Global payments and technology company announces official presence across the region

MasterCard Worldwide, a global payments and technology company, today launched its official East African regional headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. This development brings the number of MasterCard offices across the African continent to five, with other offices operational in Cairo, Casablanca, Lagos, Johannesburg and now Nairobi.

The Right Honorable Raila Odinga, Prime Minister, Republic of Kenya welcomed MasterCard’s announcement. “We are pleased to welcome MasterCard to East Africa and in particular to Kenya, as we see the region’s growth path continue. MasterCard’s products will see the benefits of inclusion into the financial system extend to many more East Africans, giving them the opportunity to transact electronically with people and companies and so keep their precious money safe and secure, helping to build prosperity for their future.”

“Nairobi’s reputation as an African commerce, trade and development hub made it a strategically sound location for MasterCard to establish its regional headquarters. We believe it is a natural recognition of Kenya’s role as the financial heart of the East Africa region,” says Daniel Monehin, Area Head, East & West Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, MasterCard Worldwide.

The Nairobi office will act as MasterCard’s liaison office for customer banks, business associates and consumers in its main markets of Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Ethiopia and Uganda, as well as across the rest of the East African region, bringing the organisation’s knowledge of electronic payments best practice to these markets.

This will include a significant emphasis in the areas of card knowledge and skills development, advising on development of card acceptance infrastructure, new products, and developing partnerships with ‘technology
enablers,’ as well as retailer education and best acceptance practice.

“We are establishing the new Nairobi office as a gateway through which MasterCard will liaise with its existing customers across the East African region. It will also be a launch pad for further expansion across the region, by providing advice to support MasterCard’s ongoing quest to shift consumers from traditional cash payments to non-cash payment systems, so that they can avoid the costs, risks and inefficiencies associated with cash,” comments Monehin.

Bringing the benefits of electronic payments to people across the African continent is a primary focus for MasterCard. “East Africa, and indeed Africa as a whole, has always been heavily reliant on cash – both in the
consumer and corporate sectors,” says Charlton Goredema, Vice President and Market Manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands for MasterCard Worldwide. “This dependence is costly – the costs of printing notes and keeping them secure are significant – and cash payments restrict an individual or company’s economic activity to their immediate geographic area.”

MasterCard has already been active in the Kenyan market working with banks and other business organisations to advise on developing payment solutions that are best suited for Kenyans. Most recently, in collaboration with Airtel & Standard Chartered Bank, the world’s first virtual card that operates off a mobile wallet was launched in Kenya.

“PayOnline is a unique virtual card payment solution, developed specifically to address the needs of consumers in Kenya. At the Mobile World Congress 2011 this product was awarded top honours as the Best Mobile Money Product or Solution. PayOnline makes it possible for Kenyan Airtel clients to shop online, even if they do not have a bank account,” says Goredema. “This is just one way that MasterCard products are working to extend financial inclusion to all through the development of solutions that take into account the unique attributes of each local market.”

“MasterCard products make it simple and safe to process electronic payments anywhere in the world,” Goredema points out. “Consumers using electronic payment systems don’t have to worry whether the cash they are carrying is sufficient for their intended purchase, and they do not have to fear for their security, as is common when carrying a large amount of cash on their person.”

In addition, the electronic payments solutions brought to market by MasterCard facilitate transparency in banking, through innovation and security that provide clear transaction records at every step, allowing
protection from fraudulent activities. Goredema believes that these solutions are key to the continued success of East Africa’s rapid economic growth.

“MasterCard’s products include debit, prepaid, mobile and credit card payment solutions, which can be used to avoid the pitfalls of cash,” says Goredema. “We have already used these products in a variety of revolutionary applications on the African continent, including prepaid solutions for transport, and the secure disbursement of citizens’ social security payments.”

MasterCard’s global payments expertise will be very relevant across East Africa and particularly in Kenya, as the country evolves to implement the National Payments Systems Bill, passed by the country’s government during 2011.

“We believe that the Bill is a recognition that efficient payment mechanisms are essential to the development of the Kenyan economy, and we look forward to working with policymakers to bring electronic payment solutions to this market,” says Goredema. “We have worked on similar projects across the globe, where we have responded to local needs with products that offer the best of MasterCard’s global experience.”

MasterCard will also be offering the services of MasterCard Advisors into the East African region, helping to ensure that best-practice principles are implemented across the payments network. MasterCard Advisors is the professional services arm of MasterCard that provides payments consulting, information, analytics, and customised services to financial institutions, governments and retailers worldwide.

