Safaricom's Connect Academy, a specialized training program in partnership with the ICT Authority of Kenya, has seen remarkable success with its first cohort. Out of 48 graduates, an impressive 98% have secured job offers with Safaricom and its partner organizations, highlighting the program's effectiveness in addressing Kenya's digital infrastructure skill gap.

• 98% of the first cohort of 48 students secured jobs at Safaricom and partner organizations.
• The Connect Academy was launched during the 2024 Connected Africa Summit.
• The program is a three-month intensive training focused on practical fiber deployment skills.
• CEO of Safaricom PLC, Dr. Peter Ndegwa, emphasized the initiative as an investment in Kenya’s digital future.
• Cohort 2 is set to begin in January 2026.

Safaricom has launched Daraja 3.0, a cloud-native upgrade to its M-PESA API platform, promising a major leap in transaction processing and developer experience. This significant shift positions M-PESA as a "Fintech 2.0" infrastructure provider, moving beyond a simple payment gateway.

• The new platform boasts a throughput capacity of 12,000 Transactions Per Second (TPS).
• Safaricom revealed it is building its own Large Language Model (LLM) for AI integration to ensure data privacy.
• The M-PESA developer ecosystem consists of 105,000 developers, with 25% of all M-PESA transactions now executed via APIs.
• The upgrade introduces dedicated partner support, frictionless DIY tools, and future opportunities for developers to monetize their solutions.

Safaricom and the ICT Authority have celebrated the graduation of the first cohort from the Connect Academy, a program designed to address the shortage of skilled fibre technicians in Kenya. Of the 48 trainees who completed the three-month course, an impressive 98% have already secured employment with Safaricom or its partners.

• 98% job placement rate for the first cohort of 48 trainees within Safaricom or its ecosystem partners.
• The Connect Academy was launched during the 2024 Connected Africa Summit to close the skills gap in fibre deployment.
• Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa highlighted the academy's role in supporting Kenya's digital growth; Acting CEO of the ICT Authority Zilpher Owiti emphasized creating a continuous pipeline of skilled technicians.