Belgium Software Company Odoo Picks Nairobi As Its African Base

Belgium software company Odoo has chosen Nairobi as its African headquarters. Odoo offers business solutions such as ecommerce, point of sale, accounting, inventory, among others, for businesses. The firm says that its offices will be located at Chiromo Lane, Westlands. “It was very important for us to open this new office and 2022 was the year to do it,” Odoo South Africa (S.A) CEO & Founder Fabien Pinckaers said. “We wanted to be closer to our customers and address them locally, with local talents, which is something we cannot achieve from afar,” he added. Locally, the firm has employed 30 people and it expects to hire up to 50 additional employees within a year. So far, the firm has deployed several new software features tailored for the Kenyan market as well as African SMEs. To ensure its ability to address the market’s needs, Odoo KE LTD introduced several new features specifically designed for Kenya such as Kenyan Chart of accounts. Others include a new eCommerce acquirer accepting payments methods such as credit cards, debit cards, mobile money (Mpesa, Airtel, MTN, etc) throughout Africa, the Kenyan Payroll, and the KRA TIMS integration (upcoming). “Digitization cannot be ignored anymore. Today an SME in Nairobi or Abidjan faces the same challenges as one in Sydney, Madrid, or Mexico in terms of efficiency gains,” Odoo KE LTD director Patrick Lukusa said. “We want to equip these SMEs with a modern, fully integrated suite of business applications that can address their needs at a reasonable cost and boost their competitiveness,” he added. Earlier this year, Lukusa was appointed as the director of Odoo KE LTD, a subsidiary of Odoo S.A. After his appointment, the company was incorporated in a few weeks. Initially, the company was to start operation on July 1, 2022 with 15-headcounts (Sales consultants and business analysts). Source: Capital FM Kenya.

Posted in ICT

ALP Opens New Warehouse In Limuru

Africa Logistics Properties (ALP) has opened a new warehouse facility at its West Logistics Park in Limuru, a move aimed at easing supply chain management for small and medium-sized enterprises. The new 107,639 square feet facility named Kyoga is part of the larger ALP West Complex which, upon completion, will comprise seven phases of up to 1,076,391 square feet of grade A warehousing. Speaking during the official opening of the warehouse, Trade, Investment, and Industry Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria lauded ALP for the move and underscored the government’s commitment to attracting investors in the country. “I want to reiterate the commitment of the government to promote investments and welcome investors to create jobs and help increase income and improve Kenya’s competitiveness on the regional and global stages,” said Kuria. ALP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Richard Hough reaffirmed the company’s commitment to providing quality warehousing for all businesses thus making the operations easier for its customers. “Our commitment to ensuring all our tenants, and by extension other businesses in Kenya, experience climate-smart and modern warehousing that meets their current and future needs. Kyoga, just as the Courtyard, our first development at ALP West, is designed for small and medium-sized enterprises to modern warehousing,” said Hough. He further noted that the energy and water-saving initiatives in the warehouse will enable the tenants to enjoy the facility in addition to reflecting on stronger bottom lines that will allow them to scale up and grow their businesses. Since 2017, ALP has been operating warehouses in Ruiru where many firms including e-commerce companies Twiga Foods and Copia have been operating. Source: Capital FM Kenya.

