SimbaPay launches world’s first international access to M-Pesa PayBill

The first product in the world that allows Kenyans living abroad to make M-Pesa PayBill payments

 SimbaPay – a leading digital money transfer provider – today announced the launch of the first product in the world that allows Kenyans living abroad to make M-Pesa PayBill payments. This is a new addition to the existing SimbaPay platform.

 M-Pesa PayBill is an M-Pesa service that has previously only been available to Safaricom M-Pesa subscribers in Kenya and allows the subscribers to pay hunderds of vendors via M-Pesa. By SimbaPay granting PayBill access to its customers, Kenyans abroad can now also pay hundreds of vendors and utility companies in Kenya directly via M-Pesa PayBill.

Nyasinga Onyancha, CEO for SimbaPay noted that “Our customers want to pay vendors in Kenya faster and without having to go through friends and family”.  “This new product allows them to do just that, especially for time sensitive payments such as those to hospitals, stock brokers and the like”.

SimbaPay customers will not require a Safaricom phone number or M-Pesa registration to pay vendors via PayBill as is currently the case for M-Pesa subscribers living in Kenya. SimbaPay charges zero fees for its instant money transfers to M-Pesa PayBill numbers.

Kenyans living in the UK with a bank account, debit card or credit card will be able to use the SimbaPay app to make M-Pesa PayBill payments from any mobile phone, tablet or computer. Transfers made using SimbaPay to M-Pesa PayBill numbers are credited instantly. The service has already been rolled out to Kenyans living in the UK with other EU countries slated in the near future.

For ease of use, the majority of M-Pesa PayBill numbers and vendors have also been pre-loaded on to the SimbaPay platform which eliminates the need for customers having to remember a vendor’s PayBill number. At the time of making an M-Pesa Paybill transfer using SimbaPay, customers will be required to select the vendor to be paid and then enter their account number with the vendor. For example if paying a hospital bill, the patient number will be required.

SimbaPay launched free, instant transfers to Nigeria  in May 2015 and continues to disrupt the cross-border remittance industry with its focus on speed and convenience.

The SimbaPay app can be downloaded for free from the Apple or Android app stores.

TNS and Kantar Media announce strategic mobile research partnership with GeoPoll in Africa

A new range of research products and services intended to deepen and improve market research in Africa

 LONDON, United-Kingdom, May 12, 2015/ -- Global research consultancy TNS has today announced an exclusive and wide-reaching strategic partnership with GeoPoll, the world’s largest mobile survey platform.

(James Eberhard GeoPoll Founder)

Under the multi-year agreement, TNS and sister company, Kantar Media, will join forces with GeoPoll to deploy a new range of research products and services intended to deepen and improve market research in Africa, including:

1.         Giving TNS access to GeoPoll’s platform and user database: TNS will utilize GeoPoll’s mobile surveying platform and user database to conduct mobile research projects for clients throughout Africa.  In addition, GeoPoll will become the exclusive provider of mobile sample using their platform in key countries.

2.         Collaboration on media measurement services: TNS and Kantar Media will work with GeoPoll to expand its Media Measurement Service in selected countries within Sub Saharan Africa, providing support in the areas of media planning software, sampling and weighting expertise.

3.         Expanding Kantar Media’s data products in Africa: TNS, Kantar Media and GeoPoll will jointly sell Kantar Media’s Global TGI product in a number of markets, bringing regular consumer insights on a sector by sector basis. 

TNS, a global leader in market research and Kantar Media, a leading audience measurement and analytics company, are both part of Kantar, one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy groups. Future collaboration between GeoPoll and Kantar’s other operating companies in the region is envisaged.

Kim MacIlwaine, CEO, TNS Africa, Mediterranean & Middle East said: “Mobile is an increasingly important mode of communication for market researchers, and we’re excited to collaborate with GeoPoll to expand our data product offerings in key African markets.  We believe GeoPoll’s robust mobile surveying technology combined with TNS and Kantar Media’s expertise in market and media research will be beneficial to all of our clients working in Africa.”

“GeoPoll has worked hard to drive increased access to quality information in Africa.  We’re excited to partner with TNS and Kantar Media to improve the availability of reliable, cost-effective data across Africa and look forward to expanding the partnership in the coming years,” said James Eberhard, CEO of GeoPoll and its parent company Mobile Accord.

In the past two years GeoPoll has rapidly expanded its services in Africa, opening an office in Nairobi, Kenya, and increasing their presence in South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria. In June 2014, GeoPoll became the largest provider of overnight media ratings in Africa with the launch of its Media Measurement Service, currently running in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda.

