Airtel Money Kenya is entering a new chapter under Acting Managing Director Michael Bonke.In this episode of the Pure Digital Passion Podcast, I sat down with Michael shortly after Airtel Money launched its Bizna Wallet for small businesses and enhanced its cashback proposition from airtime rewards to actual cash a couple of weeks ago. We explore how Airtel Money has grown from a relatively small challenger to a platform that now says it serves more than six million customers, has approximately 270,000 agents, supports more than two million merchant points and holds around 11% of Kenya’s mobile-money market.But perhaps its largest immediate growth opportunity already exists within Airtel itself.Michael estimates that around 14 million active Airtel connectivity customers are not yet using Airtel Money—and converting more of them is one of his most important priorities.We discuss:✅ Michael Bonke’s appointment and immediate priorities✅ How Airtel Money moved from roughly 2% to 11% market share✅ Why distribution, liquidity and banking partnerships matter✅ Airtel Money’s 270,000-agent footprint✅ Why SMEs are central to the next phase of growth✅ Airtel Money Bizna Wallet✅ Separating personal and business finances✅ Protecting merchants from unauthorised reversals✅ Free customer payments into Bizna Wallet✅ The move from airtime rewards to real cash cashback✅ Why customer experience matters more than promotions✅ Fraud prevention, customer protection and trust✅ Embedded finance, SME lending and analytics✅ Cross-border payments across Airtel’s 14 African markets✅ Whether Airtel Money could eventually become financial infrastructure for African SMEs✅ Michael’s three-year vision for Airtel Money KenyaOne of the most interesting moments comes when I ask Michael whether Airtel Money could eventually become an operating system for small businesses across Africa.His response:“That is our goal for sure.”CHAPTERS00:00 — Introduction00:50 — Michael Bonke’s new role at Airtel Money Kenya01:32 — The 14M-customer Airtel Money opportunity02:28 — How Airtel Money moved from 2% to 11%02:57 — Banking partnerships and distribution03:52 — Growing from under 20,000 to 270,000 agents04:43 — Why SMEs matter to Airtel Money05:32 — What merchants told Airtel06:50 — Free Bizna Wallet payments and merchant charges08:20 — Could Bizna Wallet become a broader SME platform?08:58 — Cross-network Bizna Wallet payments09:26 — Why cashback moved from airtime to cash10:41 — Turning promotions into lasting customer behaviour11:38 — Becoming a customer’s primary financial wallet12:04 — Fraud prevention, security and trust13:26 — Embedded finance and cross-border payments14:09 — Could Airtel Money become an operating system for African SMEs?14:46 — Michael’s brief take on the Airtel Money IPO15:06 — What success looks like three years from now16:11 — “It works—and now it pays you back”Michael’s closing message captures Airtel Money’s positioning particularly well:“With Airtel Money you can do anything... and now it pays you back.”The Pure Digital Passion Podcast explores the people, technologies, companies and ideas transforming business and the digital economy across Kenya and Africa.#AirtelMoney #MichaelBonke #PureDigitalPassion #BiznaWallet #Fintech #MobileMoney #FinancialInclusion #SMEs #DigitalPayments #Kenya #Africa

I met Jason Corder last week to discuss NorthSouth Media, and our meeting became what I like to call a “gangster podcast”: an informal, impromptu Pure Digital Passion conversation recorded without the usual studio production.

Jason is the founder and CEO of NorthSouth Media, a Nairobi-based company building an end-to-end system for financing, producing, owning, localizing and distributing African content.

We discuss his journey from San Francisco to Africa, his work as a visual artist and performer, his experience acting in Mali, and how a trailer filmed in his Kilimani apartment became Stay, a television series backed by Nokia and subsequently distributed across multiple markets.

Jason explains why that experience convinced him that African production companies must retain intellectual-property ownership. We also examine NorthSouth’s connected film and creator studios, direct-distribution strategy, localization relationship with Aview International and ambition to build a substantial library of owned African content.

The conversation challenges the assumption that mobile and streaming growth must mean the end of television. Free-to-air broadcasting remains accessible, communal and commercially important across Africa and the wider Global South.

NorthSouth is currently raising US$1 million at a US$7 million cap for a 24-month runway. The company plans to produce an opening slate of five owned shows, enroll 25 creators before scaling to 50 and build a sales operation targeting broadcasters and brands.