Charlton Goredema, Vice President and Market Manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands for MasterCard Worldwide

“We have invested significant resources into understanding East Africa, its business dynamics, how its consumers operate and the unique conditions that make this region one of the most exciting places to do business,” says Goredema. “We realise that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy and each market has its own unique challenges, opportunities and needs. MasterCard has invested extensively in research both on the African continent, and globally, and we are equipped to offer advice on payment industry best practice at every level.

“For MasterCard, the opportunities Africa brings forth will push the payments frontier faster and further than ever before and we continue our vision to realise a world beyond cash, bringing greater efficiencies to the payments system,” concludes Goredema. “We look forward to now working even more closely with our customer financial institutions, businesses and consumers across East Africa to leverage new technologies and innovative payment methods to enable safe, simple and convenient ways for consumers to
pay.”

Apple’s iPhone 4S only just launched in markets like China so its safe to say that Kenya got it pretty early on this basis. Personally, I use an iPhone 4 and I love it! It’s quite simply one of the best smartphones out there – even with the arrival of the iPhone 4S. However, like all Apple fanboys I am now drooling at the prospect of upgrading to an iPhone 4S! Some of the reasons why the iPhone 4S is step up from the iPhone 4 and older iPhone variants are as follows:

• Siri – the biggest deal about the iPhone 4S is that it comes with Siri. Siri is a voice activated personal assistant that runs natively on the iPhone 4S. It’s probably the feature that Apple has really oversold about the iPhone 4S. The reality is that its more of a gimmick than anything else but it does represent possibly the next evolutionary jump in smartphones and Internet search. A few of my friends who have the iPhone 4S say Siri is really buggy and does not work “as advertised”. Whatever the case, Siri is pretty nifty and will get better with time like all cutting edge things from Apple.
• The A5 dual-core processor – the iPhone 4S comes with the dual-core A5 processor which was first seen in the iPad2. What this means is that its twice as fast as the A4 processor in the iPhone 4 and can run graphics as fast as 7 times faster. What does this mean for you if you buy the iPhone 4S? Everything just happens a lot faster when using the iPhone 4S compared to all older iPhone models. Especially when you upgrade to the latest IOS5, the extra processor speed is really handy!
• Camera – the iPhone 4 already has an amazing 5 megapixel camera and its takes fantastic photos! You do NOT need another digital camera with the iPhone 4. However, the iPhone 4S comes with an 8 megapixel camera and new optics compared to the iPhone 4. What does this mean for you? Even better pictures than you could expect from a typically good phone camera. At the same time, the iPhone 4S takes 1080p HD video which means your videos from the iPhone 4S are really vivid and sharp.
• iCloud – iCloud is actually available on iOS5 which can run on all iPhone models from the 3GS to the iPhone 4S. I have been on iOS5 for the better part of two months and it works really well. The main thing is that you are able to back-up all sorts of personal iPhone data onto iCloud and synchronize it as well on a regular basis. The cool thing is that moving your data from say your iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4 is really easy with iCloud and also keeps your data secure.
• iOS5 – iOS5 has been around for the last few months since the iPhone 4S was launched. It has over 200 new improvements on iOS4 and actually seems to run quicker, even on an older iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 4s was designed to run iOS5 in an optimal manner meaning they just work better together! It helps that the A5 processor can crunch data much quicker though.

Orange is offering the iPhone 4S in Kenya on 12 month post-paid contracts with immediate effect. For the longest time, one of the caveats of buying an iPhone in Kenya on Orange was that they did not have 3G but this is no longer the case  – you can get speeds of up to 21 mbps on their network which is really great for the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S will be available in both black and white and below is the pricing information I received from Orange:

• iPhone 4S 16GB: Kes. 74,899.00
• iPhone 4S 32GB: Kes. 87,999.00
• iPhone 4S 64GB: Kes. 101,499.00

Nairobi Wednesday January 18, 2012 – Leading integrated communication solutions provider AccessKenya Group has announced completion of compounded system upgrades of the data centre that have been underway since late 2009. The upgrades, which cost over Sh30 Million, have seen the installation of an advanced under-floor cooling system aimed at enhancing temperature control in within the data centre.

Announcing the completion, AccessKenya Group CEO Mr. Jonathan Somen said the upgrade is part of a progressive plan to optimize functions and expand capacity of the data centre even as the company continues to develop innovative IT services and unified communication solutions for its clientele.

