Absa Bank Kenya has launched two innovative customer service models, "Branch on the Move" and "Absa Service Pods," to expand its national presence and improve access to banking services across Kenya.

• These new offerings are part of a major network expansion drive that has seen Absa open six new branches this year, bringing its total footprint to 91 branches and service centres.
• The Branch on the Move is a mobile, cashless banking truck providing instant debit card issuance, digital onboarding, and extended service hours.
• According to Consumer Banking Director Moses Muthui, the innovations respond to customer demand for greater convenience and underscore a commitment to bringing modern banking closer to communities.
• Absa Bank Kenya plans to deploy an additional seven mobile banking trucks and more service pods in major malls.

Access Bank Kenya and the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) have launched the “W Initiative”, a unified financial proposition aimed at closing the significant funding gap for women-owned businesses in Kenya by consolidating previous offerings and providing credit, capacity building, and market access.

• Only 7 percent of women-owned MSMEs in Kenya successfully access formal credit, while women-led businesses receive just 36 percent of total lending to the MSME sector.
• George Odhiambo, Managing Director of the National Bank of Kenya, stated the initiative signals their commitment to "dismantling barriers".
• The parent company, Access Bank PLC, has already disbursed $141 million (approx. KES 18.2 Billion) to women across its wider network through this model.

Zoho's Young Creators Program recently completed a tour across East Africa, teaching individuals with little to no coding experience how to build functional apps using low-code platforms and AI. The program, which trained 150 participants across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Madagascar, aims to foster "citizen development" in emerging markets.

• A total of 150 participants were trained across four nations.
• Leonard Bett, a steeplechase athlete, was one of the attendees in Kenya, aiming to build a platform for athletic performance analysis.
• In Uganda, the program focused on inclusivity with a "Women in Software Engineering" edition, training 43 women.