Month: November 2022

Africa Data Centres has revealed plans to build its first data centre in Kigali, Rwanda. The data centre will have 2MW of IT load and will be purpose-built to meet growing demand in the region.

“It is an exciting time for Africa Data Centres,” says Tesh Durvasula, the company’s CEO. “Our decision to build a data centre in Kigali was an easy one, given Rwanda’s robust economic recovery post the COVID-19 pandemic and the Government of Rwanda’s focus on digital transformation”.

“This latest announcement adds to and complements our existing investments in Rwanda and elsewhere in East Africa. We will work closely with both public and private enterprises in Rwanda to ensure that they can harness the benefits of our data centre facility to enable the provision of  digital services that Rwandan citizens need,” Added Hardy Pemhiwa, Group President & CEO of Cassava Technologies.

According to Durvasula, “This new data centre brings three main benefits to the market – global standards, high quality of service and affordability. In addition, enterprises will achieve cost savings associated with building and maintaining their own facilities”.

Although Rwanda is a landlocked country in East Africa, there is stable network connectivity and infrastructure connecting it to Uganda and from there to the Kenyan coast into Uganda. Africa Data Centres will ensure that Rwanda becomes part of their ecosystem in East Africa by connecting the new data centre to their site in Nairobi

Speaking of the need for colocation services in the country, Durvasula says the local enterprise market is eager to benefit from Africa Data Centres’ colocation services and a stable data centre environment. “They will also be able to make the most of global connectivity through a range of global service providers and cloud service providers”.

Ultimately, Africa Data Centres wants to extend the same experience to clients in Rwanda as it does in other countries by building a world-class ecosystem to which the Rwandan market can connect.

www.africadatacentres.com

Bank of Kigali (BK) says it has recorded increased uptake of its mobile banking services following the launch of new digital customer onboarding and lending features. 

The bank on September 30 unveiled its upgraded digital platform including BK Mobile App with new features, Internet Banking 2.0 and BK Digital Lending.

The new digital products have become a hit with customers of the bank which is listed on Rwanda and Kenyan stock markets, helping to enlist new clients including from the diaspora.

The new BK Mobile App enables new customers to onboard themselves and open a bank account with just a scan of their face and ID. It also allows several transactions including transfers and scheduling of advance payments. 

The App has reduced the time it takes to open a bank account to just a few minutes, from previously when it would take up to an hour.

“We want people to open accounts from where they are and start using them. Technology will help us to achieve our goal of reaching many customers and that will earn us more profit,” said Dr, Diane Karusisi, the Bank of Kigali Chief Executive Officer.

The bank has set a target to onboard 80 percent of its customers onto its digital lending platform in the next two years, up from the current 40 percent who are using the service.

The BK mobile App has 57,000 active users, which is expected to increase significantly based on the rise in customer uptake.

“We have great people in Bank of Kigali who come to work every day with a sense of responsibility and purpose. We believe we are not just any bank, we are the home bank and we have a responsibility in the critical journey our country has taken,” said Dr Karusisi.

BK in mid-October also signed a partnership with World First Asia to enable customers to send money instantly to China at a fraction of the cost of other cash transfer services in the market.

The partnership saw BK establish integration with China’s Ali Pay, a third-party online payment solution owned by Ant Financial, a subsidiary of World First Asia. It enables BK account holders to send money from Rwanda to China instantly through Ali Pay.

Sending under $10,000 via Ali Pay will cost customers $25, way below other providers who charge above $100.

bk.rw/personal

Successful deployment and adoption of mobile financial services is associated with a positive impact on GDP growth in developing markets. This is according to new research from Vodafone Group, Vodacom Group, Safaricom, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The research notes that mobile finance can help businesses to reduce costs, access credit to invest and connect with consumers that were previously excluded from financial services.

The econometric modelling research – which examined 49 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America – found that countries with successful mobile money services had an annual GDP per capita growth rate up to 1 percentage point higher than countries where mobile money platforms had not been successful or not introduced.

Based on previous World Bank research on the relationship between economic growth and reductions in the number of people living in poverty[2], this GDP per capita growth implies that countries with successful mobile money adoption could reduce poverty by around 2.6%.

The analysis was conducted as part of the companies’ Africa.Connected campaign, an initiative to drive sustainable development through collaboration and help close the divides that prevent progress in Africa’s key economic sectors. The findings are part of a new research paper, Digital Finance Platforms to Empower All, the fourth research paper developed and released under the Africa.Connected umbrella.

“Mobile financial services platforms like M-Pesa are vital drivers of financial inclusion in society which can improve individual life chances and enable enterprises to launch and expand, bringing wealth and jobs into developing economies. There remains though barriers both to accessing platforms – including digital literacy and smartphone accessibility – and to developing them – with an un-level regulatory playing field for non-traditional financial services providers in many countries.” Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, CEO of M-Pesa Africa and Chief Financial Services Officer at Safaricom, said. 

As part of the Africa.Connected research, consumer surveys were conducted focusing on users of M-Pesa in Kenya and Tanzania, and results were extrapolated to Ghana and Mozambique. A business survey was also conducted in Kenya. The resulting research underpinned the continuing importance of the world’s first mobile money service 15 years after it launched in 2007.

The researchers estimated that 17.6 million current users in the four countries did not have access to any formal financial services before using M-Pesa. 98% of businesses surveyed said that M-Pesa helps them to do business, with the main benefits of M-Pesa being its facilitation of faster and safer payments and enabling the sale of goods and services online; and 95% of businesses surveyed indicated that they use M-Pesa for at least half of their business transactions.

“Financial inclusion is both a pre-condition and a key enabler for meeting many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing poverty, boosting economic growth, promoting market access and championing investment in key sectors like education, agriculture, and healthcare. But more importantly, it is about putting people at the center, empowering them with more agency over their money and increasing their resilience. Eliminating financial exclusion in Africa, and across the globe, must be a priority if we are to deliver on inclusive, sustainable prosperity for all on a healthy planet.” Ulrika Modeer, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy at UNDP, said.

The report is available for download here. 

www.vodacom.com