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Introduction
00:13 – Why this became a “gangster podcast”
01:00 – Human stories made by human hands
04:23 – How African culture and storytelling travel globally
06:46 – Jason Corder’s origin story
14:27 – Why intellectual-property ownership matters
18:22 – Producing Stay with Nokia’s backing
22:36 – Free-to-air television and Africa’s media economy
31:11 – Film, community and human connection
38:35 – From artist and producer to entrepreneur
40:33 – Using Bordy and AI to accelerate the business
46:36 – Building NorthSouth’s end-to-end infrastructure
49:28 – The NorthSouth Media elevator pitch
51:16 – The Nairobi headquarters and Creator Studio vision
55:16 – Microdramas, mobile video and the “shiny object”
58:53 – A model for rebuilding African media
1:00:55 – How to connect with Jason
1:02:34 – Jason’s parting perspective

ABOUT JASON CORDER

Jason Corder is the founder and CEO of NorthSouth Media. He has worked across visual art, music, television, cultural diplomacy and media production and has lived and worked in more than 60 countries.

NorthSouth Media: https://northsouth.africa
Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncordermedia

Airtel Kenya is entering a new chapter under Managing Director Djibril Tobe.

In this special episode of the Pure Digital Passion Podcast, I sit down with Djibril shortly after Airtel Money launched Bizna Wallet and the “Si Ni Mi Nakushow” 50% cashback campaign earlier this week.

The conversation moves beyond the product announcements to examine Airtel Kenya’s wider growth strategy across mobile money, customer experience, digital self-service, broadband, satellite connectivity and data-centre infrastructure.

Djibril reflects on his first month in Kenya after more than two decades building businesses across African markets. He explains why he is giving himself time to listen and learn, what has impressed him about Kenya’s technology-driven economy and what customers are demanding from Airtel.

We discuss the strong momentum he inherits: Airtel Kenya’s expansion from 16 million to more than 24 million customers, over 2,000 additional network sites and Airtel Money’s growth from roughly 2% to 11% market share.

A major opportunity lies within Airtel’s existing base. Djibril estimates that around 14 million Airtel connectivity customers are not yet using Airtel Money and explains how Bizna Wallet, real-cash Rudishiwa rewards and “Si Ni Mi Nakushow” are intended to encourage Kenyans to carry two mobile-money wallets as readily as they carry two SIM cards.

We also explore:

✅ Why the My Airtel App could become Airtel’s digital front door

✅ Digital self-service and reducing customer pain points

✅ Cross-border Airtel Money transfers

✅ API integrations for developers, startups and fintechs

✅ Airtel’s broadband journey from indoor routers to outdoor units and fibre

✅ Direct-to-Cell connectivity with SpaceX, subject to approval

✅ The 44MW Nxtra hyperscale data centre at Tatu City

✅ Cloud, AI, enterprise workloads and data sovereignty

✅ Djibril’s priorities for innovation, execution and customer experience

CHAPTERS

00:00 — Introduction

01:13 — Djibril Tobe’s first impressions of Kenya

05:21 — Airtel Kenya’s growth and his leadership priorities

07:03 — The 14M-customer Airtel Money opportunity

08:13 — Bizna Wallet and 50% cashback

09:10 — The “Si Ni Mi Nakushow” campaign

12:56 — Why the My Airtel App matters

16:58 — Cross-border Airtel Money transfers

19:06 — Broadband: indoor units, outdoor units and fibre

20:32 — Direct-to-Cell connectivity with SpaceX

23:25 — Nxtra, cloud infrastructure and data sovereignty

26:47 — Closing thoughts and what comes next

The Pure Digital Passion Podcast explores the people, organizations, technologies and ideas shaping digital transformation, business, marketing and innovation across Kenya and Africa.

Subscribe for more conversations with African technology leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, policymakers and innovators.

#AirtelKenya #AirtelMoney #DjibrilTobe #PureDigitalPassion #Telecommunications #Fintech #DigitalTransformation #Broadband #SpaceX #Nxtra #Kenya #Africa

This video captures the full "Connected to Protect" discussion panel on how health insurance can become more accessible, relevant and useful within the everyday lives of Kenyan and East African consumers.

I moderated the panel during the launch of the strategic partnership between Jubilee Health Insurance and global insurtech bolttech last week. While the partnership provided the setting, the conversation went much wider: healthcare costs, fraud and extra billing, product relevance, customer segmentation, flexible payments, trusted distribution, asset financing, consumer education and claims.

