Silvertree To Finance African Tech Startups

South African Silvertree Internet Holdings, a reliable venture capitalist will be funding more tech startups this year with an estimated $10million, announced Paul Cook, the firm founder. The amount will be distributed to interested and qualified companies in Africa including Kenya in exchange for equity rights. Previous beneficiaries include; Click and Compare Group,WineCo and Faithful to Nature among others.

Startups to be funded
Silvertree invests in companies dealing mostly in E-commerce and its related activities.This will cover the inquiry into products, buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the Internet.It's simple doing business over the internet.

That's the good news.

M-kopa 4 Solar From Safaricom

M-kopa Solar panels are offered in some kind of credit basis in partnership with safaricom limited though cash purchasing is also allowed. The latest generation of m-kopa solar is here and it's named M-kopa 4 solar.The number 4 in the name should represent 'fourth generation' after m-kopa 1,m-kopa 2 & m-kopa3.

M-kopa 4 Features
It consists of one solar panel (8W),two improved light bulbs with cables and switches, one improved solar rechargeable torch, one improved solar rechargeable radio, 5-in-1 charging cable and 16'' digital TV available from mid- 2016.Mkopa 4 is fully upgradeable allowing more light bulbs for customers who buy on cash purchase or can pay instalments within less than 365 days.

mkopa solar

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How to buy M-kopa 4 solar
Where to buy Mkopa solar? Visit any mkopa agent near your or any safaricom retail outlet in your location. You can choose to pay in full instantly at ksh17750 and qualify for upgrading or pay a deposit of ksh3500 and pay the rest at ksh50 per day for a duration of 365 days(one year) through mpesa to M-kopa Paybill number 333222.

For more information
For more information visit any mkopa dealer near you or any safaricom retail shop or Send an SMS with the word 'buy' to 22363 and wait for a call.

Lipa Na Mpesa Users To Be Rewarded

cash loans

All Mpesa users using Lipa na Mpesa to do their shopping this December holidays will qualify to participate in the Safaricom's promotion dubbed 'Shinda a 3 bedroom house' .Each time you pay for items in a supermarket, Salon, Fuel refill just to mention a few, you get rewarded points to make you stand a chance to win various cash prizes or fortunately win the grand 3 bedroom house prize.

Lipa na mpesa
To use Lipa na Mpesa;
Select Mpesa menu.
Select Lipa na mpesa.
Select paybill.
Enter business no..
Enter amount.
Select okay /send
Prizes
3 Houses Grand prize for 3 lucky winners.
Cash Prizes;
Ksh100,000 Weekly for 12 winners.
Ksh50,000 Weekly for 12 lucky winners.
Ksh10,000 Weekly for 60 winners.
Ksh1,000 Daily for 100 winners.
Airtime Prizes.
Ksh 500 Daily for 250 winners.
Ksh 250 Daily for 500 winners.
Ksh 100 Daily for 1000 winners.
Its automatic! Start using lipa na mpesa today and you are enrolled to participate in the promotion just like that.
Good luck.

Co-op Bank To Reward Its Facebook And Twitter Fans

Coopbank customer

The Cooperative Bank of Kenya will be rewarding it's social media fans through a campaign dubbed 'Co-op Holidays' this festive season. Following the announcement that KCB will reward it's customers last week,Coop Bank is following suit.This holiday campaign will run from 13th December 2015 to 7th January 2016.
Who is Eligible
The campaign is open to the bank's customers who are also fans of the bank's Facebook and twitter pages. 'See Terms and Conditions'.
The Coop bank will be rewarding customers who will use its services this holiday season including;Use of credit cards for shopping, internet banking, servicing or taking loans, Coop kwa jirani, mco-op cash or over the counter services.
Prizes
There are various prizes to be won but the most emphasized are the holiday trips within kenya and outside. Coop bank has already entered into partnership with ATS Travel, an international travel management service provider to cater for the trips.
Winners
Winners will be selected and made public on the banks social media pages (Facebook &twitter).The bank will call the winners to inform them that they have won.
Happy Holiday 2015

Imarika Sacco - Together We Grow

Imarika Sacco was initially known as Kilifi Teachers Cooperative Society but when its membership bursted out of 'teachers' and 'kilifi residents' target circle, its name changed to Imarika, a Swahili word meaning 'gain strength' or 'become stable'. Now its an international cooperative society and anyone can join. Call Head Office in Kilifi Town :041 7522572 or 041 7525017


Loan Products
Members are free to only submit monthly savings or even decide to bank other cash with Imarika.This leads to two loan products categories.
BOSA LOANS
Back Office Service Activities (BOSA)loans are given to those clients who are purely providing membership savings only at imarika.BOSA long-term loans include ;Development loan, smart loan and karibu loan.BOSA medium term loans include ;Scholar plus loan and swift loan.BOSA short-term loans include ;emergency loan and school fees loan.
FOSA LOANS
Front Office Service Activities (FOSA)loans are available to clients who apart from contributing the normal membership savings, they also bank with Imarika.
FOSA medium term loans include ;Development loan, scholar plus loan and ufanisi loan.
FOSA short term loans include ;emergency loan, school fees loan and imarika vijana loan.
FOSA salary advances include ;Prestige advance, ordinary advance,one month advance and advance top up.
I have decided to keep a lot of information like loan amounts repayment periods and interest rates because it's until when you are a member, you will know the rest.

