Snapchat recently lost almost $800 million after singer Rihanna condemned its offensive advert. In an Instagram post, Rihanna called out the app for making light of domestic violence. One will assume Snapchat did not see the multiple deleting of accounts coming. Facebook faces a similar crisis following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Apparently, data from over 50 million Facebook profiles was secretly scraped and mined for voter insights in the U.S election.
Over the years, Facebook has had to answer to threats to user privacy and this by far has sparked the strongest outrage from users. The question though is if it is as easy as implied in a hashtag #DeleteFacebook to let go of the most popular social platform. Unarguably the most used platform, are businesses willing to tangle free of the prospective customers the platform offers? Are you willing to let go of the social connections you have made since you signed up for your account?
Brian Acton, the co-founder of WhatsApp which was bought by Facebook in 2014 came out in an online post urging people to delete their accounts and apps. Whatever his reasons are, deleting Facebook may in one way or another lead to the downfall of WhatsApp not forgetting the gross financial losses Facebook is already facing.
While we may ignore the politics behind this uproar, we cannot ignore are the issue of user privacy which is at stake. I cannot tell if the other options like Twitter and Telegram promise better security but I have heard Telegram is not that bad after all.
If deleting Facebook, WhatsApp and their affiliations is not your go to, there are other options for you to explore such as spending less time on the apps for the sake of your privacy. Now is when you review those permissions you have given Facebook before.
If you have always wanted to leave Facebook, this is your time: Click Here
Don’t you just love how technology makes life easier every second of every day?
I mean you can now have access to a personal assistant ready with directions to that get away place you have always wanted to visit, ready to call anyone on request and able to give you weather forecasts so your plans are not messed up. Yes, all that can be done in just one simple step: Siri, should I carry an umbrella tomorrow? Thank me later.
With technology came the Amazon Kindle a device that enables users to browse, buy, download and read e-books, magazines and newspapers via a wireless connection to the Kindle Store. What that meant for the student, business guru and avid reader is you do not have to carry tons of books around. And now you can add newsletters to that collection of publications you can access on your Kindle thanks to the N2Kindle platform.
What N2Kindle does is it lets you read your newsletters on your Kindle immediately they get to your inbox. Here’s a prospect of you enjoying your daily dose of information without having to switch between numerous apps.
All you have to do is sign up as a user with your Kindle email address and a personal N2Kindle address is created for you to be able to sign up for newsletters. The rest is history. You will only sit back and relax as technology automatically converts your newsletter to a Kindly friendly layout, forwards it to your email address and ka-boom, newsletter on your Kindle.
N2Kindle gives you the chance to test the product first in a 30 day trial. If impressed, the service goes for 1€ a month. Before your smile fades, N2Kindle also offers a free service when you share N2Kindle with friends – just two friends.
Taxify, Europe and Africa’s fastest-growing ride-sharing platform, has unveiled a new XL feature on the platform. The feature is an addition to help simplify travel within and around Kampala.
“The XL feature is one of the options that Taxify has created for those riding/travelling in big groups. We currently have a standard category that accommodates a maximum of four people and a boda category that can carry one. The XL category will give people the option of travelling in groups of up to 6.” said Shivachi Muleji, Regional Manager East Africa.
Drivers of the XL category vehicles have to go through the same training as drivers of the
standard category. They are also required to have a driving permit and National ID. The vehicles must be manufactured from 2000 onwards and have a third party insurance sticker covering 6 people.
“We will maintain the same level of service and driver quality to ensure that our customers feel safe and enjoy their experience while using Taxify, ” added Shivachi.
Happy drivers offer a great experience for riders, therefore Taxify believes in treating its drivers with respect, allowing them to earn more than what they receive on any other platform, and providing a range of features that help them work in the way that suits them best. Taxify XL will launch at a 10% discount with fares at 2,500 UGX Base fare, 150 UGX per Minute, 850 UGX per KM and 6000 UGX Minimum Fare. Taxify will compensate the drivers with bonuses to compensate for the discounted price. Taxify takes a commission of 15%.
“The XL feature will help those who want to travel as a group or family without spending a lot of money,” concluded Shivachi.
The upgraded version of Ecobank’s (www.Ecobank.com) revolutionary mobile app has attracted 3 million new customers in just 6 months, taking the total number of users to 4 million.
The app builds on the core functionality that saw the original version applauded as a game changer for African banking by using digital technology to combat many of the financial inclusion barriers faced by those on the continent. This includes the dearth of rural branches, affordability of products, high transaction costs and minimum opening balance requirements.
Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobank Group CEO, says Ecobank’s strategic mission is built around using mobile banking to deliver innovative, efficient and cost-effective services to those who have typically sat outside of the formal economy, and therefore goes far beyond the reach of the traditional branch and ATM networks. Subsequently, while the app won one million customers in its first year of launch, upgraded features have seen the rate of sign-ups treble in half of the time. So far this year, app usage has been growing at an average 700k new customers per month.