Foreign direct investments surge after three-year lull

Kenya’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows are on the rebound after a lull in the last three years. The slowdown was due to the global economic slowdown triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), the inflows point to a steady recovery to pre-pandemic levels, a trend expected to hold as the new government lays out its vision and earmarks strategic sectors to deliver economic transformation. KenInvest acting Managing Director Olivia Rachier said foreign investors have been developing keen interest in key sectors such as green energy, infrastructure, agricultural value chain, oil and gas and information technology. “We will proactively support investors through all avenues available to address their concerns whenever the need arises,” she said. The FDI is bolstered by the government’s intent to pursue sustainable energy production to respond to the climate change crisis. Ms Rachier said the plan is key to positioning Kenya among the integral players and respondents to global warming. The pandemic not only battered Kenya’s FDI stock but sent the entire global marketplace back to the drawing board regarding strategy as foreign investors adopted a wait-and-see attitude aimed at capital preservation. As the pandemic continues to subside, the impact it has had on economies is far from being mitigated. This is complicated further by the Russia-Ukraine war. Some countries are, however, coming up with innovative ways of building back better. Kenya continues to align her policies to the modern investment climate demands in a bid to position herself as a leader in investment attraction and retention. “The country’s seamless political transition during the just concluded polls is a testament to its resolve to claim Kenya’s leadership position as a haven where investors are assured of the security of their investments,” Ms Rachier said. Given that an estimated 42 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is derived from climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, an effort towards promoting responsible production and sustainable energy generation is a welcome relief to Kenya. “In the long run, the country will be able to manage with ease the effects of drought and floods. The trickle-down effect will have a positive impact on the overall economic performance.” Ms Rachier said the improved business environment brought about by government interventions in response to changes in investor needs has started bearing fruit. “This is evident considering the frequency and number of registered interests from investment groups as well as source country enquiries and investor-aligned delegations that the authority continue to receive.” In 2021, KenInvest registered and facilitated 167 foreign investment projects worth Sh47.44 billion, an encouraging feat during such an unpredictable period. Sectors that drew more interest were energy, construction, finance and manufacturing. Ms Rachier said the Netherlands and Mauritius were among the fast-rising source countries for Kenya’s FDI, joining the traditional source powerhouses – the UK, US, China and Japan. Source: Standard Newspaper.

KenInvest Leads in the Opening of The 5th Kenya International Industrial Expo

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Afripeak Expo is not just bringing Chinese Manufactures to Kenya for the 5th time but also has plans for more physical & stronger annual Expos to bring potential partners as well as taking the opportunity to provide informative sessions that will educate Kenya business professionals on how to safely and profitably attract investors and partnerships from China. The 5th International Industrial Expo is set to take place between the 3-5 of November and is expected to attract participants from various sectors including general machinery , construction, energy and the chemicals industry. #InvestinKenya #MakeitKenya #opportunity #partnerships[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRIAtXHaBcc” title=”The 5th Kenya international industrial expo “][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Kenya now among the top export destinations in Africa, says report

Kenya is the second most preferred export destination in Africa, according to a survey of companies operating on the continent, signaling the country’s growing consumer power driven by rising population and incomes. The latest Pan-African private sector trade and investment committee (PAFTRAC) report indicated that Africa-based companies exported goods and services to Nigeria at 25.96 percent, Kenya at 23.89 percent followed by South Africa at 22.12 percent. Kenya’s performance was aided by the improved infrastructure including the standard gauge railway (SGR), which runs from Mombasa to Naivasha. “The inclusion of South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya among the leading trading nations is partly the result of the role that their international ports play in regional trade,” reads the report. One of the challenges with the SGR, however, noted by the private sector players surveyed was the railway did not transcend the country’s borders. “Where new railways are built, it often proves difficult to secure funding for linking transport infrastructure across borders. For instance, Kenya’s new standard gauge railway (SGR) runs between Mombasa and Nairobi but not yet between Nairobi and Kampala,” said the report. The country has also been importing from other African nations. Although Kenya is one of the world’s largest horticultural exporters, Nigeria imports flowers from Europe rather than Kenya, making this one of the challenges around intra-African trading. As of 2021, Kenya’s imports of goods and services were 20.1 percent of its gross domestic product. “As with exports, the main Anglophone markets are the main source of imports for the companies we surveyed. Kenya performs particularly well, cited by 28 percent of participants, marginally behind South Africa (28.3 percent) in first place,” said the report. The survey was administered to over 800 respondents, seeking to assess African private sector sentiment regarding the African trade prospects and landscape. The respondents were surveyed between March and June 2022. The represented companies had annual revenues of up to $250 million (Sh30.2 billion) and operating in agribusiness, manufacturing, education, and banking among others. Source: Business Daily Newspaper.

