Technology News

Barclays branches to offer free WiFi

Liquid Telecom has put WiFi into banking halls at 10 of Barclays Bank of Kenya’s flagship branches in Nairobi, as well as its head office in Bishop’s Gate, Ngong Road, in a Sh7.6m project that makes Barclays the first bank in Kenya to offer its customers free Internet access in its branches. The project is aimed at enabling Barclays’ customers to access Internet banking services and other online content for free via WiFi through a secure network that is fully independent from the bank’s fibre connection, at speeds of 2Mbps. Liquid Telecom has provided connectivity for Barclays Bank of Kenya for 9 years, with the latest extension in the partnership coming as part of Barclays’ investment in value addition services for its customers to increase their exposure to its online banking optionsand improve the overall customer experience. Barclays is keen to encourage its customers to use its digital platforms to do their banking, and is rolling out the free WiFi to help clients…

Real-time traffic information for Kenyans

Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) has partnered with Google to launch a mobile application that offers motorists access accurate and real-time traffic information, based on crowd-sourced data from other road users. Waze, is a free GPS-based mobile application that has already been used in other countries as a traffic information tool. It collates information generated by other users on the same route, to share information on accidents, impassable sections of the road route, traffic jam, and advices on alternative routes. “Mobile technology has evolved from being just a tool that enables interpersonal communication. With this partnership, we are furthering our mission to transform lives by enabling our customers get to their destinations faster, having offered them vital information to enable them plan their journeys better.” said Sylvia Mulinge, General Manager- Consumer Business at Safaricom. She said, “The use technology enables us all generate some data, which when harnessed an…

M-KOPA Solar Connects 200K Homes

Kenyan mobile technology company M-KOPA has powered up 200,000 homes across East Africa – having doubled the number of homes connected to its solar home systems in the past eight months. The average M-KOPA household has over five inhabitants. Accordingly, M-KOPA is now providing power to over a million people across East Africa. Jesse Moore, Managing Director and Co-Founder, M-KOPA Solar, says, “It took us two years to connect our first 100,000 homes and just eight months to connect our second 100,000 homes. We are pushing hard to grow even faster and reach our goal of one million homes by the end of 2017.” M-KOPA is now selling 500 new systems each day across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It has a network of over 1,000 direct sales agents and 85 customer service centers across East Africa.

Kenya’s digital migration tussle

The race for digital migration all across the world has caught Kenyan media stations unawares and rushing to changeover their analogue signal to digital terrestrial broadcasting. The Kenyan Government had initially set the deadline for digital migration to December 2013. That deadline following a push by the Media Owners Association to postpone was moved to June 2014. Come June 2014, the migration did not happen as the deadline was later pushed to February 2015. This date was well in line with the deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for all African Countries to have migrated to digital broadcasting by June 2015. The government through the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) seems determined to keep its promise but since December 2013, 3 of the most popular broadcasting stations in the country seem to only have been resting on their bellies. Now, the country for a second week running is facing a media blackout with broadcasters such as…

Online Consultation Websites for Business Registration

With the following online business consultation websites, the hassle of registering businesses and companies in Kenya is easy and flawless. From filling in the forms to attaining KRA VAT and Pin, the services you get from these businesses will hasten and full proof the process of getting started with a business in Kenya. Dealpoa.com Deal Poa is probably one of the most forthwith online registration website supported by valuable content on various aspects of registering and running a business in Kenya. For the registration of a company, this will cost you between Ksh.20000 and Ksh. 35000 depending on your prefered package. More of their services include, Business Name, Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Limited Company, KRA PIN & VAT, Tax Compliance Certificate and AGPO Tender Certificate. Inc.co.ke (INCORPORATOR) A brain child of Genius Executives, the company that popularized the renting of furnished and serviced office workstations, INCORPORATOR provides individu…

