AIRTEL MONEY OFFERS KRA MOBILE TAX PAYMENT SERVICES

Bharti Airtel has partnered with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to offer Kenyan citizens an opportunity to pay their taxes through Airtel Money.  Through the partnership, Airtel will now allow customers across the country to inquire for KRA services, generate KRA payment reference number (PRN or an e-slip/invoice number) and make quick simple payments through Airtel Money by simply dialing  the short code *572#.    

The revolutionary service provides Airtel Money customers in Kenya a convenient, flexible and time saving option for tax payment as they will no longer have to walk into KRA banking halls to queue to pay their taxes. Taxpayers who pay taxes using Airtel Money are assured that their payments will be cleared, processed and credited to the KRA account in real-time.

Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said that the new partnership will usher in unparalleled customer convenience, stressing that the move is aimed at increasing Airtel Money customer satisfaction and convenience. “Airtel will continue to partner with corporate and government entities as it seeks to revolutionize its services and more importantly provide customers with convenient, fast and secure options of transacting on Airtel Money,” said Mr. El Youssefi.        

To make payments using Airtel Money, simply dial *572# and select option 2 for payments, enter your PRN (e-slip number) any your secret Airtel Money PIN to complete the payment. An SMS notification will be sent from both Airtel Money and KRA to confirm successful payment.  KRA business systems are updated in real-time as soon as the taxpayer receives the confirmation messages. KRA services can be paid through Airtel Money for amount of up to Kshs140, 000 per day. The charges to the customers are very minimal and vary from Ksh. 10 to Ksh. 270 based on amounts being paid.

Airtel Money is a secure and convenient mobile commerce service that allows customers to transfer money between one mobile phone to the other across all networks, top up mobile phone with airtime/data or another customer’s mobile phone. It also allows customers to pay utility bills as well as buy goods and services and withdraw cash at selected Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

 

BRITAM LAUNCHES AMBITIOUS IT PROJECT AIMED AT TRANSFORMING AND STREAMLINING BUSINESS PROCESSES

Britam has unveiled a cutting edge IT system aimed at streamlining its business operations.

“Jawabu”, as the project is known, is an ambitious IT enabled business transformation project designed to deliver the technology capabilities required to deliver the best customer experience.  

It is part of the diversified financial services group quest to achieve its strategy for regional and local expansion through IT Business transformation, and to also respond to the growing requirements of its cus

tomers.  

Jawabu will automate key business processes, reducing time consuming manual tasks and paperwork, increasing efficiency and enhance controls. The new system will provide a single view of the customer, as well as customer intelligence which will allow financial advisors to focus on analysis as opposed to data crunching and eliminate decisions made through “gut feelings” which are not based on tangible facts.

The system will also allow sales people to target their sales efforts and deepen relationships with clients, allow customers to easily access information, and make it easier for them to compute claims.

“Jawabu will transform Britam by delivering world class business processes and State-of-the-art IT systems. It will move the company from being a product centred organisation into a customer centric organization, providing customers with first class service,” said Britam Group Managing Director Dr Benson Wairegi.

Developed in partnership with Oracle, IBM, Fadata, and PwC, among others, the project will be implemented and deployed in three phases. The current phase kicked off in July 2014 and will run until May 2015.

WORKSHOP ON INFLAMMATORY SKIN AND JOINT DISEASES

Omondi Oyoo a Rheumatologist at the University of Nairobi (left) , Pfizer Laboratories GIP BU Director Nigeria and East Africa Jonathan Brand (centre) and Professor Femi Adelowo of Lagos State University share a light moment during a workshop on inflammatory skin and joint diseases (Psoriasis and Rheumatoid Arthritis) held recently in Nairobi.

AIRTEL LAUNCHES MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR MUKURU PROMOTIONAL CENTRE

Bharti Airtel, launched a mentorship program for Mukuru Promotion Centre, St. Bakhita Primary School located in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, off Enterprise Road. 

The Airtel staff-driven program seeks to inspire the students, encourage the exchange of ideas and share insightful knowledge and life skills that will help them nurture their talents and gain a place in the professional practice.    

