CfC Stanbic Bank partners with Seedstars World to find the best startup in Kenya

CfC Stanbic Bank has partnered with Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets, to identify the best startup in Kenya on October 2^nd.

 

Up to 12 of the best startups in Kenya will compete to represent the country at the Seedstars World competition at the final event in Geneva and win up to USD 500,000 in equity investment. The local entrepreneurs will receive additional support from CfC Stanbic Bank Kenya.

CfC Stanbic Bank in Kenya will act as the main partner for the event and will explore potential options for collaborations and partnerships with the participating entrepreneurs to empower them to succeed.

"As a bank, our core purpose is empowering business people to succeed and this one of the way of doing so for startups as it brings together passionate people and also reflects our entrepreneurial spirit as we help them take those important first steps in their entrepreneurial journey.” said Ben Wandawanda, Head of Business Banking, CfC Stanbic Bank Kenya.

Continuing on its goal to put the spotlight on entrepreneurs from emerging countries, Seedstars World expanded its competition to more than 50 countries for 2015, up from the 36 countries of the 2014 edition. Its past participants have raised 20M USD together, providing employment to +360 employees all around the world.

“Kenya has consistently proven itself to be an exceptional startup ecosystem and an enabler of brilliant talent. Together with CfC Stanbic Bank Kenya, we are very excited to discover and bring support to all entrepreneurs participating in the competition.” said Gregory Pepper, Regional Manager for Africa at Seedstars World.

All regional winners of the local events are invited to Switzerland to pitch at the final event in February 2016. This year, Seedstars World is looking to expand its impact through key partners in recognizing the startups potential according to diverse criteria. In addition to the 500’000 USD global winner prize, two more 500’000 USD equity prizes have been added: a travel track, powered by lastminute.com group, and a fintech track, putting the total amount of investment to be won at 1’5M USD. Various prizes can be won outside the tracks, including a 50’000 USD space prize supported by Inmarsat and AP Swiss.

OkHi emerged as the local Nairobi 2014 winner, with its next generation address system for Kenya and beyond.

This year, Seedstars World has a local Ambassador representing the initiative throughout the year Douglas Ogeto, Managing Partner at The Founders Hive (Africa), who chose to join Seedstars World because “it’s an opportune time to support local startups as they have shown and have the potential to compete and scale globally and offer competitive quality and experience”. They have also partnered up with iHub, Bonelli Design Firm, iBiz Africa and The Founders Hive.

 

 

Airtel continues to record growth in data, mobile voice and SMS traffic

 Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi takes Viola Kipchumba (center)through the process of subscribing to Airtel Unliminet. Looking on is radio personality Amina Abdi.

The quarter under review exhibited mixed trends in terms of local mobile voice traffic per operator.    

  

Airtel Kenya Limited experienced an increase in total local mobile voice traffic that stood at 1.85 billion up from 1.83 billion minutes reported during the previous period. 

Its market share for the whole financial year grew significantly to stand at 16.4 per cent up from 10.7 per cent market shares reported in the previous year. This growth could be attributed to Airtel’s acquisition of Essar’s yuMobile subscriptions late last year.      

The total number of SMS sent has maintained an upward trend regardless of the stiff competition from OTTs. During the quarter under review, local SMS traffic stood at 6.57 billion up from 6.55 billion messages reported in the previous quarter. Similarly, the volume of SMS sent throughout the year grew significantly to 27.4 billion up from 24.4 billion messages sent during the previous year. This could be attributed to the lowering of SMS tariff and provision of lucrative SMS bundles by a majority of mobile operators. 

Airtel Kenya’s SMS traffic volume gained 1.1 percentage points on market share to stand at 8.0 percent with 527 million SMS during the quarter up from 452million messages registered during the last quarter. The total messages sent throughout the year stood at 1.5 billion up from 731 million messages sent during the previous year.    

Airtel’s market share for data grew year on year from 13.5% in the previous year 2013/14 to 19% by the end of the year June 2015. Safaricom’s market share for data dropped from 71.6% in the previous year to 63% by the end of the year.  

    

The growth in mobile voice traffic, SMS traffic and data for the second largest operator in the country may be attributed to its innovative product- Airtel #UnlimiNet that was launched early this year. The product continues to  champion #UnlimitedConnections to Kenyans by ensuring that they are always connected by the ability to call all networks and remain connected with friends and family on social media platforms and profession networks on the internet even after they run out of data bundles. Airtel UnlimiNet allows customers to enjoy free minutes voice calls and SMSs to any network, making it the most affordable cross-network voice call offer in Kenya with blended rates as low as Ksh 1.7 per minute.    

