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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

M – KESHO – Mobile commerce at play

Equity bank and Safaricom recently joined hands to come up with M-kesho a service that is surely going to change the face of E-commerce and M-commerce in Africa.
The service will allow users to perform basic banking transactions like deposits, withdrawals, loan applications (from as low as Kshs 100/-), processing and reception right from their handsets and also earn interest on your mobile account, The application is built with the ability to score a customer’s credit rating using 6 months history of his M-pesa centric balances. Customers will be able to request for insurance policies and get covered without having to walk into Insurance Company or see an insurance agent. The customer will be covered by the terms and conditions of operating the account once they request for the policy. The premiums payment will be tiered so as not to lock out those who truly need them. The mobile system will also allow the customer to check their last 5 transactions on their linked account. The innovation is set to deepen the uptake of mobile banking that has been adopted to varying levels of functionality by several commercial banks, including Kenya commercial bank, Family, and standard Chartered bank. The newly introduced M-Kesho is set to be a rudimentary credit card facility, allowing users to spend money they don’t have and pay later, although the loan approval is likely to take longer than typical credit cards. Safaricom says it has over 250 business partners who accept payments for their services through M-Pesa, up from 75 in the last quarter of 2009. They include utility firms, insurance companies, educational, hospital and government institutions. Safaricom and Equity bank intend to carry out media promotions on these services to educate customers on how to register for the M-pesa equity bank account. One important thing to note is the use of the existing M-pesa agent. M-pesa agents are urged to apply to offer these services in their outlets to further supplement their commissions. The M-kesho service is a big boon to Kenyans especially to the people in the rural areas who find it hard to access loan facilities.

Mocality –Africa’s Mobile business directory

Do you want to advertise your business to your customers and potential customers through a widely available tool: the mobile phone? Do you want to acquire a free mobile website and free bulk SMSes in the process? Then Mocality is your solution.
Mocality offers a free business suite of tools to all listed businesses, such as the ability to upload customer mobile numbers into the mocality platform, a free mobile website and 400 free SMSes each month to message their customers about new products and promotions. Mocality’s CEO Stefan Magdalinski sees Mocality as becoming the largest, most successful, business directory in sub-Saharan Africa by expanding the market via internet technology to include millions of businesses that previously never appeared in a directory, offline or online”. The business is based in South Africa and is part of the Naspers stable, but they took a strategic decision to begin operations in May 2009 in Nairobi due to the good business environment in Kenya, good internet penetration and a lot of mobile phones. Kenya also has M-Pesa, the mobile money platform which makes paying the Mocality agents easy. Mocality crowd-sources business listings through “agents”. Agents can sign-up online and are remunerated to add businesses to the directory, as well as to validate other entries into the system using camera-phones to do so. Mocality’s intelligent search allows users to search and discover businesses by keyword and/or location and provides detailed information on every business. Anybody with a mobile phone in Kenya is eligible for the program and can sign up at http://www.mocality.co.ke/ . Mocality’s main aim is to generate a massive base of local content that is accessible from your mobile phone and easy to search. It’s designed to help you find whatever you need without having to look it up in a book or even use a computer. It’s a wealth of local information in your pocket, wherever you are, any time of the day.
There are a many ways of uploading and accessing business listings. One can do so via the mobile web, email, a j2ME app, an iPhone app, SMS and via a web browser. Mocality is surely changing the game for local business information and services in Kenya and Africa at large.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Whive – Africa’s social network

Social networks and social media have become a buzz in the recent past and one social network engineered by young Kenyans cannot be left out of this revolution. Whive.com is a social networking platform with very interesting applications and features.
Whive.com allows you to post a blog, Audio, video, classifieds, pod/survey and profile which you can send to friends in all other networks. It also allows you to publish your press release or content and reach thousands of people instantly. Learn of new events, parties & announce yours. Develop applications and distribute them widely. Whive.com is emerging to be a strength to reckon with and it has in the past won the “best software category” an event that was sponsored by among others – Butterfly works and ushahidi.
So, whether you want to catch up with your friends, search for new friends or you are just bored and you want to engage yourself in some interesting application just log in to whive.com and get socially immersed!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