Ruto in Ethiopia for Safaricom launch as he begins regional tour

Kenya’s President William Ruto arrived in Ethiopia Thursday morning on his first tour of the region since taking office. President Ruto is also set to travel to Uganda and Tanzania. The agenda for the regional tour includes talks on business and political ties, according to a dispatch from State House. On his arrival in Addis Ababa, he met Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and is also scheduled to attend the national launch of Safaricom Ethiopia. Safaricom Ethiopia is the subsidiary of Kenya’s largest mobile telco and which will be the first foreign investment in Ethiopia’s telecommunications scene. Safaricom Ethiopia says it has successfully rolled out its network across different parts of the country. The government of Kenya has 35 percent stake in Safaricom. he Ethiopian subsidiary, known as the Global Partnership for Ethiopia, is a joint venture involving Safaricom, Vodacom Group, Vodafone Group, Sumitomo Corporation and the British International Investment. Safaricom owns 55.7 percent of the company. From Addis Ababa, Ruto will travel to Uganda for the Sunday celebrations of 60 years of independence before heading to Tanzania to meet President Samia Suluhu. The trip comes days after an online tiff between Kenya and Uganda that was triggered by a tweet made by Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Yoweri Museveni’s son, claiming his army could capture Nairobi in no more than two weeks. By VINCENT OWINO (The East African) Get the whole story

Safaricom Ethiopia Gets Government Nod To Setup M-Pesa

Safaricom Ethiopia has been granted a license by the Ethiopian Government to roll out M-Pesa in the country. The deal was brokered by President William Ruto and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Regulatory approval now paves way for the establishment of an M-Pesa unit in Ethiopia, allowing the telco to expand its lucrative mobile money business to the untapped Horn of Africa country with over 100 million people. In the year ended March 2022, Safaricom announced a Sh50 billion profit before tax on its mobile money unit, M-Pesa. The growing profitability of the product has been helped by the increased adoption of mobile payments in the past two years. “We congratulate Safaricom for being authorized to run mobile money in Ethiopia,” President Ruto wrote on his Twitter handle. In April, Ethiopia’s central bank said it had drafted a Bill to pave the way for foreign investors like Safaricom to offer mobile money services. Existing laws only allowed locally owned non-financial institutions to offer the services. The approval to setup M-Pesa comes after Safaricom officially launched its services in Ethiopia. The event, which was held in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, was attended by Safaricom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa and his Ethiopian counterpart Anwar Soussa. The network operator says that it will offer 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile services across Ethiopia’s 11 cities, including the Capital as well as the second largest city of Dire Dawa. Source: Business Daily Newspaper.

AfCFTA launches digital trading hub during fete to mark third anniversary

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has unveiled a digital trading platform dubbed the AfCFTA Hub in efforts aimed at interconnecting national, regional and private digital applications to boost the ability of African SMEs to expand their scope. The launch was made during the Boma of Africa hosted to mark this year’s Africa Integration Day. The commissioning of the hub was done by Niger’s ex-President Mahamadou Issifou on behalf of the AfCFTA Secretariat during AfCFTA’s third anniversary fete convened jointly by the African Union (AU), the AfCFTA Secretariat, AfroChampions and the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). With the launch of the hub, every SME or start-up in the African Union is now entitled to a free AfCFTA Number that will aid them in the export of products across Africa through improved logistics, networking of retail outlets, integration of fintech and brand development support. The financing of the program, AU says, will be provided through the affiliated AfCFTA Caravan Initiative. Other entities that rendered support include Afreximbank, MTN, Ecobank, the Village Foundation, IC Publications, Dominion Television and APO. Other corporate supporters are big-league logistics companies such as RwandAir, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Asky. A hackathon competition awards ceremony was also held on the sidelines of the hub launch. The contest featured Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and startups from Africa organised to showcase brand innovation and creativity. Among the hackathon winners included Nunya’s Naturals which bagged the Circular Economy Prize, TQay that went home with the Brand Equity Prize as well as Tropical Brands which was awarded the AfCFTA Readiness Prize. At the Boma, several AU Heads of States and business executives held discussions to examine the key collective strategies that the continent can use to achieve recovery from the Covid-19 crisis as well as manage the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Source: Business Daily Newspaper.