The growth may also be attributed to the company’s network upgrade exercise undertaken in the months of April, May and June that significantly enhanced Airtel’s network capacity, robustness and help deliver best-in-class experience that include improved voice quality.    

Early this month, Airtel launched a 50-day-long national consumer promotion dubbed Smartika na 5X, that will give its customers a chance to win 50 cars in the 50 day period, as well as daily prizes of cash and airtime.  The promotion gives an opportunity to its prepaid customers who achieve their targets on “5X bonus” to win one of the fifty cars, airtime worth Ksh. 2,000 or cash prize worth Ksh. 2,000.  5X bonus is a prepaid special offer where customers on the Airtel network have the opportunity to enjoy 500% airtime bonus on meeting a daily target on airtime used.

Tanzanian mountain guide to break world record at Mt. Kilimanjaro

Julio Ludago, a Tanzanian by descent will be looking to breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest ascent and descent on Mt. Kilimanjaro on September 27^th, 2015 via Umbwe route – Western breach.

Currently, the record is held by a Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff who completed a run up the Umbwe Route and descent via Mweka in August 2014 in less than 6 hours, 56 minutes and 24 seconds.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world at 5,895 metres above sea level.

Julio Ludago

“I know breaking the world record is not going to be an easy task. The high altitude, low temperature, and occasional strong winds on the mountain makes this a difficult and dangerous challenge but I am prepared. For the last 2 months, I have been training relentlessly and with the support I am receiving from Intel, Ahsante Tours and ASUS I am confident I will break the record,” said Mr. Ludago.

Intel, Ahsante Tours and ASUS have come on board as Julio’s sponsors to help turn this challenge into an exciting experience that will rally various African states to cheer Julio on as he attempts to break the world record. Supporters can join the conversation by following the social media campaign dubbed #TheClimbAfrica.

Ahsante Tours, Julio’s employer, has been providing the logistical support during his training sessions and will also manage the logistics during the actual day of the climb. “We are proud and excited to be supporting Julio in this challenge and are working very closely with Kilimanjaro National Park Authority to ensure this runs smoothly. We are looking forward to him breaking the world record and making Africa proud,” said Noel Kilengo, Marketing Manager.

“Intel, through the use of technology will enable Julio to track his fitness levels and also share his extraordinary experience with Africa and beyond. As he prepares to break the world record, we want people to celebrate his experience and be part of his journey.” said Lavinniah Muthoni, Head of Marketing and PR for Intel East Africa.

Julio was given climbing gear and the Basis Peak™ that helps him track his activity, health and sleeping metrics 24/7. It also continuously monitors movement, perspiration and skin temperature. This multi-sensor approach, combined with Basis’ BodyIQ technology, enables Basis Peak™ to automatically detect walking, running, biking, sleep phases, sleep quality and more. Even with these sensors working 24/7, Peak maintains a battery life of up to four days, a challenge for many other wearable devices on the market today.

Another exciting technology that Julio will use during this mission will be the ASUS* Transformer Book T300 Chi powered by Intel. The razor-thin and powerful 2-in-1 device with a 12.5” screen perfectly meets Julio’s needs because it is lightweight (720g tablet), compact and thin (7.6mm), and is able to handle the rigors of ascending a mountain as well as continue to operate under low temperature and atmospheric pressure. The ultra-slim 2-in-1 delivers incredible performance and is also power-efficient thanks to the latest Intel® Core™ M processor. With a battery that can last up to 8 hours, it enables Julio to document images and videos throughout his climbing.

“We are excited to be part of Julio’s journey. ASUS laptop was the first laptop to reach the top of Mount Everest at the height of 8848m in the past, so we are confident the ASUS Transformer Book T300 Chi can successfully survive the severe conditions during this mission and help Julio to connect with his fans. As part of the social media campaign to create awareness on Julio’s challenge, we are awarding fans that accurately predict the time it will take him to ascend and descend Mt. Kilimanjaro with our 2-in-1 laptops. We urge everyone to join in and cheer Julio on,” said Mr. Alvin Huang, Director, System Business Group, English Speaking Africa, ASUS.

Follow this ambitious story online over the next three weeks using #TheClimbAfrica hashtag and send your well wishes to @JulioLudago on Twitter. In East Africa follow @IntelEastAfrica on Twitter and Intel Kenya on Facebook, in Nigeria follow @IntelWestAfrica on Twitter and Intel Nigeria on Facebook, and in South Africa follow @Intel_Africa on Twitter and Intel South Africa on Facebook to participate in the prediction campaign.