YU CASH – YU Mobile money transfer system

Yu mobile network provider patnered with obopay (one of the leading players in mobile banking, mobile payments and technology provisioning internationally)  to establish YU cash a mobile phone transfer service in Kenya similar to safaricom’s Mpesa and Zain’s zap. YU cash enables a registered user to:
Deposit money – The registered user is able to visit a YU cash appointed agent and deposit cash into their stored value accounts
Send money – The registered user is able to send the funds held in their stored value accounts to other users instantly .
Withdrawing cash – yucash users with funds in their electronic accounts are able to visit the registered agents and withdraw cash from their accounts with ease and convenience.
Prepaid top-up – registered users are able to buy yu airtime and top up their own or any other prepaid yu line at any time from wherever they are from funds in their yucash.
Balance inquiry – Users are able to check the balance in their accounts at any time wherever they are
Transaction history – Each registered user is able to get a complete record of their recent transactions. This enables users to keep a clear track of transactions on their account and eliminate the need to keep a manual record yucash transactions
Short message with transactions – A registered yucash user gets an opportunity to add a short message with transactions.
Help – Yucash users are able to get help directly out of their mobile phone menu and receive answers to queries about this service without having to call the customer help line.
Invitations – The yucash platform provides users with the ability to build their own networks of regular users by sending invitations to their friends and other contacts into the service directly from their menu.
So how do you register with yucash to start enjoying these benefits? All you have to do is visit a registered yucash agent with your original ID or passport plus acopy, complete a registration form, sign it and the agent will facilitate your registration. You will then be given instructions on how to activate and set your PIN. Once activated your account is ready for use and can start transacting immediately.
Yu cash has also recently patnered with a company called Heart of the city who are promoting online remittances to Kenya from the UK and the US. This means our brothers and sisters in the diaspora are not left out in this mobile money transfer revolution. DO you want to start enjoying all these wonderful services? Simply register as mentioned above and join the mobile money transfer revolution!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

FABGURU – “Kenya’s online fashion and beauty retailer

Are you a lady who wants to be classy and fabulous?Then fabguru is one online fashion and beauty store that may have what you need. Fabguru is aimed at fashion forward women of class in Kenya and around the world. Fabguru offers quality products at bargain prices with the main focus being women’s shoes. Fabguru’s clientele is mainly found within Nairobi but also serve those outside the region as they can deliver outside Nairobi to your doorstep within 48 hours of confirming the order. Fabguru is a certified pesapal merchant agent meaning that shoppers can safely shop with them. Fabguru also has their communication channels open 24 hours meaning you can talk to them anytime. The site is also easy to search as it provides its products base with ability to search by type, size or brand therefore offering an interface easy to navigate to find what you are looking for. Visit fabguru at www.fabguru.com and get shopping from the comfort of your home.

BAGALICIOUS – “Your online Kenyan bag store”

Do you want to shop for a bag and don’t want to venture out? Don’t worry no more because bagalicious is bringing you an array of bags for you to choose from and one good thing is that you can do it from the comfort of your home and better yet get the bag delivered to your home or office in a short while. Bagalicious has a wide range of categories  to choose from which include: handbags, daybags, leather/designer bags, evening bags, shopping bags, beach bags, holdalls/backpacks, purses & wallets, toiletry bags, bag charms and many more. What do you need to do to get into this online bagalicious world. Just log into www.bagalicious.co.ke  and get bag shopping!

