivery can be limited as many mobile devices in Africa do not support it.  However, one can actually run a a full campaign using just text ads linked to a basic call to action like click to Facebook. Its that simple and does not have to be overly complicated.
  • Campaign Management and Monitoring: Mobile marketing campaigns need to be to managed and monitored so as to optimize results. This means everything from doing testing of different kinds of creatives for ads to achieve higher click though rates to changing calls to action depending on campaign objectives or even deciding to target specific models or makes of mobile devices (think all Nokia devices versus Android or Apple iOS devices). In addition, from a monitoring perspective, using Analytics to see how well a campaign is performing is also critical. Ultimately, through campaign management and monitoring one can really make their mobile marketing efforts significantly more successful.

Mobile as media – Why it will change everything about marketing in Kenya, and the rest of Africa.

Published on April 14, 2012 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Its been roughly 3 months since I joined InMobi as Sales Director for Africa. InMobi is the leading independent mobile ad network in the world with a reach of 0.5 billion users per month and close to 100 billion ad impressions via 12,000+ mobile web sites and mobile apps. I have to say that even though I have worked in Africa’s Internet services space for over fifteen years, the last 3 months have been HUGE in terms of learning a whole new sub-sector of digital marketing – that of mobile marketing.

In the broader context of what is happening in mobile marketing globally, Google just did its latest financial disclosures and their prediction is that they expect their mobile ads business to eventually outpace their desktop ads business at current growth rates. Its fairly obvious that the rapid uptake of of smartphones, tablets and advanced phones is leading to a whole new market for advertising services, especially via the mobile web and mobile apps. This trend is also being felt in Africa which is by far the fastest growing market for mobile in the world with currently 600+ million active mobile users – and its getting bigger everyday. In Kenya alone we have over 28 million mobile subscribers and over 7 million mobile internet users.

All of the above brings me to to the topic of this blog post. The reality is that with mobile becoming so widespread across Africa, why is advertising spend not following suit? True, traditional media channels DO have their place in a continent where the majority may still do not own mobile phones but clearly there is a need to address the mobile marketing opportunity in a far more aggressive manner. Whilst Internet adoption is also still growing in Africa and the majority of mobile users are not online, the reality is that in most African markets the mobile is often the first and only Internet capable device that users have access to. However, the mobile device is an entry point to other mobile marketing sub-channels as well. To elaborate further, the following are the 4 mobile sub-channels that one can use to market via mobile in Kenya:

  • USSD is the menu-based service that many of us are familiar with when using mobile banking or services like mobile money in Kenya. A brand or company could effectively create a mobile USSD site which could be used as a way of interacting with customers and prospects. This has NOT yet really taken off in Kenya or Africa at large but is increasingly being used in markets such as South Africa. The key thing to note is that most phones CAN use USSD even if they do not have access to mobile Internet. In addition, one can embed marketing messages as “sponsors” of USSD channels for banks, mobile networks and other service providers as a way of them subsidizing the costs of running them.
  • SMS is a service that pretty much ALL mobile subscribers in Africa use for communication. SMS is inexpensive, ubiquitous, and ALL mobile devices can use it. However, from a marketing perspective, SMS has caught lots of flak in recent years for being used to send unsolicited marketing messages, also known as SPAM. However, SMS marketing to customer databases is one of the most effective ways for running promotions and reaches a large audience at minimum cost with high response rates. SMS can also be combined with other mobile sub-channels such as the mobile web and mobile apps to send messages with embedded hyperlinks that can be used to drive interaction and engagement.
  • IVR is hardly used these days as a mobile marketing sub-channel but is highly effective especially for users who may prefer to navigate marketing messages via voice instead of text or graphically driven messages. As a marketing channel, IVR still has its place in the mobile marketing mix, so to speak. IVR is still used largely by the mobile networks but brands could certainly take advantage of the same so as to maximize reach.
  • The Mobile Web which refers to mobile marketing via mobile web sites and mobile apps is probably the fastest growing of the mobile sub-channels for marketing in Africa. However, its still early days and the mobile web requires users to be online to see advertising messages and it is growing in tandem with the rapid adoption of the mobile Internet in Africa. One of the major caveats of running mobile marketing campaigns is ensuring that a mobile web compatible web site or landing page is developed prior. This is key since the campaign performance will be largely determined by the same.