For Kantar Media, this development also represents the first step in developing a full portfolio of services across the region.

Reliable Web Hosting Services!

Finding a reliable and credible webhosting service need not be an enigma but requires some little effort on your part! Soon Kenya will have the TEAMS/seacom fibre optic cable reaching our shores making the internet accesible and affordable even at our homes.Consequently most of the business will have to join in the global trend of marketing ,advertising and selling their products online. As usual i have taken upon the task of informing my readers present and future of the online oportunities available out there and how to maximise on their use of the internet.

After identifying and having a skilled web page maker/writer come up with your website design, the next stage is identifying a credible webhosting service that will provide you with quality services at minimum costs!Thats where webhosting geeks come in !

Whats nice about the site is that they rate the different webhosting services out there and identify the credible and top rated sites. You can actually find web hosting services for less than $10 a month i.e Kenya Shillings 800/=. Thats quite a good deal. I was sprised when the other day a pal of mine aid they had paid over Kshs 100,000/= for such a service ! That happens only because many Kenyans are not knowledgeable on internet use and services leaving them open to all manners of exploitation. But now that the world is a global digital village that is bound to change!

webhosting geeks is a credible and relible site for finding useful information on hosting of your website online.If you want to learn more about webhosting there is a useful link on the site that you can readily access! Please visit http://webhostinggeeks.com ,and learn more, get honest opinion and reviews, evaluate the different price tarrifs and packages , find the most dedcated web servers and make an informed decision!

Most importantly visit their blog and get the latest in user reviews, and if you are an IT geek...the latest in technology information,search engine optimization, driving traffic to your website, discussions etc. Honestly and on a personal level...i found the site quite informative!

Finding A Credible Web Hosting Service Provider

The internet is aready resource that many of us seek to exploit and invest in however it is quite a task to find the right web hosting provider. One cannot simply let this matter be left to chance or else your website may be always down and yet you are paying for it! Finding the right web hosting provider need not be brain science because one can make use of web hosting choice. This is a website dedicated in informing consumers on the various service providers out there.

Furthermore one has the opportunity not only to view the different price/tarrif plans available but also to read user reviews that may help you reach an informed decision as to which site /web host provider you may elect to use!The iste faeatures the top 10 voted for web hosting service providers such as justhost, hostmonster,bluehost,hostgator, yahoo, go daddy etc and is updated on a regurlar basis !Apart from that the site also features a host Directory and exposes scam sites on the internet so you are safe with web hosting choice .This site undoubtedly is a worthy resource that any webmaster should consider visiting and signing up on its newsletter !I definately give it an A score on useful sites one must know and visit quite often.So dont wait check out the site at http://www.webhostingchoice.com


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Twitter Search for Conversation

Twitter is dabbling with the idea of real-time search, which is a concept that should get Google worried atleast for the time being. The Twitter web conversation monitoring website has grown exponentially ( according to twitter blog they have acheived above 900% active user growth in just one year)and has now reached a critical mass level that can see it emerge as a new search engine giant but providing a new unique service that may see Google drooling!

Twitter search is now being hosted on its own sub domain at search.twitter.It seems more and more people are eager to know the latest conversation in the internet be it facebook, twitter etc and the fact that this social media platforms are accesible via mobile phones and other portable gadgets makes it the all more attractive! Interestingly twitter has only 29 employees but i am certain this is bound to change soon.Internet use is morphing at a tremendous rate , it seems man & woman is more pre-occupied with telling whats new or learning about it, blogs, social networks, celebrity gossip,chat and online conversations are the in thing and busineses are adapting to this new trend.In future candidates may just win an election based on their prominence in some of this social forums such as facebook-indeed exciting times lie ahead


Need business leads?

How To Use Adgitize To Make Money Online !

Making money from blogging is something every blogger at the back of the mind would like to achieve but its not so easy as it seems. Sometime back i didd a post inviting readers/bloggers to join advertise a service that enables bloggers accumulate points that can be converted to cash especially for each article written.

Today i ould like to share excerpts from Adgitize newsletter on how to score points ion their advertising platform:

Many people would like to earn money for their writing. There are many ways to do that on the web with companies like Pay Per Post and similar. But, those companies limit your blogging topics. Did you know that by scoring points with Adgitize that those points are translated each month into an income? A portion of your monthly points are accumulated by the articles you write on your blog.

