STARTUPS
Ten years in, Bolt puts its Kenya bill at KES 19 billion
Bolt marked a decade in Kenya with a tally: more than KES 19 billion (over €130 million) invested since 2016, 8 million riders, and 170,000 drivers and couriers across six regions and 19 towns. Its Ipsos gig-economy survey puts average driver earnings at KES 63,000 a month, with top earners at KES 184,000, and the company says seven in ten electric vehicles working in Kenya run on its platform — 5,808 by early 2026, about a quarter of the national EV fleet. The anniversary lands days after the High Court froze enforcement of the 18% commission cap, leaving the economics it was celebrating unsettled.
TechTrends KE
TELCOS
Safaricom Ethiopia's real test is not subscribers — it is March 2027
Fifteen million 90-day active customers inside four years is the headline; the accounts are the story. Safaricom Ethiopia booked a KES 21.2 billion loss in FY2026 on service revenue of KES 14.08 billion, with data at KES 9.56 billion and voice at KES 3.01 billion. M-Pesa Ethiopia has 5.69 million active users but generated roughly KES 100 million all year — about KES 0.50 per active customer per month, in a market where 99% of small payments are still cash. Against KES 345.7 billion sunk into the build, management is pointing at EBITDA breakeven by the year ending March 2027.
TechTrends KE
INFRASTRUCTURE
James Mworia leaves Centum to run Kenya's National Infrastructure Fund
Mworia started Monday as founding CEO of the National Infrastructure Fund, the vehicle meant to package transport, logistics, energy, ICT, water and agriculture projects into something pension funds, banks and DFIs will actually finance — then recycle the capital once assets transfer to long-term owners. He joined Centum as a filing clerk in 2001, became CEO at 30 in 2008 and ran it for 17 years, with shareholder funds growing roughly elevenfold. Thomas Omondi-Achola, Centum's COO, steps up as acting CEO.
Techweez
GADGETS
Apple's foldable would land in Nairobi north of KES 250,000
Wednesday's Apple event — the first big unveiling under new CEO John Ternus — is expected to bring a book-style foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, new Apple Watch hardware and camera-equipped AirPods. At an estimated $1,999–$2,099, the foldable converts to roughly KES 258,700–271,600 before local duty and margin, against Samsung Kenya's official listings of KES 223,900 for the Galaxy Fold8 and KES 237,900 for the Fold8 Ultra. Apple would be entering a category Samsung has spent years teaching the Kenyan market to buy.
TechTrends KE
POLICY
Australia drafts an off switch for the algorithm
An exposure draft due this week would let social media users in Australia swap algorithmic feeds for a chronological one showing only accounts they follow — an opt-out, with apps periodically prompting the choice, sitting inside a Digital Duty of Care framework under the Online Safety Act 2021 and carrying penalties that could exceed AU$100 million. It applies to all users, not just under-16s. Worth watching from Nairobi: Kenya's own creator-economy and platform-accountability debates keep circling the same question of who controls the feed.
Techweez