In keeping with the above mobile marketing sub-channels, recent research from InMobi shows that mobile as a media has actually overtaken most traditional medias in terms of consumption in Kenya. This suggests that marketers need to start using mobile as a key media so as to leverage cost-effective marketing reach and targeting at scale on a Pan-African basis. More details on the Kenya research can be downloaded here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decoding Cellulant’s Ken Njoroge.

Published on April 14, 2012 in Uncategorized. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Cellulant's CEO Ken Njoroge at the Lagos Marina in March 2012

Ken Njoroge is an ambitious man. When Ken tells you that he intends (not wants, intends) to grow Cellulant into a company that has 100 million customers in Africa paying them US$ 1.00 per month by 2015 you don’t get the impression he is kidding – you know he means it. If you do the math, that would mean Ken wants to grow Cellulant into a company that makes over US$ 1 Billion in revenue per year in just 3 years time. Farfetched? Not in a world where Africa is the fastest growing market for mobile subscriptions and a whole range of related services including mobile money.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Cellulant, this is a company that has been around for just over a decade and has won numerous accolades in that time. Cellulant is a mobile value-added services (VAS) company focussing on mobile content and mobile financial services that started in Kenya and has quickly grown its presence to encompass a good number of countries throughout the African continent. The funny thing though is that Cellulant has managed to more or less remain “below the radar” as they tend to work in the “back-end” of the large companies who use their mobile services such as Kenya Airways, Kenya Commercial Bank Group, Barclays Bank Africa, Standard Chartered Bank and many many others. They are not what would call a consumer facing business (although this is changing) but tend to power consumer services for these business behemoths in Africa.

I was in Lagos (Nigeria) last month and as it happened Ken and I were on the same flight from Nairobi. We agreed to meet and have a long overdue coffee as well as do some shopping at one of the new(er) malls popping up all over Lagos. By the way, if you are a business in Africa and want to be BIG, you have to be in Nigeria as soon as possible since their economy is growing like a weed and is expected to eclipse that of South Africa (currently the largest in Africa) in just a few years time. When you realize that Nigeria is a market of over 150 million people, the numbers do add up and clearly everyone is setting up shop there. Ken was in Nigeria to have a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture where Cellulant had been engaged to develop and deploy an innovative and multimillion dollar mobile service to distribute funds for fertilizer subsidies to farmers. Its a massive project that shows just how far Cellulant has come to-date.

I have known Ken since 1999 when he was one of the co-founders of web services company 3mice. I joined 3mice in 2000 and worked with Ken for around 2 years before opting to start Dotsavvy. However, I will never forget my first day at work at 3mice. I basically traveled from Mombasa the day before and reported to work the next day. On my first day at work, Ken asked me to help him work on a large pitch for a financial services prospect. I left the office with him the next day at around 2.00 am. Yes, that was day one working with Ken at 3mice. Ken is a focused guy and is not given to trivial pursuits to the point that he has been known to grate people by his work ethic and sheer drive. Frankly, I think its the reason why Cellulant has come so far. Its this very unrelenting determination that makes Cellulant tick, and tock.

Although Cellulant has been a large success and recently received substantial equity funding, who is Ken Njoroge? For many out there, Ken has been something of an enigma as he is deliberately a private man. He is happily married with 3 children. He opts to stay out of the public eye and focus on running and expanding Cellulant across Africa. He has managed to hire a crack team and is gradually giving up some of the many functions he has run as CEO to-date at Cellulant to new hires coming from some of the world’s leading businesses in Africa and beyond. Cellulant was started with a little more than an idea of what you would call today an infographic showing a mobile ecosystem where a myriad of businesses and service providers would be able to connect to consumers and Cellulant as the glue that would bind them all, and take transaction commissions for facilitating services in the process. It was this “infographic”, a laptop and a table that he used to get started, with lots hard work and some help along the way.