‘We have invested heavily in building the right infrastructure so that we can incessantly support the critical services on our network and give our customers a better experience,” said Mr. Somen.

AccessKenya has in the recent years expanded its product portfolio to include a wide range of IT services including data backup, disaster recovery, remote assistance and inter-branch connectivity (commonly referred to as MPLS). The company is also offering video conferencing and telepresence solutions among a growing list of other value added services.

Mr. Somen said: “our corporate clients  are now able to benefit from conveniently packaged  and world class IT services alongside our internet solutions which are designed to  enable them achieve their desired results without undue hassle.”

Part of the upgrade was also the installation of a more structured cabling system for better management and increased capacity. This, according to AccessKenya Systems Engineer Mr. Samson Oduor, will ensure that centre has expanded capacity in anticipation of growth on the group’s systems.

Mr. Oduor noted that the project has been successfully completed without any interruptions on client services further attributing the seamless upgrade to the network’s integration capabilities.

“With these upgrades, we are at par with Tier 1 Service Providers around the world and this gives our clients confidence that their data is safe with us,” said Mr. Oduor.

AccessKenya Group MD Mr. Jonathan Somen (Left) explains the features of a Private Branch Exchange unit (PBX) to the Company's Finance Director Mr. Peter Ndirangu in the company's data centre.

Meanwhile, the company also announced the adoption of a new data authentication system to protect internet users on its network from imminent cyber threats that have become rampant in the recent years.

The system, which is a set of extensions to the Domain Name System (DNS), is dubbed Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC) and will protect the AccessKenya DNS infrastructure against cache poisoning, spoofed updates, corrupt data and what is commonly referred to as “man-in-the-middle attack”.

DNS is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates assorted information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities. Mr. Oduor indicated that the system will improve the security of the network while at the same time protecting AccessKenya clients against forged data while accessing the internet.

“This technology allows for digitally signed answers. This means that a client will be able to discern the authenticity of information received and the information on the authoritative DNS server,” he explained.

Similarly, the company has also upgraded the antivirus and anti-spam systems with the view of managing email spam. The upgrade is set to streamline client outbound emails and prevent “false positives.” This, according to the AccessKenya technical team, will enhance data loss prevention and “empower clients to keep all their data that has been previously lost as SPAM”.

“The email filtering solution will help us transition from the internet protocol Version 4 (Ipv4) address space which is getting depleted to the new protocol dubbed Ipv6,” added Mr. Oduor.

• Targets prepaid Mobile and Internet Everywhere 3G modem users
• Access to unlimited daily, weekly and monthly bundles
• The offer is the most affordable proposition in the data market

Nairobi, January 18, 2011: Integrated telecommunications services provider Orange has launched unlimited internet bundles for its mobile and 3G broadband customers.

The newly launched bundles will see Orange mobile customers enjoy unlimited internet for as low as Ksh 39 daily, Ksh 249 weekly and KSh 990 monthly while the Orange Internet Everywhere 3G modem customers will access unlimited internet for Ksh 990 and Ksh 2990 on a weekly and monthly basis respectively.

The new mobile unlimited internet bundles can be purchased by dialing #123# while the broadband bundles can be purchased from the Orange portal and are subject to a fair user policy.

The launch comes in the wake of Orange’s intent to increase its customer acquisition and retention by offering relevant and cost effective data services in a bid to further strengthen its position as the leading provider of data services in the country.

In a press statement issued from their offices, Telkom Kenya Chief Corporate Communication Officer Angela Nganga-Mumo said,” We are confident that with our reliable internet connectivity and now affordable bundles, we will have greatly improved the value proposition to our customers. Moreover, this fast and convenient access of data comes at a time when Kenyans are appreciating the use of ICT in the transaction of business, rather than just for social communication.”

According to the latest CCK report, the data market recorded a 14 % increase in the number of internet users to 14.3 million. This growth was accelerated by increased mobile subscriptions and the ease of accessing the service based on customer requirement and usage.

Orange Internet Everywhere 3G modems are available at all Orange shops and partner outlets countrywide and currently retail at Kshs 1790/-

Ankit was largely responsible for getting InMobi into Africa albeit remotely from India and has key insights on what makes mobile marketing tick here. In addition, as one of the first team members at InMobi, he has seen what was a small bootstrapped start-up grow into the world’s second largest mobile ad network with over 500 employees globally which secured US$ 200 Million funding from SoftBank late last year.  Enjoy the chat below where we talked Mobile Marketing In Africa, Bangalore as India’s technology hub and the rise of Inmobi.

