Bob Collymore, Safaricom’s chief executive has said, M-Pesa 1 Tap, a service that was expected to make it easier to make payments using the Lipa Na M-Pesa service, ‘was not a great idea after all’. The M-PESA 1 Tap service also aimed to increase the accuracy and privacy of Lipa Na M-PESA by ensuring that payments are delivered to a matching merchant when it was introduced to Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nyeri in 2017. However, Bob Collymore has finally admitted that “M-Pesa 1-Tap was my idea, and I thought it was a great idea but it turned out it…
Author: Khusoko
Khusoko
Khusoko provides market insights into Africa's business investment as well as global trends that impact East African businesses.
The Betting Control and Licensing Board has banned advertising and gambling on all social media platforms. In a directive issued on April 30, signed by the Acting Director Liti Wambua, the board has also banned outdoor and online advertising of gambling, as well as the advertising of the same between 6 am and 10 pm. “It has further been decided that any form of advertisement of gambling must be approved and such an advertisement must contain a warning message about the consequences of gambling including its addictiveness,” said Liti Wambua. “The warning message must constitute a third of the actual…
Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) customers are set to enjoy double talk-time to all networks over the next three months. The offer will be available to all 30 million customers through the Tunukiwa Service by dialing *444*0# after which they can purchase an offer to double their airtime. Customers will have a choice in selecting the validity period of the airtime between 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days and 30 days based on their needs. The airtime will be applicable for calls across all networks, SMS and data consumed out of bundles. To view their balance, customers can dial *444# and select…
Kenya’s inflation in April soared to 6.58% in April attributed to increasing food prices by the statistics body. “Sifted maize flour, kales, potatoes, loose maize grains and flour and tomatoes recorded increases of 29.82, 25.30, 19.2726.1415.90 and 15.31 respectively, in April compared to March 2019,’’ said the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on Tuesday. “These six items alone account for 6.25% of the CPI weight. However, prices of sugar and some other food items were observed to be lower in April 2019 than in March 2019,” it added. This is a 2.13% rise compared to 4.35% reported in March.
Kenya Airways (KQ) has reported a Ksh 7.6 billion pretax loss in its 2018 financial year performance from Ksh 6.4Bn in FY17 due to a surge in operating costs. “Fuel is our greatest challenge & this will be for a while, oil prices are up by 30%. Fuel represents over 40% of our direct operating costs. We started mitigating this risk by implementing a new hedging policy with minimal risk,” GMD & CEO Sebastian Mikosz. However, the airline said the financial year 2018/19 covered 12 months compared to nine months the previous year. “This, therefore, means that the 2018 results…
Kenya’s largest telecom operator Safaricom Limited (NSE: SCOM) Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore will step down from his post in August. According to Reuters, this is ‘for health reasons’. Collymore told Reuters “I have every confidence that whether I’m here or not, that this company will run … This is an institution. It is not a company which is just run by a single person.” READ: Bob Collymore’s Tenure at Safaricom Extended to 2020 On Tuesday, the Safaricom PLC Board said they have not made any decision who will replace on Bob Collymore. “This will be subject of deliberation by…