Business

Jun102020 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

Google Faces $5-Billion Lawsuit for Allegedly Tracking ‘Incognito Mode’ Internet Users

Google is facing a new wave of legal issues. The latest is a $5-billion lawsuit in the US over claims that the search engine giant collected user information when they surfed the Internet in Google Chrome's 'private' Incognito Mode. The class-action lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleged that Google tracked and collected consumer browsing history even if users took steps to maintain their privacy, reports The New York Times. Google was sued on Tuesday in a proposed class action accusing the internet search company of illegally invading the privacy of millions of users by pervasively tracking their internet use through browsers set in “private” mode through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager,other applications and website plug-ins, inclu

Jun92020 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

Tuskys saves face amidst pressure from Government

Business

Tuskys today launched an amazing partnership with the cooperative movement through the Cooperative Corona virus Response Committee (CCRC). The initiative was launched in a bid to respond to the needs of members of different cooperatives around the country and other vulnerable populations during this period. The chief guest was Ali Noor, PS State Department of Cooperatives. This comes after Tuskys Supermarket was put on the spot for not paying suppliers. In response, Tuskys says it has apologized to suppliers whose payments have been restructured as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter dated May 14th, 2020 to Phyllis Wakiaga, CEO Kenya Association of Manufacturers(KAM), Tuskys CEO Mr. Dan Githua said the payments rescheduled in April will be progressively released on ...

Jun82020 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

HP targets counterfeits in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria

Business

HEWLETT-PACKARD (HP) has started an anti-counterfeit war against fake products on the local market using its brand and threatening the global IT firm’s foothold in the African market. Announcing their expansion into Tanzania and Uganda recently, HP officials said the fast growing IT demand in emerging markets had caused a surge in counterfeit products, and in turn, massive losses for genuine manufacturers. Moving into Africa now makes sense on two fronts for HP: To fight counterfeits and at the same time, consolidate its market share. “We still see Africa as a solid growth market similar to India and China 15 years ago. This is why we are entering Uganda and other emerging African markets in order to consolidate our market share across the globe. In spite of the harsh econom

Jun22020 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

Oracle certifies Pesapal’s Reserveport for integration to its OPERA PMS

Business, Technology

Pesapal, a leading provider of hospitality payment solutions & Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), has today announced its Oracle Validated Integration of Reserveport 2.6 with Oracle Hospitality OPERA 5.5 achievement. The Reserveport integration to Oracle Hospitality OPERA ensures that availability and pricing is distributed real time to major booking online travel agents, such as Booking.com, Expedia, and Hotels.com; each time these change in Oracle Hospitality OPERA. Reservations on a booking site are automatically updated by the Reserveport PMS - no need for calls or manual inventory management. The result is a seamless interaction between the property management system and online travel agents. "Achieving Oracle Validated Integration gives our customers confidence...

May292020 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

DHL grow its logistics business, by acquiring stake in Mall for Africa’s Link Commerce

Business, Startups

The logistics firm DHL has acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Mall for Africa’s Link Commerce, in a bid to grow its logistics business in Sub-Saharan Africa and other global emerging e-commerce markets. The acquisition in Link Commerce, the UK-based e-commerce firm helped it launch its DHL Africa eShop platform. DHL went live with the digital retail app in April, bringing more than 200 U.S. and U.K. sellers — from Neiman Marcus to Carters — online to African consumers. The move to offer Africa eShop to 20 of the continent’s 54 countries comes a month after Africa’s most visible (and well-funded) e-tailer, Jumia, went public. Jumia — which operates consumer retail and online service verticals in 14 African countries — raised more than $200 million in an NYSE IPO. Africa eSho

May282020 by editorNo Comments

Instagram to debut revenue sharing with creators through IGTV ads

Business, Mobile, social media

For the first time in its history, social media platform Instagram will start sharing revenue with creators through ads in IGTV and badges that viewers can purchase on Instagram Live. The company has hinted that ads would come to IGTV for more than a year, often saying the long-form video offering would be the most likely place it’d first pay creators. The new tools that enable video creators to make money, including badges that viewers can purchase during Instagram Live videos and the introduction of IGTV ads. Both launches are considered a test, as the company is limiting the features’ availability during its experimentation phase, it says. Badges will give viewers a way to support their favorite creators while also standing out in the comments, similar to efforts on other live video p

May272020 by Alex ReeceNo Comments

Mobile money transactions spike as users resort to cashless deals

Business, Mobile

Mobile money and data have emerged as the lifeline in revenue growth for African-focused telecoms operators Vodacom Group and Airtel Africa across markets characterized by stiff competition and challenging regulatory regimes. The two telcos this week released full-year results for the year ended March 31 that show impressive growth in mobile money and data earnings amidst near-flat increase in voice revenue. This year, the companies are apprehensive of the impact of the Covid-19, something that has forced Airtel Africa to extend the maturity of $254 million of debt facilities by an average of 18 months in order to improve its liquidity. South Africa-based Vodacom rode on its investment in Kenya’s Safaricom, which is Africa’s second-biggest telco by market capitalization, t

May262020 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

Uber rival Bolt raises €100m to expand product offerings in Europe & Africa

Business, Mobile, Technology

Estonia’s Bolt, one of Uber’s biggest competitors in the European ride-hailing market, has raised €100m (£88m) in funding to prepare for a post-coronavirus world. This sees the total raised by Bolt top €300m, while its valuation has nearly doubled since May 2018, when it was valued at $1bn. The funding round comes at a challenging time for Bolt, with the coronavirus causing a slump in demand for ride-hailing services that is believed to have had a severe impact on its bottom line. However, today’s news suggests that its efforts to diversify are paying off. “Even though the crisis has temporarily changed how we move, the long-term trends that drive on-demand mobility such as declining personal car ownership and the shift towards greener transportation continue to grow,” said chief exec

May212020 by Alex ReeceNo Comments

WorldRemit Partners with Vodacom Tanzania

Business, Mobile

Leading digital money transfer service WorldRemit has partnered with Vodacom Tanzania to enable nine million M-Pesa customers to receive money directly to their M-Pesa wallets from friends and family living abroad. The new service increases convenience for money transfer recipients in urban and rural areas of Tanzania as they can receive international money transfers directly to their phones, without the need for a bank account or internet connection. Using the WorldRemit app, Tanzanians living abroad in over 50 countries, including the US, UK and Canada, can send money home 24/7 in just a few taps. This saves customers time and money as they do not have to travel to a traditional money transfer agent and pay expensive fees to send money home in cash. Vodacom M-Pesa customers can now...

Apr272020 by editorNo Comments

Visa and Pesapal announce partnership for connected digital payments in Africa

Business, Mobile, Technology

Pesapal will become a Visa Principal Member driving small business acquiring and issuing. Nairobi, April 27, 2020 – Visa (NYSE: V), the global leader in digital payments and Pesapal have today announced a strategic partnership to drive connected digital payments to consumers and businesses in Africa. Pesapal will now become a Visa Principal Member driving small business acquiring and issuing. Pesapal has created Africa's only payments ecosystem that offers Ecommerce, Point of Sale and Consumer applications on one platform. Pesapal recruits and supports businesses to be able to digitize payment collection securely while integrating to business internal systems such as POS, ERP, Accounting and Billing systems. By integrating businesses, Pesapal is then able to drive consumer paym