Today, Cellulant is estimated to be worth over US$ 30 Million. One thing Ken points out about this valuation is that its inherently “locked” in the business and cannot be extracted until such time the shareholders consider shedding large portions of their equity. Ken also suggests that he has been “lucky” with Cellulant since the last 10 years have been like many leaps of faith with things coming together, “at just the right time”. Having been an entrepreneur myself like Ken, I can totally relate about the times when everything just goes right that it seems as if the Hand of God was in the mix. True story! An interesting observation I picked from Ken is that he thinks unless a business is growing by at least 40% per year, its in trouble! Serious trouble. He has this opinion based on prior experience.

Ken laments at the fact that when he started Cellulant there was no kind of real venture funding in Kenya or the African Continent. It was really friends and family who helped give their business a starting chance. Ken hints that he is considering starting an Angel fund for start-ups in Africa so as to give them the “kick-off” that he never had to ease the passage to viability as businesses. However, Ken also notes that the failure rate for most start-ups is stupendous and as such mentorship of these start-ups would also be a key aspect behind such a fund, should it happen. One thing Ken pointed out during our chat is that Cellulant needed to “pivot” its business model at an early stage to remain viable. This was the point when they moved from focussing just on mobile content and bulk SMS services to handling mobile services for financial services providers. This move is more or less the main reason they are still in business and have expanded exponentially across Africa.

Further down the road, Ken thinks that he may be interested in trying his hand at politics in Kenya should such an opportunity present itself. I am not sure if he is serious when he makes this point in our chat but Kenya could use some new and radically different blood on the political scene from proven captains of industry such as Ken. Who knows how this may go if it actually happens. However, probably the most compelling aspect of our discussion is when Ken expounds on his vision for Cellulant creating a mobile services ecosystem that connects, in his words, “everyone and everything”. This process has actually begun and its only a matter of time before it becomes an Africa-wide mobile ecosystem that could rival mobile networks themselves. Indeed, it was back in 2001 when Ken first shared with me his “vision” for a mobile services business. At the time, I was quite transfixed on “desktop” Internet services and could not “get it”. 10 years later, clearly, its apparent that mobile is indeed the future of technology and business in Africa and beyond. I have only begun to “decode” Ken Njoroge in this respect and everyday I can’t help but wonder just how far he and Cellulant could go.

 

 

LION2 high speed undersea cable goes live in Kenya.

Published on April 13, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Press Release

The Lower Indian Ocean Network submarine cable (LION2) operated by Telkom Kenya, a subsidiary of the France Telecom Group, has gone live. Telkom Kenya Chief Executive Mr. Mickhael Ghossein said LION2, whose laying cost over Ksh 5.7 billion (57 million Euros), is now operational and will significantly boost Kenya’s bandwidth capacity.

The submarine cable, which is the fourth to land in Mombasa after EASSy, TEAMS and SEACOM, is a 2,700 km long extension of the initial Lower Indian Ocean Network that connects Madagascar to the rest of the world, providing alternate onward connectivity from Kenya to Asia and Europe.

“It will guarantee our customers of a robust platform to enjoy our services and products across the region. Besides improving our services, LION 2 will also play a great role in addressing redundancy, especially during outages like the ones experienced in March that impacted both TEAMs and EaSSy,” said Mr. Ghossein, adding that this would in turn reassure the firm’s customers of business continuity, network stability and reliability.

LION2 extends from Mayotte, an island off the Indian Ocean Coast to Nyali in Mombasa. It links East Africa to Madagascar, Mayotte and the Reunion Island, providing an opportunity for increased international traffic through Kenya which further strengthens the country’s positioning as a regional communication hub. Lion 2 uses the most advanced technology for submarine cables – wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and as it will currently offer a maximum capacity of I.28 tbps, in future, this capacity can be increased without additional submarine work.