The panel brought together four distinct perspectives:

• Njeri Jomo - CEO and Principal Officer, Jubilee Health Insurance
• Bente Krogmann Osore - General Manager, Africa, bolttech
• Bryan Nyutu - Principal Officer and Insurance Portfolio Lead, Safaricom PLC
• Ken Gitonga - Group Head of Technical Product, Watu Credit
• Moderator: Moses Kemibaro

Key areas discussed:

• Why reducing healthcare fraud, waste, abuse and unnecessary billing is essential to affordability
• Why protection must reach the right customer at the right moment
• How embedded insurance differs from placing an existing policy inside an app
• What Safaricom has learnt from Tuunza Mapato and Tuunza Simu
• Why data, customer segmentation and payment frequency shape insurance uptake
• How health protection can safeguard the livelihoods of Watu's asset-financing customers
• Why hospital cash should not be confused with comprehensive medical cover
• Why technology alone cannot compensate for an unclear strategy or the wrong partners
• How insurance can become a reward that strengthens engagement and loyalty
• Why transparency, voluntary participation and a dependable claims experience are fundamental to trust

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

00:12 The biggest friction between customers and useful health protection

00:37 Jubilee Health: using AI to reduce fraud, waste, abuse and extra billing

02:34 bolttech: making insurance relevant and timely

04:28 How embedded insurance changes Jubilee Health's approach

07:58 Safaricom's lessons from Tuunza Mapato and Tuunza Simu

12:24 Watu: protecting livelihoods within the asset-financing journey

14:35 When customers experience the real value of insurance

16:17 Why Kenya needs fully fledged micro-medical cover

19:12 Audience questions begin

21:10 Technology is an enabler - why the right partners matter

25:21 Bridging consumer and product-segmentation gaps

27:47 Human-centred design for mass-market insurance

31:46 Insurance as a reward and engagement tool

33:41 Medical borrowing, community fundraising and catastrophic health expenditure

37:20 Health and device protection for young daily earners

38:51 Closing

#ConnectedToProtect #EmbeddedInsurance #HealthInsurance #Insurance #FinancialInclusion #Kenya #EastAfrica #Africa

In this episode of NTV Kenya's Fixing The Nation, I joined Mariam Bishar, Eric Latiff and Fellaris Wambui to unpack Kenya’s growing debate around minimum fares for ride hailing.

The discussion was focussed on the Business Daily's headline on Uber and Bolt drivers potentially getting more power in how fares are set, as well as broader proposed reforms that could bring ride-hailing platforms under greater regulatory scrutiny.

We discussed what this means for drivers, passengers, platforms, businesses, regulators, competition policy, and Kenya’s wider gig economy.

At the heart of the conversation was one question:

How does Kenya improve driver earnings without pricing passengers out of digital mobility or weakening the ecosystem that makes ride-hailing possible?

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction: Business Daily headline and the digital taxi fare debate

01:20 – Moses Kemibaro joins Fixing The Nation

02:30 – How ride-hailing platforms work and why the issue matters

03:32 – From traditional taxis to digital ride-hailing in Kenya

05:38 – Market scale: drivers, users, rides and the gig economy

06:52 – Owner-drivers versus rental drivers

08:13 – Are driver complaints justified?

10:26 – Understanding the 18% commission discussion

11:57 – Platform value: marketplace, trust, safety and digital payments

13:40 – Tanzania as a cautionary case

14:28 – Passenger affordability and price sensitivity

16:34 – Why smart regulation must balance all stakeholders

18:14 – Where did the “doubling fares” idea come from?

20:18 – Viewer comments and subscription model proposals

21:01 – Competition risks if pricing is over-regulated

22:21 – Price elasticity: what happens if fares double?

24:08 – Passenger willingness-to-pay thought experiment

26:11 – Draft minimum compensation rules and the missing passenger voice

29:20 – Driver welfare, classification and platform responsibility

30:22 – Financing, insurance and formalizing the gig economy

33:05 – The platform as a marketplace creator

35:08 – Kenya’s ride-hailing market versus Nigeria and South Africa

37:19 – Could electric mobility reduce driver operating costs?