MADUQA – “The Kenyan online store”

Do you dream of owning an online Kenyan store? Do you want an already promoted and marketed platform? Dream no more because maduqa is making your dreams come true.Maduqa.com is a website that makes it simple, fast and easy for any Kenyan business owner to get their own store. So how do you get to do this? All a user needs to do is to create their store and host their products. Yes, its that simple. The major advantage is that maduqa.com has done all the promotions and marketing of their website so your task is half way done.Maduqa offers online presence for small businesses and individuals. You can create and manage your online business or online shop anywhere at anytime.The sign up process is pretty simple, it takes on average just a minute and once you are done it automatically logs you in and takes you back to the front-end of the site.Clicking on ‘my account’ gives you the opportunity to place your ads. Do you have a small business and want to venture into an online platform?Then check out Maduqa at www.maduqa.com and your business could definitely get a kick upwards.

WAZUA – “An online wealth discussion centre"

Ever wondered where you can source ideas on wealth creation or better yet share your ideas on wealth to other people? Worry no more because wazua is one online discussion platform where people from all walks of life can meet in search of wisdom, wealth and community.Wazua is one online discussion  platform that believes no single individual has the monopoly on information when it comes to matters of creating wealth. At wazua all ideas and conversation on wealth creation are welcome. Wazua acknowledges that there are different perspectives on the subject of wealth and thus seeks to address varying aspects by providing sections for five Key interest groups namely:
-    INVESTOR  - Covers a wide range of investment subjects through articles, analysis, market data and discussions. Some of the forums under this section include: Stocks, Bonds, Property, Offshore investment, and Economy.
-    GROUPS  - This focuses on the Kenyan culture of wealth creation through collective savings and consolidation of individual savings for investing together. Any group of people seeking to start an investment group/chama and formally registered groups seeking to professionally run their operations will be at home here.You will find articles, tools and professional advice that will help you start, administrate and manage your invest group and funds.
-    SME – This section focuses on small business. SME endeavours to unlock the potential of your small business by providing information on marketing, finance, HR etc. Linkages with other businesses are facilitated with the aim of creating business opportunities. Startups will find an environment where they can be mentored and are spurred to grow.
-    MARKET – Levels the trading playing field.Registered wazua members are provided with the opportunity to showcase their wares to the community and avail them for purchase. Members can haggle, provide offers just as they do in their regular soko
-    CLUB SK – This is the place to unwind when you are done with all the serious business. Club SK will indulge you in matters of sports, politics, culture and entertainment. You will be kept abreast on all current and upcoming events in this section.
So how do you access this site and share your ideas as you get valuable information? Just visit the wazua link at www.wazua.co.ke and get on the ride!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

PESAPAL – The African online- mobile electronic payment system

This revolutionary payment system was founded by Agosta Liko who is also the CEO of Pesapal. He reckons that, Africa is almost completely cut off from the online consumer market and still Africans don’t have a bank account or credit card that make online payments possible. Thus, most Africans can’t buy anything online.
Liko developed a payment system tailor made to Africans;online payments with the popular banking system. Liko connected the mobile payments to the internet and called
It Pesapal. PesaPal is making great strides in bridging the mobile and electronic payment divide in Kenya and is set to expand to more African countries
This is how pesapal works: the web vendor registers at Pesapal, and leaves a phone number to which the payments can be made. The buyer, who also registers, wires the money to the number and receives a text message confirmation once the money has been received in a matter of seconds. The goods can be followed with a track and trace tool and the web vendor can check the latest status of all the transactions online. For the first time Liko focuses his pesapal on Kenya and the online consumer market. In future he wants to make pesapal available for the rest of the African continent. He wants to include travel organizations, hotels and event organizations. Then services like school fees and insurances will follow, and salaries and microcredits will be made possible too.Thumbs up to pesapal for making online payments easier for Africa.

Friday, September 10, 2010

ZAP - Zain's mobile banking service

Zain, Kenya's second largest mobile telecommunication provider launched the ZAP service in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in Feb 2009 and the service has since penetrated other countries which include Bahrain, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Niger and Malawi.
The mobile commerce service was introduced in Kenya in partnership with  leading international banks allowing Zain customers in zap-enabled countries to use their mobile phone to:
-    Withdraw cash or pay for goods and services, school fees and utility bills is ncluding electricity and water
-    Receive money from or send money to friends and family
-    Send and receive money to their bank accounts
-    Top-up their or someone else’s airtime
-    Manage their bank accounts
Zap is also part of Zain’s ‘one network ‘ platform, meaning that customers can benefit from all of the zap features when traveling to an associate Zain ‘one network’ country. The platform allows traveling customers to move across geographic borders without roaming surcharges, make calls/SMS at local rates, receive incoming calls for free as well as recharge their mobile phones with locally purchased top up cards
Zain customers can sign-up for free for the new banking and payment services by completing an application form and handing it over to registered Zain agents in towns and cities across their specific countries.