How to Score Points

How do you score points for the articles you write? It's very easy. Just log in to the Adgitize Member Lounge. Then click on the Manage Blogs menu item below the MastHead. When you land on the Manage Your Blogs page choose the Edit Blog Info button. At the bottom of the Edit page you will see Blog Rss Feed. Copy the path of your RSS Feed into the box and click the Update Blog Button. Then you are done.

Once you have completed that simple task then go back to writing on your blog. You score Adgitize points for one article per day on your blog. These are articles that you write about subjects you find interesting. Adgitize won't tell you what to write on your blog. Adgitize doesn't force you to write about clothing, cola, consumer goods or other non-interesting items. You communicate to your readers the discussion points important to you.

Points Are Converted To Dollars

At the end of each month your article points are totaled with the other points you score from Adgitize. Points for your ad views, page views, advertising and visits to the members of our network. Once all these points are totaled, they are converted into dollars for your consumption.

Adgitize pays monthly to members after they reach a payout of only $10. So, you get the money you earned right away. No waiting for months to earn $100 or more, payouts fast. Your dollars get delivered to you. So, if you haven't already set up your rss feed then do so today so you can begin earning more money. You are already blogging, so you might as well earn something from it.

Isn't just that beautiful!if you are already Aditizing i bet its news that you will sincerely treasure.If you are not....Join Now

Safaricom Slumber -Sirens Blazing !

After the April 2008 IPO... nothing much in terms of competitiveness, new products ,services or image branding seems to be coming out of Safaricom whilst the competition is getting stiff! I bet i am not the only subscriber who is getting worried about this most profitable mobile telephone services company in Sub Saharan company and we have good reason to be worried.Consider the following :-

• November 2007 -France Telkom buys 51% percent Telkom Kenya Shares from the Government
• September 2008 Telkom South Africa and Telkom Kenya set up Orange Mobile Services(website link) and Orange Broadband .The new service targets to reach at least 50% of the population.The initial roll out intends to add 1 million subscribers per year calls between Orange mobile, Orange fixed wireless and Telkom Fixed will cost KES 7 per minute, while calls to the other mobile service providers will cost KES 14 per minute – significantly less than both the other mobile operators. SMS from Orange mobiles will cost KES 3.5 to any mobile phone service.Safaricom currently boasts over 8 Million subscribers but this is bound to change as it looses more subscribers to the new players in the industry mostly due to their high call cost charges!
  
• June 2008 Celtel changes to Zain and introduces tariff plans that see all prepaid subscribers paying KES 3 per minute on off peak hours(6 p.m to 6 a.m and on weekends) and the Marketing buzz around classic 105 Zain Man who dishes out money to members of the public should definately send the marketing and advertising department at Safricom bck to its drawing board.
• Zain and Telkom's Orange have undertaken massive bill board advertisements ,wall branding,road shows etc their presence is definately being felt in the market....Safaricom still slumbers...there's nothing new from them!
  
• September 2008 Econet wireless Kenya Limited begins its roll out program as the Third Licensed cellular phone services provider.Econet Wireless Kenya holds 70 per cent of the company, Starnet Limited owns 26 per cent, Corporate Africa two per cent and Crosslink two per cent.Earlier on in the year Econet Kenya Wireless Ltd, sold 49 per cent of its share to an India telecommunication company Essar.Econet Wireless boasts of following notable milestones :

• Has More than 11 million subscribers in five networks
• Group employs staff from over 20 nationalities
• Recorded Africa’s rollout of a network by launching a mobile network in Botswana in March 1998 six weeks from awarding of a GMS mobile license
• Entered Zimbabwean market two years after two incumbent competitors, assuming market leadership within three months and listing the company in the same period
• Achieved market leadership of 57% in Nigeria during first year of operation after launching Econet Wireless Nigeria in August 2001
• Econet was the first mobile cellular company in the world to introduce a mobile news service of the BBC World News and South African Broadcasting Corporation news
• First mobile operator in Africa to introduce CNN news on cellular phone handsets
• First operator to introduce a duo-numbered SIM card which was launched in Zimbabwe in 1998
• First operator from an emerging market to own a 3-G licence in an OECD country in New Zealand
• First African telecoms company to build an international satellite hub in the UK

Most of Safaricom subscribers then need to critically look at the future of the company ...worse is the fact that last week Safaricom shares traded at less than 5 Kenyan shillings (KES 4.60-4.90)far much less than their retailing price during the IPO.The share price for Safricom have been less than static in the trading floor of Nairobi Stock Exchange.One tends to think that the IPO was meant to offload shares(wink! wink-Mobitelea) and leave the network to die its natural death .If i was Michael Joseph i wouldn't renew my contract only to suffer shame in the event the Company collapses.The new companies are rapidly edging out Safaricom while there is no sign of hard fight by the network to retain or get new subscribers !Safaricom wake up from your slumber lest your massive network and infrastructure goes down to the dogs!