38:49 – Higher fares and higher consumer expectations

40:13 – Viewer comments on commissions and platform costs

42:53 – Final thoughts: broader consultation and a balanced way forward

Key Themes

1. Minimum fares versus minimum driver earnings
2. Driver welfare and platform work
3. Passenger affordability
4. Commission transparency
5. Owner-driver versus rental-driver economics
6. Competition and platform regulation
7. Smart regulation for Kenya’s gig economy
8. The long-term future of ride-hailing in Kenya

#FixingTheNation #NTVKenya #NationFM #RideHailing #DigitalTaxis #GigEconomy #Kenya #PublicPolicy #FutureOfWork #DigitalEconomy

WhatsApp is preparing to introduce usernames that will allow people to communicate without publicly sharing their phone numbers.

The feature could deliver a meaningful privacy improvement, particularly in group conversations, business interactions and chats with people who have only recently met. However, it has also raised questions about impersonation, phishing, financial fraud, mobile-money security and whether accounts involved in criminal activity will remain traceable.

On the 15th July 2026, I joined Nkechi Onyinyechi Ogbonna on BBC World Service’s Focus on Africa to discuss WhatsApp’s forthcoming username feature.

The programme also featured Somalia’s State Minister of Communications and Technology, Hon. Ahmed Osman Diiriye, who explained why his government wants Meta to provide stronger assurances around fraud, mobile-money security and digital traceability.

The discussion examines why Somalia wants Meta to demonstrate “proof of traceability,” the concerns India has raised and the protections WhatsApp says it is building into the feature.

It also explains:

• The difference between reserving and activating a username
• How usernames differ from display names
• Why users will still need telephone numbers
• How optional username keys will work
• Why WhatsApp will not offer a public username directory
• How usernames could protect people in group chats
• What the feature means for creators and businesses
• The risks of lookalike usernames and impersonation
• Why mobile-money markets require additional safeguards
• How digital literacy can help users identify scams

Chapters

• 00:00 — Introduction to WhatsApp usernames
• 00:55 — Somalia’s security and accountability concerns
• 01:53 — Consultations between Somalia and Meta
  02:16 — Is there evidence that usernames will increase
• fraud?
• 03:22 — “We want proof of traceability”
• 04:27 — Meta explains its proposed safeguards
• 05:19 — Why WhatsApp is separating identity from phone numbers
• 06:26 — How usernames will change one-to-one and group communication
• 07:11 — Impersonation, financial fraud and mobile-money risks
• 09:02 — Digital literacy and practical user protection
• 10:50 — Conclusion

Africa’s scam economy is becoming more organised, automated and sophisticated.

What was once the occasional fraudulent SMS has evolved into smishing, vishing, identity theft, business impersonation, SIM-swap-enabled account takeovers, AI-generated identity documents and deepfake voice calls.

I moderated a discussion recorded at the TARS 2026 Telecom Africa Revenue Assurance & Fraud Management Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, on the 13th May 2026 titled:

Protecting the Customer: Scam Typologies, Operator Responsibilities & Fraud Awareness in Africa

The panel brought together:

• Ann Khambo - Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management Manager, Airtel Money, Airtel Kenya
• Ogochukwu (Ogo) Onwuzurike - Country Manager, Nigeria, Truecaller
• Mieraf T. Birhane - Executive Head of Fraud Management, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia

The discussion examines how customer-facing fraud is changing across African telecom and mobile-money markets, why social engineering remains such an effective attack vector, and why operators can no longer regard themselves as neutral pipes when their networks, brands and identity systems are being exploited.

Mieraf shares insights from Ethiopia’s evolving fraud landscape, including smishing, account takeover, subscription fraud and commission-related abuse. She also describes a striking case in which fraudsters used makeup and physical impersonation to attempt fraudulent SIM swaps—an incident detected because the agent involved had received practical fraud training.

Ann explores identity theft, including situations where innocent customers may not know their photographs or personal information have been used to register SIM cards or commit fraud. She also explains why GSM and mobile-money fraud must be analyzed together using KYC, voice, SMS, location, SIM, device and transaction data.

Ogo introduces the “machine era of spam and fraud.” According to the figures shared during the panel, Truecaller intercepted approximately 68 billion spam and fraud calls in 2025, compared with approximately 37.8 billion in 2021. She explains how AI and automation are helping fraudsters scale while excessive calls and messages from legitimate organisations are also eroding trust in phone-based communication.