The construction of the Lion2 cable represents a total investment of around 57 million Euros of which 38 million Euros comes from France Telecom and its subsidiaries. The laying of LION2 cable began in the fourth quarter of 2010, with key shareholders being France Telecom-Orange, Telkom Kenya, Mauritius Telecom and Orange Madagascar as well as carrier companies Emtel Ltd. and Société Réunionnaise du Radiotéléphone.

Apart from LION2, Telkom Kenya has also invested heavily in other joint broadband infrastructure projects including TEAMS and EASSy submarine cables and terrestrial backbone and is currently expanding its high quality wireless network for both GSM and CDMA across the country.

Due to these infrastructure investments, Telkom Kenya is presently a one-stop shop and a world-class integrated solutions provider in the region with the most innovative and cutting-edge technologies that ensure business efficiency and effectiveness.

Safaricom to launch 42 Mbps mobile Internet in Nairobi next week.

Published on April 3, 2012 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments

Press Release

subscribers in sections of Nairobi will from next week access the Internet at much faster speeds of 42 Mbps after a system upgrade. Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said initial roll-out will involve subscribers in the firm’s Data Belt within the Central Business District (CBD), Kileleshwa, Kilimani and Westlands. The Data Belt forms an area which has high Internet usage. The 42 Mbps trials started after the launch of 21 Mbps last year.

Mr. Collymore was speaking on the sidelines of a three days Connected Kenya Summit being held at the Leisure Lodge. The conference, with the theme “Knowledge and Beyond” was opened by Assistant Minister for Information and Technology Mr. Simon Ogari. “At Safaricom, our aim is to ‘democratize’ the internet and bring it to as many Kenyans as possible. With the launch of this upgrade that allows for faster speeds, we are demonstrating true leadership in this quest,” said Mr. Collymore.

He said the move was a direct response to consumer concerns and promised that the firm would continue listening and acting upon user feedback. Mr. Collymore said modems to support the speeds will be available soon after making the official announcement later. When Safaricom last upgraded its speeds from 7.2 Mbps to 21 Mbps, the consumer data offering also included a Huawei E1820 modem to support the speeds.

Safaricom was the first Kenyan operator to commercially launch a 3G network in October 2007, ensuring that its subscribers accessed high speed mobile data. The technology was initially available in and around Nairobi but was later rolled throughout the country within a year. Mr. Collymore said the country needed to tap into the huge youthful population – one of Kenya’s richest resources – providing them with information. Kenya’s youth unemployment rate is estimated at more than 60 per cent. Although 14 million out of a population of 40 million Kenyans have Internet access, this figure represented only 34 per cent of the population. “It is critical that this number increases,” said Mr. Collymore.

Although it has barely been scratched, the mobile internet market is becoming important for the mobile telephony firms said Mr. Collymore. Subscribers accessing internet through the mobile phones stood at 5.3 million during the period under review, out of which Safaricom controlled 4.3 million users or 88 per cent of the market share. Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) data shows that 14.3 million Kenyans had internet access in the period to September, up from 8.6 million in September 2010 pushing internet penetration to 36.3 per cent from 22.1 per cent. “14 million of the 40 million Kenyans having Internet access is indeed testament to the fact that we are embracing the information age. Yet this is only 34 per cent of the population. It is critical that this number increases,” said Mr. Collymore.

Kenyan App Developer awarded prize by InMobi to further education

Published on March 28, 2012 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments

Press Release

There have been many predictions made by journalists, analysts and research houses that the “App” will eventually replace the current Internet, as we know it today. Having said that the App Developer community on the African continent is still very much in its infancy when compared to many other parts of the World.