The Google March in Africa

Africa is rapidly developing to be an emerging market for many multi national corporations!IBM has just announced about a mentorship program in conjuction with many sub saharan universities with intent to develop an employee base when the company launches a major initiative in Africa.On the otherhand Google recently launched its first African office in Nairobi in July this year.Question is,what is in the offing with these new entrants in our domestic markets.

Generally, Googles mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.In attempting to reach that goal locally, Google intends to optimise the use of Google applications in the African,Middle East and Asian region . Further,in order to get more users in the sub saharan market Google is willing to go to the extent of buying international bandwidth and make it affordable to the locals so that they don’t have to pay the curent high premiums prevailing in the african market. Google also intends to develop their Maps product to make sure it has a more relevant appeal and contains local information that is searchable and useful.Thirdly,Google wants to help local webby's monetize local content. Lots of people have done local content but most times it’s flopped. By doing so,google intends to generate more jobs and work especially for the ailing African economies.

That is definately good news for African bloggers who feature local content but cannot effectively monetize since most African companies are yet to grasp and utilize the power of internet advertisement which is a multi billion dollar industry in the developed countries.Most of the top notch advertisement companies have no strategic plans to usurp and exploit this rapidly developing market.Groups such as Ogilvy and Mather,Ayton Young and Rubicam,Lowe Scanad Group,Adopt A Light... etc in Kenya tend to capitalize on print media,outdoor and television advertising and neglect the internet as a medium of massive advertisement perhaps due to the fact that a staggering majority of the African populace lack access to the internet or the computer.

But despite that vein of argument,the recent launch of NTV(a local Kenyan television channel) on Youtube attracted a massive 500 ,000 hits.This indicates that there is a ready market for local content both within Africa and in the diaspora that needs to be tapped.

Google is also set to join the mobile market this is evidenced by their recent stategic dalliance with Sprint Nextel and Cingular Wireless in the United States .Locally, Google in patnership with Safaricom, a leading mobile services provider in Kenya is offering the locals free internet access which obviously is a strategic move to ensure that of the more than 2 million safaricom subscribers get access to google search on the go and remain users of google products especially as it chats its way through the mobile market.It also a preparatory stage for googles attempt at being and remaining the leading search provider in the world.The mountain view based company recently unveiled a free cell phone software package,which it intends to use to more easily peddle ads and services to people who aren't in front of a PC. Thus Google is set to dominate the mobile web market as part of its expansion programe.It is hoped that phones running the new software will be cheaper hence more accesible and affordable to users.

For along time google has been indexing web pages with intent of having the largest database.This will make google eventually the leading and most comprehensive information portal.Due to this vision being championed by Larry Page (founder),Sergey Brin(co-founder) and Eric Schmidt(C.E.O Google inc.) critics have labelled google as "googzilla" and perhaps this fear of monopolization of the information market may be the driving force behind the stalling of googles bid to buy ad tracker Double Click,the leading visual advertisement content provider by regulators in Europe and America.At the same time many rights activist have raised concern over googles attempt to provide books online terming it as attempt at copyright infringement and an abuse by the company.

Their rescent third quarter financial statements(September 2007) are a proof that emerging foreign markets are proving to be the core revenue generating sources for MNC's and microsoft Corp is indeed taking cue from this.Googles revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.03 billion, representing 48% of total revenues in the third quarter of 2007, compared to 44% in the third quarter of 2006 and 48% in the second quarter of 2007. Thus the foreign revenue curve can be seen to be exponentially growing for this company founded in a stanford university dorm and which is hardly a decade old!The example of Google portends the growth and potential that the emerging markets have and the short duration wherein profits can begin to be harnessed !If only local investors could take cue.

The march of Google in Africa will definately yield alot of benefits especially for the local information and technology industry.Their entry into the markets and attempts in creating a presence through launching products with alot of media presence bear evidence of googles attempt at exploiting the opportunities available in emerging foreign markets .This bear evidence to what this investment markets have in store for multi nationals that are willing to take the leap and who will be pleasantly suprised at the opportunities Africa has to offer.