Key Themes:

• Smishing, vishing and social engineering
• Identity theft and fraudulent SIM registration
• SIM-swap-enabled account takeover
• Business impersonation and investment scams
• Real-time detection, analytics and machine learning
• Internal fraud and insider risk
• Anti-fraud by design
• Operator responsibility and customer protection
• Cross-industry collaboration

Time Stamps

00:00 Intro music

00:12 Africa’s scam operations have industrialised

04:09 What keeps fraud leaders awake at night?

04:44 Ethiopia’s evolving fraud landscape

08:43 Identity theft and the innocent customer

10:54 The human factor in customer-facing fraud

11:24 Why operators must take greater responsibility

13:43 The machine era of spam and fraud

18:05 AI call scanning and verified business communication

19:40 Smishing and sophisticated account takeover in Ethiopia

23:21 Data-driven controls for mobile-money fraud

24:05 Connecting GSM and mobile-money fraud

27:52 Business impersonation, investment scams and credibility engineering

30:49 Outro music

The central takeaway is that customer-facing fraud is no longer only a fraud-management or revenue-assurance issue. It is a customer-experience, brand-trust, financial-inclusion and digital-economy issue.

Protecting customers requires shared responsibility across telecom operators, mobile-money providers, banks, fintechs, platforms, regulators, agents, employees and customers.

Kenyan and African retailers generate enormous volumes of information through point-of-sale systems, inventory platforms, loyalty programmes, e-commerce, mobile applications, social commerce, delivery platforms and digital payments.

However, much of that data remains fragmented, underused and disconnected from everyday business decisions.

In this special episode of the Pure Digital Passion Podcast, I moderate a discussion from the RETRAK Retail Summit 2026 titled:

Smarter Retail: Turning Data, AI and Insights into Competitive Advantage

The session took place on Thursday, 14 May 2026, at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi and brought together four experts representing retail entrepreneurship, digital payments, financial-services platforms and retail technology, as follows:

• Judy Waruiru - Regional Managing Director, Network International
• Sonal Haria - Co-Founder and CEO, Canvas Cosmetics, Co-Founder, CB Consulting & Media Group
• Eric Muriuki - Group Director, Digital Business, CEO, LOOP DFS, NCBA Group
• Siddesh Narkar - Head of Product, Compulynx

Topics Covered

• Why many retailers are data-rich but insight-poor
• The importance of connecting fragmented customer data
• Building a unified view across stores, websites, apps and payments
• Why data readiness must come before AI readiness
• Using data to improve product development, pricing and assortment
• How Canvas Cosmetics used customer insights to guide product development
• Using payments data to understand churn, market movements and fraud
• AI-supported replenishment, stock management and pricing
• How AI can improve sales productivity and outreach
• Balancing personalisation with customer privacy and trust
• Privacy-by-design approaches to retail data
• How AI agents may soon shop and pay on behalf of consumers
• Practical AI actions retailers can take during the next 12 months

Key Message

• Retailers do not need to begin with an expensive, enterprise-wide AI programme.
• They should begin by digitizing operations, organising existing information, selecting one or two commercially important problems, measuring the results and building from the small wins.
• AI can analyze more information and provide options faster, but human judgement remains essential.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the RETRAK panel00:44 The state of retail in Kenya and Africa07:07 Sonal Haria on combining data with human judgement09:20 Judy Waruiru on fragmented customer data10:43 Eric Muriuki on data readiness and AI15:50 Siddesh Narkar on clean and usable retail data17:32 How Canvas Cosmetics used data for product development21:12 Payments data, customer journeys, churn and fraud26:39 AI as an intelligent wrapper around the business33:53 Audience questions begin34:36 Preparing and labelling business data for AI38:25 AI-generated cosmetic formulations and human oversight39:44 Understanding wider market and industry trends40:48 Using payments data for retail-market intelligence42:07 Turning financial-service providers into insight partners44:59 How AI improved sales productivity and outreach46:33 AI personalization, privacy and customer trust49:15 Cloud and on-premise AI deployment50:08 Agentic commerce and the machine as the next customer53:27 One action retailers should take in the next 12 months57:42 Closing remarks

The Pure Digital Passion Podcast explores the people, organizations, technologies and ideas shaping digital transformation, marketing, media, innovation and business across Kenya and Africa.

Subscribe for more conversations with African technology leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, policymakers and innovators.

#Retail #RetailTechnology #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #DataAnalytics #DigitalTransformation #Payments #Fintech #CustomerExperience #Kenya #Africa #PureDigitalPassion