Author: Kaluka wanjala

When Safaricom introduced M-PESA in Kenya in 2007, the service grew out of a very specific need: helping people send money quickly and safely across long distances. It replaced the old habit of handing cash to a bus driver headed upcountry, and in the process, pulled millions into the formal financial ecosystem. Nearly two decades later, M-PESA has transformed the Kenyan economy and has helped raise the banked population from just 27% in 2006 to around 85% today. Safaricom’s newest market is Ethiopia and the landscape is very different, and so does the opportunity. Ethiopia doesn’t struggle with financial access…

Rural Kenya has overtaken major cities as the main engine of online shopping growth, according to a new report released by Jumia Kenya. The report titled E commerce in Rural Kenya: Expanding Access, Driving Inclusion, Connecting Border to Border shows that rural shoppers now account for 60 percent of all orders placed on the platform. This marks a major shift from the early years of digital retail when e commerce was mainly centered on Nairobi and a few large towns. Jumia says the shift is being powered by better connectivity, lower cost smartphones, simplified delivery networks and a fast growing…

Safaricom has announced a scheduled system upgrade that will is set to affect the Fuliza platform on Monday, 17 November 2025, from 01:00 to 02:00. During this period, Fuliza services may be intermittent, although all other M-Pesa services are expected to remain available. The company says the work is part of ongoing efforts to improve reliability, security and general performance across its financial services ecosystem. Safaricom adds that the timing of the maintenance has been chosen to minimise disruption for customers who depend on Fuliza for short-term credit and everyday payments. This maintenance comes only a few weeks after Safaricom…

KCB has announced a new partnership with Pesapal to roll out an advanced digital forecourt management system to fuel dealers across East Africa. Pesapal will now deploy Forecourt Management Solution, its integrated platform that digitizes fuel dispensing, sales monitoring, inventory management, payment processing and financial reconciliation. The system is designed to address some of the inefficiencies in the petroleum retail sector. These include manual errors, inventory losses, revenue leakage and in some cases limited working capital. The new rollout arrives just days after KCB Group disclosed plans to acquire a minority stake in Pesapal, a move announced on October 31…

Three youth-led teams from Siaya County have earned national recognition after emerging as top winners at the Kenya Software & AI Summit, held at Moi University’s Annex Campus in Eldoret. The winning teams were selected from the Siaya Hackathon Challenge, an event held between October 13 and 15 at the Siaya Community Digital Hub. Konza Technopolis provided leadership through the Jitume Program. The Ministry of ICT and the Digital Economy ensured the projects aligned with national digital transformation goals. On the other hand, Huawei Kenya offered mentorship and access to its AppCube low-code platform. This enabled rapid prototyping during the…

Safaricom has hosted its third Cybersecurity Summit under the theme “Powering Progress. Securing Growth.” This forum brought together government officials, regulators, business leaders and technology experts to discuss strategies for securing Kenya’s digital future. There were over 2.5 billion cyber threats recorded in Kenya during Q1 2025. This is according to data from the National KE-CIRT/CC. This is a sharp increase from the previous quarter. The most common attacks include phishing scams, ransomware and large-scale system disruptions. “Cybercrime is a challenge that no single institution can solve alone. As more Kenyans embrace digital tools, the responsibility to keep them safe…

Visa and the Mojaloop Foundation have partnered in a amove aimed at tackling fraud and risk management in digital payments in Africa. The partnership will take advantage of Visa’s expertise in fraud prevention and secure payment technologies with Mojaloop’s open-source platform that facilitates interoperable payments between banks, mobile money providers and other financial institutions. The two organizations will focus on training, knowledge sharin, and ecosystem engagement. This will include joint participation in Mojaloop convenings and industry events to promote best practices. As part of the deal, Visa’s Account-to-Account (A2A) Protect solution will be integrated into the Mojaloop platform. The technology…

At the Safaricom Cybersecurity Summit 2025, Safaricom’s Chief Corporate Security Officer Nicholas Mulila delivered a forceful call for organisations to move beyond prevention-only mindsets and embed security into every stage of digital transformation. Addressing industry leaders, partners and government representatives, Mulila stressed that rising threats demand collaboration, continual customer education and operational readiness. Mulila opened by framing the scale of the problem: recent sector reporting showed roughly 4.6 billion cyber incidents last year, an 80% year‑on‑year increase, and Safaricom sees “millions” of attempts across its systems daily. He argued many breaches still stem from avoidable lapses: weak passwords, delayed patching…

Spotify has introduced Messages, a new in-app chat feature that lets users in Kenya share songs, artists and podcasts directly within the platform. This is not entirely a feature you expect on a music streaming site but I am really curious to see how it will be used. The feature is rolling out to both free and premium users this week. Spotify says the feature aims to make music and podcast sharing more personal and seamless. With Messages, listeners will be able to send tracks to friends, react with emojis and chat right where they listen. Spotify is doing this…

Airtel Africa Telesonic, the wholesale fiber arm of Airtel Africa, has partnered with Nokia to build a transformative, high-capacity terrestrial fiber network connecting multiple African countries across East and Central Africa. The project will link Africa’s 2Africa subsea cable to terrestrial networks. This will provide faster, more affordable and more reliable digital connectivity across the continent. According to Airtel, the network will leverage Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) platform, powered by coherent Photonic Service Engine (PSE) technology, to deliver ultra-fast data transmission speeds of up to 38 Terabits per second (Tbps). The network, which spans 139 Dense Wavelength Division…