Kenya now retains ITU seat based in Romania

Kenya has successfully defended its seat for a fresh four-year mandate at the Council of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) based in Romania, as it seeks to cement its credentials as a digital economy leader on the continent. This is after it garnered 146 votes on the Monday election to secure a seat on the 48-member Council, marking the best performance that the country has posted this far at the ITU, with a spike of six votes since the last elections in 2018. Kenya is one of the 13 African countries to secure a position among peers which include Ghana, Egypt, Tanzania, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Nigeria. Others are Tunisia, Mauritius, Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa. ITU is a United Nations special agency for Information Communication Technology (ICT). The Council is the supreme organ that governs ITU’s activities during the interval between plenipotentiary conferences. “The results demonstrate that Kenya continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of the international community to provide meaningful leadership in the advancement of the digital economy,” said the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) in a statement. Kenya launched its bid for re-election at the ITU Council in May this year, with the State Department of Broadcasting and Telecommunications Principal Secretary Esther Koimett spearheading the campaign, backed by players in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the CA. In the recent past, Kenya has made remarkable strides in the ICT infrastructure, consequently cementing its status as one of the leading tech hubs in the region. Based on various awards, covering areas such as fintech, Kenya is increasingly gaining recognition as an innovation district. Currently, Kenya’s John Omo sits as the Secretary-General of the African Telecommunications Union. The Union is the leading continental body entrusted with building consensus within African countries and coordinating African Common Proposals in international forums. Last week, members of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) voted for Kenya’s Konza Technopolis to host their annual high-level conference in 2024. Source: Business Daily Newspaper.

Posted in ICT

Silicon Overdrive launches in Kenya

Silicon Overdrive is a leading IT Managed Services provider that was founded in 1995, with headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa, and has a footprint across Sub-Saharan Africa. We are pleased to announce that Silicon Overdrive has officially opened our regional office in the beautiful city of Nairobi, Kenya. Our launch was attended by guests from the Public Sector, Startups, Enterprise and SMB. Senior Executives from Amazon Web Services, presented on AWS in Kenya as well as the AWS Offerings and Funding available to customers. Our expansion into the Kenyan market is a strategic decision to support our customers in the region. Silicon Overdrive enables customers across Sub-Saharan Africa to migrate to the AWS cloud, modernizing their applications to utilize cloud-native services, optimizing, securing and managing their workloads on AWS. We also assist our customers achieve compliance on AWS including the following standards General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), International Information Security Standard (ISO 27001) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) on AWS. “Silicon Overdrive has built its business on being customer-centric, and by providing Cloud Solutions that assist customers to realize immediate business value when migrating to the cloud,” says Gareth Bowers, CEO. We can assist customers across various industries such as HealthCare, FinTech, Banks, EdTech, Public Sector, Retail, Media and Analytics to modernize their workloads to ensure flexibility, and reliability on the AWS cloud. “Silicon Overdrive is an Advanced Partner and holds several AWS Competencies and is part of AWS Partner program, which provide customers access to various Funding Programs and benefits,” says Ross Davie, Business Development Director. Next on the horizon for Silicon Overdrive is to expand our footprint into other countries in Africa. If you would like to know more about Silicon Overdrive, please click on the link www.overdrive.co.ke. Source: Business Daily Newspaper.

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