“Customers can use the app on their mobile to instantly open Ecobank Xpress Account™, which doesn’t have any account fees, paperwork or minimum balance requirements, or to send and receive money across 33 African countries,” he explains. “Therefore, our app not only removes the barriers that have financially excluded so many Africans but offers next generation functionality to help them send money, make withdrawals or pay for goods and services.”
Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank’s Group Executive, Consumer Banking, says that Ecobank is committed to providing all Africans with access to financial services, but doing so in a way that conjoins functionality with convenient, accessible and efficient banking channels, such as the rollout of Ecobank Xpress ™ Point Agents.
“We want to be the digital bank of choice for all Africans,” he said. “Functionality is one thing – giving our customers unrivalled convenience is another. The Ecobank Xpress ™ Point Agents that can now be found in your local neighbourhood enable you to deposit money into your app-based Ecobank Xpress Account™ and begin to make digital payments on the app using Ecobankpay. You can also withdraw funds in local currency that may have been sent to you from friends or relatives using our innovative instant transfer or Xpress Cash capabilities.”
The Ecobank Mobile App is available for download from the Google Play Store or Apple Store.
Uber, a ride hailing company launched UberBoda, a service where riders can order for motorcycle rides instead of cars within the city of Kampala. Users in Uganda now have the option to either order an UberX or an UberBoda.
Yes, UberBoda is not the service offering bike trips in the country but they had to venture into the space. This follows the amount of data and research they have in other areas such as Jarkata in Indonesia where they have an equivalent service called UberMoto, which has fully scaled in the city.
UberBoda is available mainly in the areas of Makerere, Mulago, Lubiri, Bukoto-Kamwokya, KIU-Kansanga, Kitintale, Kulambiro, Nakivubo-St.Balikuddembe market which is smaller than the UberX service area.
These are the areas with more Uber requests and this is a test period for the company to study the market and scale to other areas of the city just like the car option. This makes sense because they have to train ‘drivers’ (as they are called in the bike app) on how to use the app, ethics and do checks on insurance and permits as they sign up more drivers.
A small service area launch might suck to some users but Uber’s approach is to have the service completely unavailable rather than trying to order a bike and seeing no drivers. Aaron Tindeseega, the Uber General Manager Uganda told this blog that the service area is going to expand with time and the number of driver signups is overwhelming but the Uber has to carry out it’s quality control and strict registration measures. Aaron added that “UberBoda drivers get insurance cover for a year that will be renewable.”
UberBoda is quite affordable and the rates are as follows;
Minimum fare – UGX 1,500 Base fare – UGX 500 Per Kilometre – UGX 450 Per Minute – UGX 70.
What’s More?
Well, we have studied that Uber actually studies the markets it launches in and comes up with all sorts of tests and solutions for different markets.
Let’s start with UberMoto in Jarkata, Indonesia for example, the city is crowded and full of traffic and hence the use of cars can be annoying hence users tend to use motorbikes. One can say the same for Kampala, where daytime traffic is bad and when you are late for a meeting you are most likely to jump on a motorbike rather than a car.
When I tested the app in Jarkata, we realised that there is a users can pair with driver once they see their bike by entering a pairing code. This might come to Uganda considering their competition ‘SafeBoda’ has the feature live in the country.
UberMOTO pairing
In Tanzania, where the ‘tuktuk’ is very common, Uber came up with a new service called UberPoa where 2 riders can order a three wheeled motorcycle. The service is so localised that the instructions are in Kiswahili not english as one would expect for an international app.
In Kenya, Uber launched an even lower cost service for car rides called UberCHAPCHAP which uses fuel efficient vehicles (900cc to be precise) to offer users rides that are cheaper than those of UberX.
UberChapChap in Kenya
In Uganda, we can predict that UberBoda will be a platform for Uber to launch other services we have seen in other countries such as UberEats and UberXpress. You remember when Uber did an UberChoma promo for delivering free nyama choma using cars. Well, the free meat was nice but some deliveries took long, why, because cars can’t beat traffic.
In Indonesia, Uber uses UberMoto drivers to make food deliveries and package deliveries because they can manoeuvre traffic jam and get your delivery in time. The same drivers also deliver packages from offices and homes using a service called UberXpress.
So this would make a lot of sense if Uber did the same in Uganda once, UberBoda has scaled to more areas. Don’t be surprised when you see UberEats, UberXpress or even UberChapChap coming to Uganda soon
Let us know what you think of this in the comments below.
It’s been a long road for Spotify in terms of going public, but now that day is here. The company is now public; it took the unusual step of pursuing a direct listing, rather than the more traditional IPO. Shares were set at a price of $132 by the New York Stock Exchange late Monday, according to Reuters. That gives Spotify a value of over $23 billion.
As of the time of this writing, Spotify still has not had its first trade (which may be a record; it’s now taken longer to start trading than Alibaba). The NYSE did warn traders that it could take longer than usual for that first trade to occur because of the direct listing. The Wall Street Journal reports the anticipated range of Spotify’s first trade has been creeping up all morning; it’s now at $167 to $170. That signals there’s a lot of interest in Spotify’s shares. It will be interesting to see what happens when the company finally has its first trades.
