Social media continues to be widely used by people across the world as their main form of both interacting and finding out news from various corners of our planet. I remember back in the day when Facebook for example had just started making those baby steps, all we could think of was getting more friends as possible before it started learning towards corporate. Today, the case is not so and there are several attributes we can pick from the growth experienced by the social giant both positive and negative. Corporate have sort ways to efficiently offer services using social media and one such effort has led to the introduction of chat bots. Safaricom’s Zuri Chatbot is basically a clever way of utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to solving customer queries that require straight forward actions.

Traditionally, you’ll need to contact Safaricom directly via text message, on the social media or call their customer support to access services which might not always be a bed of roses. Safaricom is by far the largest mobile service provider in the country with millions of subscribers; as such, their customer support lines are usually clogged and you might have to wait several minutes before you’re attended to. Unfortunately, some of the services provided by the telco involve mobile money transactions that require immediate support in case something goes wrong. We were therefore thrilled to learn that some of these services could be accessed without having your call put on hold until those who contacted them earlier are served. Technology has advanced to the point where services can be offered without having a real human on the other side, Zuku for instance has effectively managed to implement a telegram based chatbot that has so far proved to be effective; allowing customers to check their due dates, account balances and so forth.  

Zuri chatbot can provide answers to common problems as well as perform simple but important tasks such as reversing wrong MPESA transactions and unsubscribing customers from unscrupulous premium SMS services. Zuri Chatbot is currently available on both telegram and messenger – two of the most popular social media messaging platforms.

How to Reverse MPESA Transactions using Zuri Chatbot

First, you’ll need to access the bot either on messenger or telegram. On telegram for example, login using telegram for web then open Zuri telegram link here and start messaging. You should see something like “Hey ****, 🙂 Awesome to see you here. My name is Zuri, Safaricom’s virtual agent. Click on any of the items below and we’ll jump right in and see how best to assist. 🙂 “

• Head over to “M-PESA Customer to Customer Reversal”
• Type the M-PESA Transaction code or copy-paste the entire M-PESA SMS.
• Wait for the reversal to be done

How to Unsubscribe from Premium SMS services using Zuri Chatbot

• On the main menu, head over to “Chargeable SMS Services”
• Enter your mobile number
• You’ll receive an authentication request from Zuri, asking for your MPESA PIN

Starting a business idea in most African markets hasn’t always been a bed of roses especially for young innovative entrepreneurs that lack necessary capital to get things going. However, there’s a few avenues that start ups can utilize to mitigate challenges experienced in early businesses, and one such opportunity comes from the search giant – Google with its Launchpad Accelerator Program. Without a doubt, Google’s success story speaks volumes when it comes to the technology segment we’ve experienced in the last few decades, its therefore interesting to see the search giant unveil initiatives targeted at uplifting young entrepreneurs with access to It’s network as well as aiding them built great products.

The Launchpad Accelerator Program offers several benefits to those picked with access to vital support that may come into play when the products are first released to the market, we’re therefore excited to see two Kenyan start-ups join twelve other start-ups from Africa.

Benefits that the two Kenyan firms will receive as part of the Launchpad Accelerator Program

• Equity-free support
• Access to Google engineers and intensive mentoring from 20+ teams
• Access to Silicon Valley experts and top local mentors
• PR training and global media opportunities
• Close partnership with Google for three months (new classes are accepted twice a year)

Kenyan Firms joining 12 other African start-ups in the Launchpad Accelerator Program

To stand a better chance of being picked for the program, start-ups needs to stand out with technological innovations expected to have a potential impact on the local community. For example the Tambua health app.

Tambua Health Inc: The Tambua App utilizes cough sound acoustic signature to diagnose tuberculosis. The app is used right on your phone and in comparison, utilizes non-invasive diagnostic tool for Tuberculosis and Pneumonia. It uses a, symptoms, risk factors and clinical information to come up with a diagnostic report.

Joining the group from Kenya is FlexPay – a start-up that allows consumers pay for items in flexible installments instead of the entire cost and Pezesha that offers financial services to borrowers, lenders and investors, other African countries are represented as well with Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda all having start-ups included in the program

How to Apply for Google’s Launchpad Accelerator Program Africa

Start-ups can apply from the official link here

As I walked into the Barclays bank branch located in westlands Nairobi off the sarit center, I had not thought of exactly how long it was going to take for me to make my rental payment, but I had it planned well during lunch time so no one misses me at my place of work; Little did I know the entire process could be completed at the teller machine inside within no time. To be honest, I’m usually very skeptical to some payment methods that utility companies and landlords accept, I’d for example opt not to visit any bank agent for that purpose especially if it involves huge amount of cash after one agent almost retained my card in pretense to have accidentally forgotten to hand it over after the transactions I did. I was therefore very impressed just how technology has advanced to allow someone pay for rent through teller machines and even include both narrations (persons paying and for what) at the Barclays bank teller machines (ATM).

The process is pretty straight forward, but there are some mandatory requirements that have to be met to be able to pay for your rent at the ATM machines. At the moment, I do not recollect any other ATM that has this functionality apart from the westlands branch, I’d therefore strongly advise to make necessary clarifications before visiting the teller machine location. Instead of putting up with long queues at the banking halls, the ATM solution is simply amazing and the security guy I found at the location was more than helpful, he explained the whole process and I’ve never looked back ever since.

Requirements for paying rent at the Barclays bank teller machine;

• Your landlord must have enabled this feature on their respect account before you can utilize it.
• Cash must be in denominations of either 500 notes or 1000 notes. Other notes are unfortunately not accepted at least at this ATM machine.
• You need to have relevant information i.e. the account name and number with you including the respective narrations i.e. tenant and house number.
• Of course you need to have the exact cash to complete the transaction, other services including overdraft facilities such as Safaricom’s Fuliza are not available here and you’ll not be allowed to proceed with less cash. 
• There’s a cap on the maximum amount you can pay through the machine of 100 notes

How to pay rent at Barclays Bank Kenya Teller Machines

• Step 1; ensure you have the whole amount you intent to pay for rent in acceptable denominations (500 and 1000) Kenyan shillings and properly aligned – this will make it easier
• On the teller machine, press “Cardless Services”
• Then head over to “Cash Deposit” from the Menu items
• Accept the “Disclaimer” and press continue on the machine
• Enter your landlord’s Barclays bank Rent Account then press on “confirm”, if it’s not supported, you will not proceed after this step
• On the next screen, you will be shown the Account number followed by Account Name (some digits may be hashed out) and lastly the Currency (should be KES) press on continue
• Enter Narration i.e. Rent for House Number x then continue
• input your Full Names on the next screen if you’re the tenant then press on “continue”
• Enter your phone number or ID number on the next screen
• Put the full amount you intent to pay into the ATM, if accepted, the machine will count and indicate the figure on the screen
• Confirm and continue, on the next screen, you’ll see full details including Narration, Landlord’s account name (without hashes) amount paid for rent.
• If any of the details are not valid at any step, you may press “Cancel” to reverse the cash before the last step