Kenyan supermarket chain Quickmart, which merged with rival Tumaini in September 2019, has now opened its 32nd store in Kenya. The new store is being positioned as its flagship store in the Kilimani, Ngong Road, Lavington and Hurlingham areas of …

20 startups have been selected as part of the 5th edition of Google for Startups Accelerator Africa Program. Among them are three companies seeking to reinvent logistics in African markets: Thumeza, Amitruck and Send. Google’s prestigious Startups Accelerator Africa Program …

Tomoca, the best known of Ethiopia’s coffee shop chains, has opened its first outlet in Kenya. The new outlet is a departure – whereas the Ethiopian outlets are traditional affairs mostly targeted at locals, the new outlet in Nairobi’s upmarket …

Jumia Kenya has opened up its logistics network to third parties, seeking to appeal to companies looking for more reach during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Egypt, Jumia has announced an agreement with the country’s five largest banks to offer interest-free installment services …

The noise from Kenya’s supplier community is getting louder, warning that supermarket chain Tuskys’ failure to pay on time is indicating severe financial distress akin to what happened with Nakumatt. Tuskys CEO Dan Githua has already warned that the company …

DHL Express has taken a minority stake in Link Commerce, the UK-based e-commerce platform that sits beneath MallforAfrica.com and DHL’s Africa eShop service. DHL is betting on a fundamental change in purchasing behaviours in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which …

Kenya’s Eastmatt supermarket chain, which targets less wealthy middle class Kenyan consumers, has rolled out an SMS-based “pick and go” shopping service in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The service is designed to target consumers who want to use …

Ghanaian startup mPharma, which provides a digital prescription drug inventory service for pharmacies and their suppliers, has raised $17 million in its latest funding round. In March 2019 it raised $12m in a Series B round. The company has operated …

Car & General (Kenya), owner of the site of Nakumatt’s Mega superstore on Nairobi’s, Uhuru Highway, has signed a lease deal with Majid Al Futtaim (Carrefour). The new store will open in June. The branch was originally scheduled to open in …

Diageo’s Kenyan subsidiary East African Breweries Limited (EABL) has announced plans to increase its ownership in Tanzania’s Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL) from 55% to 85%. The move comes ahead of rival AB InBev’s Tanzania Breweries opening its new $100m brewery in …

As the impact of COVID-19 forces its way into the economy, Shoprite and Tuskys have closed stores. Meanwhile, Naivas, the #1 supermarket chain in Kenya, has opened a new 950m² supermarket in Nairobi’s Hurlingham suburb. Shoprite is permanently closing its Waterfront …

At Trendtype we have decided to put our thoughts down on paper, as it were. Headline: there are lots of reasons to believe that African countries may emerge from COVID-19 in better (or less worse) shape than developed economies in …

Kenya-based online supply chain platform Sokowatch has raised $14m in Series A funding. The B2B startup connects small retailers with multinational manufacturers including P&G and Unilever, enabling them to order products via SMS or mobile app, with delivery to their …

Kenya’s #2 supermarket chain, Tuskys, has announced a round of redundancies on the back of a fall in profits for the second successive year. Tuskys has 6,000 employees in Kenya and Uganda, but has not revealed how many are being …