The company also presented the school with a cheque worth Kshs 525,000 to cater for this year’s school fees for the 15 needy high school students that the company sponsors.     

Speaking at the event, Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi explained that the Airtel spirit provides a platform for employees to volunteer their personal time in support of development initiatives in the communities in Kenya, becoming active participants in making a difference in society.  Mr. El Youssefi also said that the program aims to bring students together to spend quality time with Airtel employees who would serve as role models to them.  

“We are excited to launch the mentorship program and look forward to helping each student interact with our staff, who are experts in different areas positions, share their stories and encourage them to aspire greater heights in education and achieve success in their chosen profession.  As a Corporate that believes in people’s dreams and aspiration, we are confident that the students will learn a lot from the program to achieve their dreams of becoming responsible individuals in the society,” said Mr. El Youssefi.

PUBERTY EDUCATION AMONG PRE-TEENS NEEDS TO GAIN MOMENTUM |

 As the world is gearing up to mark the International Day of the Girl Child this Saturday, it is important that Kenyans take time and celebrate women’s achievement and look at ways to gain momentum in championing women’s equality.

Kenya has made significant momentum in educating the girl child, which has seen more and more girls exposed to the possibilities and opportunities around them. As a result, the country has witnessed lower child mortality rates, better child care, better education outcomes and smaller families.

However, even as we make great strides towards making the Kenyan woman more economical, politically and socially empowered, we must not forget the basics of aspects of womanhood: feminine hygiene education.

This year, the government allocated 300 million shillings ($4million) to the provision of free sanitary towels to girls in schools during the school calendar year. I commend the move and believe that the provision should continue to be coupled with feminine hygiene education on the use of sanitary pads as well as personal hygiene. With the sanitary pad market penetration being at 15 percent, stakeholders need to evaluate how to better create awareness about the use and importance of sanitary pads to young girls.

 

I remember my journey to sensitizing stakeholders in Education on the importance of mainstreaming puberty education and provision of sanitary towels begun in 2007 during stakeholders meetings to discuss best practices on the issue. I am glad that there is light at the tunnel and now the issue of girls missing school is talked not just in quiet but is all over the media.

Even with many organizations starting sanitary pads distribution around the country, one seeks to ask what happens to girls in the rural parts of the country who have never heard of sanitary pads despite them having started their menstrual period. Then one begs to ask, will the 300 million be enough to reach that girl in the rural Kenya?

As Always is a global player on menstrual hygiene, we feel responsible and committed to share our long-lasting experience in puberty and menstrual education- as we have done this since 1956 globally and locally for over 20 years. 

Being a Global player on menstrual hygiene, we feel responsible and committed to share our long-lasting experience in puberty and menstrual education, to democratize our knowledge and make our products available to teenage girls for experiencing them, in line with the overall Always brand purpose of advocating and empowering woman to live life to their fullest potential. This is the reason why we invest in the range of educational programs: providing the experience of our menstrual products is unconceivable without providing the educational necessary background to teenage girls.

As a company, we have taken upon ourselves to complement the Government’s effort by promoting personal hygiene among young girls, to take away the fears among girls during menstruation, to let the girls know clearly about their reproductive system and about the best menstrual protection system. With simple mechanisms such as hiring qualified registered nurses to pass the health education message and providing free sanitary pads samples, Procter & Gamble has been able to reach over 200,000 girls annually.

However our efforts are just a drop in the ocean and to be able reach more girls, more stakeholders in both the public and private sector must join efforts to reach more girls with the feminine and puberty education. It is pointless to arm a girl with a sanitary pad and no education on how to use it or how to take care of her body during her menstrual period.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, more than one in ten school girls skip more than a day when menstruating due to lack of awareness on how to take care of themselves. This is between 10 – 25 percent of their time in school thus creates a disadvantage on them over their boy counterparts. This is a figure we must all strive to eradicate through private public partnerships.

With time, we should have more meaningful International Day of the Girl Child celebrations once small initiatives such as provision of sanitary pad and puberty education to girls have gained national momentum.

As poet Maya Angelou once said, “When you know better you do better.”

Ms Mwathi 

Communications Manager with Procter & Gamble East Africa.