In analyzing this whole Google and Mocality fiasco, it occurred to me that there are several business lessons that one could learn from the same. This applies to both sides of the matter meaning you could benefit from some of the insights that came out of this incident. So, here we go, 4 business lessons from Google’s snafu with Mocality in Kenya from this past week.

Your friend is your enemy, and your enemy is your friend.

Google is one of the world’s largest and most profitable businesses. Google makes its money largely from running the world’s best and most successful search engine and then monetizes that traffic through advertising. However, Google’s business is more complex than this simple description as their offerings now span the gamut of possible digital services and platforms – be it their Google Apps, Android, etc. In a nutshell, Google is BIG in every sense of the word. It is for this very reason that on one hand, Mocality got given the wrong end of the stick by Google where their KBO initiative is concerned. However, on the other hand, Mocality is and will continue to be a major user of Google’s online advertising services. It’s as simple as that when all is said and done. Mocality will continue to cooperate with Google as an advertiser but will also compete with them as well. This sort of conflict of interest scenario is often referred to as “coopetition”. More and more these days, coopetition is a fact of life in business and there are numerous scenarios where it happens. Mocality and Google is no exception. Buckle up folks, this is the real world.

Do your homework first.

What Mocality did before they came out with their detailed blog post on what Google had done to them was do their homework, thoroughly. They pulled off a sting operation in a detailed and comprehensive manner. Nothing was left to chance. By the time they had irrefutable evidence of what Google had done, they then went after Google in a transparent and factual manner. They did not simply hurl unfounded accusations at their tormentor – they made sure they had all the dirt on them first. To me, this was an act of brilliance, of sheer genius. In the digital realm, it is now more possible than ever to get down to all the granular detail of evidence before going for the jugular. The forensic manner in which Mocality made their case gave them potent ammunition that probably has Google wondering how this could have happened to them. Could it be that Google was arrogant and made many assumptions that their actions or those of contracted third-parties would go unnoticed and unpunished? It would indeed seem so. Whatever the case, doing your homework is always a good idea and this would apply to both Google and Mocality in this case.

Bad news can actually be good news too for the small(er) guy.

Mocality has had a good run in Kenya for the past few years. They have worked tirelessly to create the largest and most up to date business directory in Kenya. They have spent good amounts of money to make it all work whilst not earning much yet. All things considered, they are successful and are set to really take off in the coming years. However, Mocality has been a business that is largely unknown beyond Kenya and Africa. In the context of what Google did to them, you could say that Mocality is ultimately the small(er) guy in this whole matter. I emphasize small(er) instead of small since Mocality is owned by MIH which is one of the largest holding groups in the world when it comes to e-commerce businesses and hence they are not small but a small(er) giant compared to Google. The cool thing in all of this happening is that suddenly the whole world knows about Mocality since the story broke out of the African Blogosphere and grew into a global mainstream news story. I cannot possibly calculate what this kind of visibility is worth but I would say a good amount of money, more or less for free. Suddenly, Mocality has global fame from this snafu. Bad news can actually be good news too!

In a digitally connected world, local is really global.

One of the things that has surprised me the most about the whole Google and Mocality fiasco in Kenya is how big the story became in a couple of days. I was one of the first (local) bloggers who was tipped off about what had happened which prompted me to do a blog post here and then link to the bigger story on the Mocality blog post. I had assumed at most that this would be a Kenyan story, especially on social media like Twitter and Facebook. I was wrong. Within hours, all the major tech blogs in Africa had picked it up. Within a day, the major global tech blogs like TechCrunch had picked it too. In no time, it went to credible mainstream online publications like the Financial Times. In a nutshell, this story exploded and went truly global. It goes without saying that Google being the protagonist in this drama was the secret sauce that made it so interesting to all the bloggers and media companies that covered it. Google was beating on the small(er) guy and everyone jumps at such a one-sided story. Clearly, the consequences of what has happened will become a case study of what NOT to do when the whole world has an interest in your global brand. Local is really global.

Therefore, through this blog post written by Stefan Magdalinski of MIH Internet who happen to own Mocality, I am really shocked as to what seems to be brazenly underhanded moves by Google that are undermining Mocality’s business. Basically, to sum it up, since Google launched their Kenya Business Online (KBO) initiative a few months ago in Kenya, it seems they have approached possibly as many as 30% of Mocality’s listed businesses seeking to have them set-up KBO business pages. In addition, in all of these instances, Google has been misleading businesses by stating that they are infact working in partnership with Mocality, which is not true.

