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New mobile commerce platform for Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 8 – Cellulant Kenya Limited, a local mobile commerce company has announced a new product that will enable integration of services to allow easy access to information and banking services.

Chief Executive Officer Ken Njoroge said on Tuesday that the product dubbed “Lipuka” which goes into effect next month seeks to provide a convenient solution to mobile commerce procedures by integrating all banking services and enabling easy access of information by mobile phone users.

This came against a backdrop of increased penetration of mobile telephony services in Kenya, with content convergence becoming the latest concept attracting investment.

“We like to call it a mall because it will be a one-stop shop and what we are doing now is build the mall for services. The first phase was to get all these people who offer these services into the system,” he said.

Mr Njoroge said Lipuka would provide a convenient platform for most services like banking and payment of bills on the mobile phone while at the same time bringing a different concept from what is in the market.

He said the product brought together all the different services on a single mobile device platform.

“If you go into Lipuka, you can fetch your bills and then Lipuka can connect you to your bank,” he stated.

Speaking at a media workshop, Mr Njoroge said that mobile commerce had provided a platform for shared services and this was bound to impact positively on the economy besides improving the general business environment.

“There is a clear trend of convergence because mobile commerce has fuelled the demand for content and this is what most businesses are now centered around,” he said.

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“The rate at which people are accessing information is growing faster and this is providing the largest media platform upon which information can be shared,” he added.

Cellulant Limited, which was established in 2004, serves over 60 million subscribers across the continent and intends to penetrate 25 countries across Africa by 2012.

“We are now in seven countries but we will be launching our services in Malawi next month,” the CEO said.

With over 20 million mobile phone users in Kenya and an indicative increase in mobile phone penetration in Africa, mobile commerce is set to revolutionalise business on the continent and arguably spur economic growth.

The Kenyan government has already put in Sh115million to promote the development of local digital content and software applications and this was set to act as an incentive for innovation.
 

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