Startup Financing In Kenya

The Kenyan youths are drastically changing from chasing after jobs to chasing after funding to finance the taking off or growing of their start-ups businesses. It's with no doubt that the advantages of owning a business outdo those of being an employee by a greater margin. Where then will one get the funding for starting a biashara after unsuccessful job hunting or unsatisfactory job?
In this post, I'll give an overview of the sources of loans for start-ups in Kenya.For full descriptions of these companies and contacts,PLEASE VISIT LENDERS

Venture Capitalists
These are financiers who will listen to your start-up business idea and evaluate its viability. If they are fully convinced by your idea, they'll provide the funding and be part of the ownership(a percentage of your business will belong to the venture capitalist) but will never be involved in the day to day activities of the business.Examples of venture capitalists in Kenya include among others;Nairobi Garage, Seed Capital Investment,Savannah Fund, Westpac,Growthhub, Grofin, Monsanto Fund and Jacana.
Angel Networks
These are finanaciers who will first have to believe in your business idea as a viable one.They'll then provide funding, training and be part of the day to day business activities to ensure the startup grows.So far Investeq Capital remains the well known angel network for startups.
Crowdsourcing
This is where you get several lenders at one place who will first have to be convinced by the viability of your startup business. The most popular crowdsourcing platforms are Zidisha and Kiva.Others include Cheetah fund, Wakibi, Kickstarter, Indiegogo,Appbackr,Quirky AfricInvest, Agrivie Fund,Investeq Capital, Leapfrog, Eva Fund,Fasini,Enabilis and Crowdfunder.
Micro lenders
There are hundreds of microfinance institutions in Kenya both credit only and deposit taking.Micro lenders have a good history of uplifting start-ups compared to commercial banks in kenya.Visit any and give them your startup idea. Some examples include:U&I microfinance, Faulu,Imarika,Century, Uwezo,Youth Fund, Women Enterprise fund, Zawadisha, Sumac, Letshego kenya, Opportunity kenya, ECLOF kenya, Milango microfinance, Musoni MFI, Bimas MFI, Plan international,Yehu microfinance, Riverbank,Ufanisi-AFR, Rupia MFI, Kopo kopo, Unaitas, Juhudi kilimo MFI, Window MFI, Craft Silicon, Planet Rating, Taifa MFI and Greenland Fedha.
Financial foundations
Sometimes foundations can give funding to startup businesses in form of interest free loans, grants or prizes. Some foundations have known dates when they give out loans, grants or hold competitions while others don't have.You must be on the look always never to miss any announced dates set for competitions.Ongoing now is the Total Startupper of the year.Examples of other foundations include ;Safaricom foundation, Chandaria foundation, Citi foundation, MasterCard foundation, Coca-cola foundation, Aga Khan foundation, Ford foundation, The Tony Elumelu, Micro loan, Virgin unite and African Leadership foundation.

KCB To Retain Customers Through Loyalty Rewards

KCB Bank branch

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) recently rolled out a program to reward it's loyal customers dubbed KCB Simba Points Loyalty ProgramThe program which started in Kenya this week will eventually spread to other regional countries where the bank operates it's subsidiaries.

How to enroll
Enrollment is free to KCB clients. It's done through KCB mobile on *522# or KCB App or visiting any KCB branch.Registered customers of KCB Simba Points Program will then use simbapoints.kcbbankgroup.com as an online platform to learn how to earn and redeem points.
How to earn points

KCB will reward points to any registered customer doing any transactions including making deposits, making e_payments,using debit or credit cards,paying for insurance premiums and applying for or servicing loans among others, from a bank branch, KCB mtaani agent, KCB App, KCB mobile or KCB internet banking.
Rewards
Customers have a wide range of redemption options including, paying for flights, paying for accommodation, paying for dinner, paying for online shopping, paying for electronics,paying for small bills among others. The bank entered into partnerships with both local and multinational companies to achieve this.Some of the companies include;Tribe, Sarova hotel , Serena hotel,Airtel,Big square, PC world and Naivas supermarket.