It seems Google is demonstrating what seems to be unsavory business practices not just in Kenya, but even in North America where they are using their leverage as the world’s leading search engine to give themselves unfair competitive advantage in the marketplace. These practices will indeed lead to a major backlash for Google should they continue playing dirty. Frankly, I am really surprised since Google has always seemed to play fair as far as I know.

Thursday, January 5, 2012…The East African Marine System (TEAMS) is scheduled for maintenance service starting tomorrow (Friday January 6, 2012) night, in an operation that could temporarily affect services provided by its shareholders.

The service is planned to run from 10 pm on Friday January 6, 2012 to 10 am on Saturday. The TEAMS submarine cable will not be available during that time.

“We wish to notify all our shareholders of the planned works and apologize unreservedly for any inconvenience this may cause. The cable should be fully operational after the scheduled 12 hours of maintenance service,” said TEAMS General Manager Joel Tanui

In the latest research on mobile phone usage globally carried out earlier this year and released yesterday both mobile texting and social networking were found to be popular worldwide. However, of more interest to me were the findings for Kenya where just over 1000 respondents were interviewed face to face nationwide. Here are the results:

Cell Phone Usage

• 74% own a cell phone.
• 98% make phone calls.
• 75% send text messages.
• 50% take pictures or video.
• 23% use the Internet.

Social Networking

• 19% use social media regularly.
• 7% do not use social media.
• 72% do not have access to the Internet.

Usage of Social Networking by Age

• 18 to 29 years: 25%
• 30 to 49 years: 15%
• 50+ years: 6%
• Oldest to youngest gap -19 years

You can also download the full report from the Pew Research Center web site here>

Samsung Electronics has partnered with local training institutions to improve the competitiveness of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME’s).

Kabete Technical Training Institute, Deputy Principal, Mr. John Muniu signs an MOU that will see Samsung Electronics establish an internet Hub at the institution. Present during the signing ceremony were Samsung's Marketing Director East and Central Africa, Ms Betty Radier (seated) and Samsung's Corporate Social Responsibility lead, Ms Tessa Caleb.

Samsung has piloted and implemented an internet hub at the Kabete Technical Training Institute (KTTI) with plans to roll out similar ones across country in the next one year. KTTI is the second internet hub opened by Samsung this year, after PC Kinyanjui, in line with the Samsung social investment initiatives for Africa.

Samsung’s Marketing Director, East and Central Africa, Ms Betty Radier, said the investment in local training institutions will ultimately raise the competiveness of the SME sector in Kenya. “Samsung aims to help alleviate poverty through a strategic approach to skills development in the country. We want to pursue the development of skills that correspond best to economic development in a fast globalising labour market,” said Ms Radier.

KTTI, which has a student population of 2,100, offers among other courses engineering, mechanical, building, electrical and business courses. A majority of the institute’s graduates work in the SME sector, which employs 70 percent of the working population. Samsung has donated 20 Laptops and a printer to assist the institution integrate use of ICTs in teaching vocational courses and other technical courses, and provide staff with tools for conducting research and preparing teaching materials.

Technology Partners, contracted by Samsung to roll out this project, will initially undertake the training of teachers and support staff using the newly set up Samsung ICT lab at the Incubation Centre. The long term plan is to develop ICT skills amongst the students eventually growing the development into an engineering school. The internet hub is expected to address the skills gap of competitiveness of the institute’s students though access to modern global knowledge.

“Through this project we plan to nurture ICT as part of the curriculum and impact directly on the technical education by improving access to modern study materials,” said Ms Radier. KTTI’s Deputy Principal, John Muniu said the primary objective of technical training at the institution is to help alleviate poverty through the acquisition of employable skills. “The Internet hub will increase training opportunities for students that will enable them to be self-supporting in this globally competitive world,” said Mr. Muniu.

Technical schools were established to develop practical skills and attitudes, which lead to income-generating activities in urban and rural areas through salaried or self-employment. They are also designed to provide technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for the growth of economic sectors.

Samsung recently launched its Solar Powered Internet School model in the continent. A world-first; exclusively solar-powered, mobile and completely independent classroom is geared at increasing accessibility to education and connectivity across Africa. It is designed particularly for use in remote rural areas with limited or no access to electricity.

The country’s education system provides a wide range of vocational and apprentice programmes as alternatives to general education geared towards preparing students for either self-employment or in general – the world of work.