The flux in share price is due to the fact that Spotify is pursuing a less traditional direct listing instead of an IPO. This allows the share price to be set by supply and demand, rather than underwriters. Last year, the company hoped for a total valuation of $10 billion. It looks like the streaming service is going to get a whole lot more than that, judging by the interest in shares.
Update: Shares of Spotify were open for trading at 12:45 PM ET. The starting price was $165.90, and 5.6 million shares were traded initially.
MTN Uganda today launched MTN Shortz, a short video streaming platform. MTN Shortz is a mobile-only service that allows subscribers to upload videos of no more than 10 minutes. MTN Shortz is available through mobile phones only on www.mtnplay.co.ug/shortz.
The streaming service allows subscribers to directly post video content from their mobile devices.
“MTN is creating an opportunity for its subscribers to create video content and earn from it. As the leading tech brand in Africa, we are always looking for ways to use technology to provide services that uplift the quality of life in the markets where we operate and so MTN Shortz,” said Olivier Prentout, the Chief Marketing Officer.
MTN Shortz has several channels that subscribers can pick to upload content of their choice. It consists of channels belonging to different content owners, which users can access to view a variety of content. For subscribers to view the content on MTN Shortz, there is a daily charge of between Ugx200 and Ugx1000.
For a video viewed, the content owner will be able to earn some money from the visits.
“The MTN Shortz channels will have local content videos, meaning that for the Ugandan content producers, there is an opportunity for views and extra income. MTN believes that MTN Shortz will be able to drive local content video production,” Prentout notes.
Adding “There is also an opportunity for those that want to be seen by professional content creators. There are several professional content creators that will be using MTN Shortz and will be able to identify the untapped talent. You won’t have to wait for the opportunity to come to you, you can create it.”
For the MTN Pulse community, MTN Shortz is empowering the lifestyle of creating an opportunity. There are several platforms where people can post videos, however on MTN Shortz, the fact is that there is an opportunity to make money. The MTN Pulse community, there will be several exclusive offers in order to access and use MTN Shortz
Standard Chartered Bank has taken a huge step and is launching its first digital-only retail bank in Ivory Coast, saying it will use the west African country as a testing ground for a global launch of digital services.
This move is seen as a part of a fightback by banks in Africa, where telecom companies and financial technology companies have grabbed market share from banks by offering services such as mobile money and mobile payments, often to previously unbanked customers and has registered enormous success.
The new StanChart bank will offer clients 70 digital services, including money transfers, bill payments and balance tracking. There are an estimated 9.8m mobile money accounts in the country registered with telecoms companies making it the fifth-highest mobile money penetration in the world, according to StanChart.
To raise awareness, StanChart is partnering with Didier Drogba, the country’s most famous football player, who will sign up to be the first customer of the digital bank.
Across Africa, banks are seeking to entice back mobile customers and regain market share. In Nigeria, Diamond Bank said on Tuesday it was launching an AI-assisted Chatbot, named Ada, to provide “a human-like interaction and personalised experience” for customers. Ada, it said, would enable transactions such as airtime purchase, bill payments, stock trading, and money transfers via a social network platform. The same can be witnessed here where banks have adopted mobile banking through various medium of mobile apps and USSD.
Once the operation had bedded down, StanChart would launch a digital bank in other African markets, including Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana..
Taxify Uganda has this morning unveiled new lowered prices for the month of March to their riders and drivers. This comes at a time when the rainy season in the country has made moving around Kampala almost impossible.
Last year, Taxify introduced demand-based charges also known as Dynamic pricing in a bid to attract more drivers to its platform and solidify its presence in Kampala. Dynamic pricing on Taxify is a feature that makes it possible for us to provide more rides even more effectively. Since then, the online taxi-hailing platform has often slashed their prices for riders and has continued giving drivers and improved percentage.
While lowering the prices, Taxify will be compensating drivers with bonuses, to compensate the difference. The focus is to provide drivers with better revenue per ride and keeping them happy with earnings and support we provide, which leads to ultimately better service for clients. Both sides win with Taxify.
Equity Bank Uganda and UNCDF have partnered in driving financial inclusion in Uganda under a program called MM4P – Mobile Money for the Poor. Equity Bank Uganda Limited today showcased the technology, process and applicability of this solution in Uganda at the Kampala Serena hotel through their biometric card solutions that will enable secure electronic cash transfer to refugees.
Equity Bank is the first to go to market with this innovative solution in Uganda delivering last mile distributions & enabling a transition from humanitarian response to development. Equity Bank in Kenya is currently running a program called the national hunger safety net program with 420,000 beneficiaries with total funds disbursed at 4.79 billion Kenya shillings.
Equity Bank partners include UN, World Bank, UNCDF, Financial Sector Deepening to mention but a few. Equity Bank is giving refugees the tools they need to increase their resilience & the development partners efficient and transparent solutions for cash transfers. This system will be scaled using the agency banking model, currently launched with support from UNCDF.