There are many initiatives currently underway on the continent that are driving growth in this market though, for example some of the work being done by iHub in Nairobi, and that of Silicon Cape in Cape Town. Many technology-based conferences are also adding App developer contests to their agenda’s, such as the recent Mobile Web East Africa conference that took place in Nairobi towards the end of February 2012.

The App Developer contest held by Mobile Web East Africa, and sponsored by InMobi and Blackberry saw five developers pitch their Apps to a judging panel, who had the very difficult task of picking a winner.

A brief overview of the five applications:

1.    Verified 100%: an app that allows users to verify education certificates and title deeds to ensure authenticity.
2.    Hewa: an online mobile music marketing and distribution platform for Kenyan local artists and record labels.
3.    Eat Out Kenya: a contemporary restaurant guide focused on Kenya.
4.    mPayer: a cash and mobile money payment management app
5.    eLimu: an interactive, engaging and fun app for children in the Kenyan Primary School eduction system to learn and revise for exams.

Moses Kemibaro (Left) and Jisas Lemasagarai (Right) of InMobi award Nivi Mukherjee of eLimu (Centre) with her prize for winning Best App at the Mobile Web East Africa App Developer contest

The winning app was eLimu, the founder Nivi Mukherjee says “eLimu hopes to make a significant and positive long term impact on the Kenyan youth by improving their: test scores, cognitive thinking skills, social/environmental consciousness and IT literacy.”

App development offers a huge opportunity for the African continent, providing a new platform for entrepreneurs to grow, and in turn providing employment prospects. Isis Nyong’o, VP and MD of Africa for InMobi says “The success of apps is linked directly to discoverability, utility and cost. One key challenge for developers is how to effectively distribute their app to the right target market. InMobi acknowledges this and  enables  developers to reach their target market  in a cost-effective manner through our mobile advertising network.”

Part of the prize that eLimu was awarded is $1500 worth of advertising on the InMobi network, the largest independent network mobile advertising network. Moses Kemibaro, Africa Sales Director for InMobi says “we hope this prize will assist in growing the eLimu app, and as a result furthering education in Kenya”.

Orange to Offer Visa Mobile Prepaid Accounts to Orange Money Customers in Africa and the Middle East

Published on February 29, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

 Orange Money customers will have access to a Visa prepaid account
 The service enables Orange, in partnership with financial institutions, to offer Visa prepaid account services on mobile phones to unbanked and under-banked consumers

France Telecom-Orange (NYSE:FTE) and Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) today announced that Orange Money customers will soon have access to Visa prepaid account features inside their Orange Money accounts – a significant step in bringing Visa-quality payments to consumers in developing markets.

Orange Money is the mobile phone-based payment service designed by Orange to meet the needs of customers in Africa and the Middle East. It offers Orange subscribers applications such as person to person transfers, bill payments, and agent-based cash-in and cash-out services for loading or withdrawing funds. Launched in cooperation with local bank partners, the service was first introduced in 2008 and is presently available in eight countries across Africa and the Middle East. Orange plans to introduce Visa payment capability to Orange Money subscribers in select markets by the end of 2012.

“We already provide secure and convenient payment capability to 3.5 million unbanked or financially under- served African citizens” said Jean – Paul Cottet, Orange’s Executive Director for Marketing and Innovation.

“By combining the convenience of Orange Money with the reach of Visa’s global payment network, we can offer new payment capability to Orange Money customers in their home country and abroad”.

Visa Mobile Prepaid, a new Visa product introduced in October 2011, enhances the security, scale and interoperability of mobile money programs, such as Orange Money, by enabling account holders to make person-to-person payments, retail and e-commerce purchases at merchants where Visa is accepted, or withdraw funds at Visa ATMs.

“Mobile technology has become one of the most important enablers of financial inclusion and its ubiquity is allowing mobile network operators, financial institutions, and Visa to connect financially under-served consumers to each other and the global economy” said John Partridge, President, Visa Inc.

The convergence of mobile and financial services networks helps to remove service barriers, accelerates the pace of change and is transforming the lives of consumers in developing countries.