SEMBUSE -"East Africa's first mobile social network"

The mobile phone application revolution is here with us and many applications are generated every other day. Sembuse is one of the mobile applications developed in Java that runs on mobile phones.It is a messaging and content platform that allows users to communicate more affordably as well as access varied content items directly on their mobile phones.Sembuse can be accessed and used from anywhere in the world. It allows users to communicate cheaply at 50 kenya cents(USD 0.006) per message using the SMS(sembuse messaging suite) with conventional text limited to 160 characters. Sembuse supports internationalization by way of being available in different languages which currently are English, Swahili, German, French and Chinese. Sembuse allows users to invite their friends from all over the world into their network and and has a myriad of  exciting free and premium content offerings that add value to users as they are delivered directly to the user's handset.The offerings include;customized news alerts, real time stock market alerts and news, rave crave that gives users a snapshot of the nightlife in their location, the gossip channel that allows users to submit and share gossip with their friends, the sports bar where sports fans can keep up to date with the happenings in their favorite sports and a video section with mobisodes across a variety of channels.So how can you acquire sembuse? Sembuse can be downloaded directly to a user's handset by pointing  the mobile phone browser to m.sembuse.com. Registration is FREE and one can immediately invite friends to their network.Sembuse also boasts of a proprietary hyper-targeting advertising platform-sembuse Connect that allows businesses,whether big brand names, small to medium sized enterprises and even individuals to connect with their target market directly on their handset.An individual can book their ManenoAds(text adverts) and choose their desired target group on the Sembuse network from the ease and comfort of their mobile phone wherever they are.
These are just but a few of the services that Sembuse offers.Users of Sembuse pay for their credits, content and other services via Mpesa, Zap, other regional money transfer/payment mechanics and if in the diaspora by credit card. Mobile phone usage in Africa is growing at a rapid rate and investors and business people should take a keen interest in this area and maximize on the great opportunities that exists.Sembuse is one mobile application that is surely going to have a great impact on how users interact with each other and engage brands at a personal  level and at affordable prices and in ways that can be measured.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

M-PESA - The revolutionary mobile money transfer service

This is a household name in Kenya, because the initial concept and design was Kenyan. M-pesa literally translates to M (Mobile)-PESA (money).M-pesa is a branchless banking service because even people at the most remote of places can access it without stepping foot in the doors of a bank branch. In Kenya M-pesa is operated by Safaricom, a mobile network operator and it initially set foot in Kenya around March 2007. M-pesa mainly operates in Kenya, Tanzania & Afghanistan but plans are underway to expand the service to countries like, India, Egypt and South Africa. M-pesa enables its users to:
-    Deposit and transfer money to other users and non-users. One can transfer money for as low as Kshs 100/-
-    Pay Bills e.g. Water and electricity. Remember the long queues at KPLC (Kenya power & lighting corporations) offices; well that is becoming history thanks to M-pesa.
-    Purchase airtime – Its 2.00 am, you have an emergency and you have run out of airtime on your phone.
Don’t worry no more, just purchase airtime through M-pesa. How convenient!
Safaricom customers can sign-up for free for the new banking and payment services by completing an application form and handing it over to registered M-pesa agents in towns and cities across their specific countries.
 The uses of M-pesa are not defined because everyday companies and institutions are teaming their services with M-pesa to enable more efficiency, so just don’t close this chapter yet, because soon you may find yourself using M-pesa to purchase items on e-bay!!Big up M-pesa!

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