Top online websites for Kenyan diaspora mobile top up

One of the challenges of Kenyan business innovators in the 21st century has been to look for ways to connect Kenyan diaspora communities to opportunities in the country. This includes the sending of instant mobile phone airtime top up. Whether on special occasions such a birthdays or festivities such as the Easter holiday, Kenyans in the diaspora like every other family member or friend are always looking for ways to send money, gifts or even packages to their loved ones in Kenya. Recently, techpreneurs are taking advantage of the niche to develop platforms that allow people in the diaspora to send mobile phone airtime straight to the receivers phone within a few minutes. It doesn't come cheap though since you will probably spend 10% more to send that airtime. Here's a list of websites that you can send mobile phone airtime by Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and Yu Mobile from the diaspora. TelephoneKenya.com In association with mobile operators in Kenya, TelephoneKenya by…

Best Kenyan Mobile Banking and Finance Apps

Banking and finance apps are one of the most sought after pieces of innovation in Kenya aiming to serve millions of citizens who are banked with a possibility of luring the unbanked to diverse product offerings. While innovation and creativity in the Kenyan banking industry has been limited to SMS banking for a while, accredited finance institutions are quickly targeting native mobile application users more on the Android platform than any other mobile operating system. We have come up with a list of the available apps on various platforms prominent among them being the Google Play Store. This banking apps at the least will ease your hassle and reduce the time you have to spend in queues in various banking halls. Barclays Bank of Kenya Along with its Internet Banking service, the Barclays Bank of Kenya is among the banks in Kenya to have a complimentary mobile application launched in June 2013 that serves both personal and business clients. The application is availab…

Biashara.co.ke: Kenya’s First Online Integrated Business Center

Biashara.co.ke is a Kenyan e-commerce website working with a revolutionary business model that will combine free online classifieds, business directory listings and business news. Entrepreneurs, businesses and companies will use the platform to promote their products & services, make sales and inform the public using the popular blog platform. Here's what you will be able to do with Biashara.co.ke Sign up and Login swiftly via Facebook Add Products to the market place to unlimited categories-Agriculture, Art & Design, Cell Phone, Computer & tablets, Education & Books, Entertainment, Fashion, Home Appliances, Real Estate & Housing, Jobs & Classifieds, Motors & Travel, Services, Sporting, TV, Video & Audio. Create your multiple Company profiles with an exclusive 830*300 banner on the Biashara Pages. Add a blog. This could be internal bulletins, press releases or even nice professional articles (that's if you're in the mood). Inv…

Apple develops tool to remove and detect flashback trojans

Apple has said it is developing a tool to detect and remove flashback trojans that is said to affect more than half a million mac computers. It is said to be working with internet service providers to disrupt the command network being used by hackers to exploit the malware.Trojans are infections that can expose computers to control of hackers. In a message posted in Apple’s website’s support section,the company said it had fixed a “Java security flaw for systems running OS X v10.7 and Mac OS X v 10.6. Two security updates were released eight weeks after java ‘s developers oracle issued a fix for another computer system. It suggested users of macs running earlier version of it system software should disable java in their web browser preferences. In addition apple said its working with Internet service providers to shut down a network of servers hosted by the malware authors,which the code known as flashback relies on to perform many of its critical functions. …

Kenyan apps grow by over 1900% in eight months

The number of mobile application has grown by 1900% in the last eight months indicating a sharp increase in demand for local content and rising interest from local developers in Kenya. Fresh statistics from nokia indicate that kenyan applications has increased tremendously from just two in April 2010 to over 40 in January 2011. Kenyan apps are not only increasing in volume and quality but also the content is also broadening,enabling a large number of mobile users to interact,transact and learn from ovi store. The ovi store has apps with content ranging from news ,job offers to social media and mobile commerce.these are interesting times for developers and application users in kenya as the trend continues to change. The rise in the number of applications is satisfying increasing demand for local content especially in Kenya.Users of nokia handsets account for 60% of these downloads in East and Central Africa. This steady growth in demand and the supply is a positi…