Author: Francis Muli

Several Mobile Loan Apps have suspended issuance of loans to individuals, following Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) directive to bar them from being third party credit information providers to Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs). Close to 100 mobile lenders, famously known as digital lenders suspended their operations, while others limited issuance of loans to few individuals or SMEs. The move affected unregulated apps, while those affiliated to banks and other regulated institutions were spared. This came as a blow to Kenyans who depended on the apps for survival, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic period when financial inflows for individuals and institutions…

Apple products iPhone, Mac and iPad users now have a new content sharing feature which was launched at the end of March. Instead of relying on third party options such as DropBox to share important folders of documents and photos, apple product users can now update Apple software with the iCloud drive storage. This can be used this to share folders be it work presentation, friendly GIFs or your children’s remote homework. For a long time now, DropBox has been the main service for online folder and file sharing. In March 2019 however, DropBox announced that free users could…

Traffic to YouTube has increased significantly since the Coronavirus outbreak as most people adapt to working from home. The Safaricom fibre internet demand just went up by 70 percent as more people are looking to get connected and carry on their lives online. The internet has become the new normal. You would expect that with more shoppers ordering their household items online, there would be a surge in online revenue. However, many YouTubers are making less money owing to the pandemic. Although many users are flocking the site for entertainment and work related ventures, advertisers have either reduced the rate…

Several mobile apps in Kenya have suspended operations in Kenya and are no longer lending, following a recent directive by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to deny them access to Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) services. Early this week, CBK withdrew the approvals granted to unregulated digital (mobile-based) and credit-only lenders as third party credit information providers to CRBs. The withdrawal was in response to numerous public complaints over misuse of the Credit Information Sharing System (CIS) by the unregulated digital and credit-only lenders, and particularly their poor responsiveness to customer complaints. Thus, unregulated digital and credit-only lenders will no…

The power tussle between Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and the recently established Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has gone a notch higher, after the former refused to sign a bill allocating the latter Ksh15 billion for operations. According to Sonko, the Nairobi County Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2020 contravened provisions of the law and should be revised by the County Assembly. “I do hereby refuse to assent to the bill for the reasons contained in the attached memorandum, and accordingly, I do hereby refer the bill back to the Assembly for consideration in accordance with section 24(3) (4) and (5) of the…

Early this week, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced that all unregulated mobile loan apps had been barred from being third party credit information providers to Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs). In 2019 study by the government, Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that over hundred mobile lending apps were operating with virtually no regulatory controls. On the other hand, only a handful of mobile loan apps were regulated, and included those under banks and other financial institutions such as M-Shwari, KCB-M-Pesa, Absa’s Timiza and Equity’s Eazzy Loan. Despite having formed the Digital Lenders…

Zoom, a cloud based video conferencing, online chat and business telephony app designed for office, school and any online meetings is now shifting its focus on reliability and stability, even as more people sign up for its services. Using the app is free for video conferences of up to 100 people with a time limit of 40 minutes. Zoom uses a cloud platform for their video and audio conferencing and strives to keep the experience safe by incorporating waiting rooms and an option to lock meetings. In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, many companies had to suspend operations or…

Safaricom PLC through its M-Pesa and Safaricom Foundation has committed Ksh200 million towards providing food and nutrition to Kenyans in need during the Covid-19 pandemic period. This financial commitment adds to Safaricom’s ongoing initiative under the “Bonga for Good” programme that is enabling customers to redeem Safaricom Bonga Points to pay for essential goods and donate their points to those in need as a show of goodwill during this period. Safaricom says that under the initiative, Kenyans are redeeming an average of 20 million points a day. The telco, in a statement said that its initiatives aimed at cushioning Kenyans during…

The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a host of conspiracy theories. One of the most common theories is that the new 5G technology has a direct hand in the rapid spread of the virus globally. Believers and anti-5G theorists believe that the latest internet system will cause a host of illnesses directly and indirectly by weakening the human system Celebrities and sports personalities have also been caught up in this web of conspiracy theories. Early last month, as the virus rummaged through Europe and the Western countries, popular singer Keri Hilson went on twitter to voice her opinion on…

The MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) in partnership with the Dolby Institute is launching an online learning channel, Dolby Audio Webinars. The series of webinars covers a range of topics such as Sound for video editors, setting up a 5.1 Session & Mix environment, Dolby Atmos Content creation and other sound engineering topics. Content creators are set to learn a lot on the use of Dolby technology in storytelling. The 8 webinars will go live every Thursday, starting with the first on April 16, 2020 from 13:00 – 14:00 CAT and the last on June 4 at 13.00 CAT. The first…

Quibi, a short-form mobile video platform has been the talk of video streaming world, after getting 1.7 million downloads in its first week after the launch The much hyped mobile streaming app was founded in 2018 by Jeffrey Katzenberg and went live on April 6, 2020 with dozens of programs and more set to be featured in the coming weeks. Several shows and personalities such as Chrissy Teigen have already started sharing their teasers on social media in readiness for Quibi although not many people know what it is. The name Quibi is a mash up of ‘quick’ and…

The demand for Safaricom Home data has spiked by 70 percent in the recent times, following a directive by government for Kenyans to stay at home during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic period. According to CEO Peter Ndegwa, mobile data consumption has gone up by 35 percent as Kenyans adapt to work from home due to partial lockdown in four counties, and the dusk-to-dawn curfew. The rise in demand has been associated to demand on online entertainment platform like Netflix, whose traffic has grown fourfold, from 15Gbps to 60 Gbps. Netflix estimates that there are 20,000 movies being streamed at any given moment, equivalent to the…

People Daily correspondent in Nyamira County Evans Nyakundi yesterday, April 13, survived an abduction by armed men. People Daily is a free newspaper published by Mediamax. According to a statement from Chief Executive Officer of the Media Council of Kenya David Omwoyo, this is the second time the journalist has survived an abduction in a month. Omwoyo says the journalist was saved by members of the public and the police who arrested one of the suspects while others escaped. “The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) is deeply concerned by this turn of events and that this is the second such…

Rwanda is using drones equipped with loudspeakers to broadcast coronavirus news and messages in rural areas. Using the drones, they will also monitor if the rules are being obeyed and for a while now, they have been used in medical supply. https://twitter.com/Rwandapolice/status/1249192953823793159 In November 2019, the KCAA (Kenya Civil Aviation Authority) banned the use of drones in Kenya. At the time, anyone caught flouting the ban would be jailed for up to one year or pay a fine of up to Ksh100,000. Recently, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Authority relaxed the rules on the ban. According to the group, the…

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is now investigating how Bungoma County spent Ksh6.9 million in just a single day to purchase equipment to fight Coronavirus (Covid-19). According to new revelations, jerrycans that were to be used as handwashing tanks were purchased at Ksh10,000 each. EACC reveals that suppliers were paid in cash on March 18, with nine cheques of Ksh776,223 each drawn from the county’s account at Kenya Commercial Bank. “The big withdrawals are very suspect and are in violation of public procurement law. Anything above Ksh10,000 requires tendering and we don’t withdraw cash to pay suppliers. The money should…