Category: Business

Taj Mall owner Rameshchandra Govind Gorasia risks auction over failure to pay a Sh3.2 million debt owed to a private security firm after a court declined his proposal to use logbook to secure the debt.

Mr Gorasia wanted the High Court to allow him to use the logbook of a Caterpillar Wheel Loader as security of the debt he owes Cobra Security Company Limited. He also wanted the court to suspend execution of a judgement dated December 7, 2018 in which a magistrate had ordered Taj Mall Ltd to pay the security firm a sum of Sh3,205,930.

But Justice Jacqueline Kamau declined the request saying though Taj Mall was facing serious financial challenges the court’s hands were tied and could not assist in any way.

The judge also declined Mr Gorasia’s proposal to deposit the logbook of a Caterpillar Wheel Loader to secure the debt pending the determination of the appeal.

Justice Kamau said it was not acceptable to the court because there was no guarantee that at the conclusion of the appeal, its value would still be Sh3.2 million.

“It was apparent that the same would continue being in possession and sole control of and by the applicant putting the security in a precarious position to the possible detriment of the respondent,” said justice Kamau.

She added that there was no doubt that its value would depreciate due to wear and tear as a result of its usage.

Mr Gorasia had secured a reprieve on February 28, 2020 when the High Court granted a suspension of the order on condition that he deposits the said amount of money into a joint interest earning account in the names of advocates of both sides within 30 days. However, he was unable to meet the condition and returned to court seeking a review of the order adding that he had filed an appeal against the magistrate court’s order.

He said Taj Mall Ltd was facing financial challenges following the demolition of the Taj Mall/Airgate Centre.

External Source.

Equity has scooped two awards at this year’s African Banker Awards 2020. The Bank has been awarded the Best Regional Bank in East Africa, and for the second year running, the Africa Socially Responsible Bank of the Year.

Equity emerged as the Best Regional Bank in East Africa, having demonstrated high performance across various metrics, both qualitative and quantitative. According to the African Banker judging panel, the Bank excelled in terms of reaching out to new customers, offering new services, adopting inclusiveness by reaching out to the unbanked, adoption of new technologies and for its contribution to a stronger financial sector across the region.

Speaking while receiving the award during the virtual ceremony, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr. James Mwangi stated: “We are glad that Equity has won this award. We appreciate the recognition that our operations in the 6 East and Central African countries we operate in have been standardised to reflect the One Equity brand providing inclusive financial services and we are not just a Kenyan bank, but a regional bank.”

During this COVID-19 period, the Bank exhibited initiative and support for its customers’ economic plight by providing an option for customers to re-negotiate existing facilities for up to 4 years. Equity further eliminated charges on all mobile banking transactions including all Equity-to-Equity mobile bank transfers, bank to mobile wallet transfers, mobile wallet to bank transfers, and mobile payments for bills, utilities, shopping, fuel, etc. to encourage cashless transactions.

Similarly, the Bank also won the African Banker Awards category for the Africa Socially Responsible Bank of the Year for the second time in a row. The panel of judges sought for concrete examples of projects and initiatives within the institutions that have had a sustainable impact on the communities they are geared towards. Identifying organisations that go beyond the philanthropic use of funds to use their overall knowledge, resources and reputation to improve the lives of the less advantaged in society.

“Our purpose is to transform lives, giving dignity and expanding opportunities for wealth creation. We have combined financial services and doing good, social impact investments, in our business model for the betterment of our communities and we are glad that our work and the impact is being recognized,” added Dr Mwangi.

Equity Bank Rwanda and the family of Dr Mwangi made a contribution of 22,225 testing kits at a cost of RW 1Billion to the Government of Rwanda in supporting efforts of combating the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Commenting on the awards, Equity Bank Rwanda Plc Managing Director, Hannington Namara, said, “We thank our customers who have been loyal and are the very reason we exist and are being recognised. We would like to assure them that we remain committed to serving them through innovative and excellent services.”

The African Banker Awards is a prestigious continental recognition awards ceremony that recognizes reforms, rapid modernisation, consolidation, integration and expansion of Africa’s banking and financial system. Recognising the personalities and banks that are driving Africa’s rapidly transforming financial sector, the African Banker Awards bring together industry leaders from Africa and the world. They celebrate the achievements of those who are driving growth and development and creating new economic opportunities for citizens and communities all over the continent and inspire new generations of bankers who are shaping Africa’s future.

SportPesa resumed their operations on Tuesday but the company is not out of the woods yet with the state still putting the firm under probe and endless shareholding feuds.

SportPesa’s top officials who were recently charged in court are to appear before the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) today to answer questions regarding the firm’s ownership and directorship.

The BCLB had on October 31 suspended the operating license of Milestones Games Limited for using SportPesa as its trade name. Milestone linked to the CEO Ronald Karauri who controls 54.4% stakes is accused of using layers of ownership to circumvent the due diligence requirements and investigations that the board conducts while considering applications according to BCLB letter to Milestones.

Apart from Mr Karauri, who is also a shareholder of SportPesa’s mother company Pevans East Africa, the other shareholder of Milestones is Francis Waweru Kiarie. That both Mr Kiarie and Mr Karauri have ownership stakes at Milestones, through Selenium Limited.

Both Karauri and Kiarie have accumulated 95.3 per cent stake in Milestone through several investment vehicles, replacing the owners who obtained the licence from the regulator.

According Business Daily, the valuable SportPesa gaming brand was sold for £100,000 (Sh14.7 million) in June this year.

Pevans East Africa, the owner of the SportPesa trade mark, signed an agreement on June 2 to transfer the brand to UK-based Sportpesa Global Holdings Limited.

Pevans and Sportpesa Global share directors and shareholders but fell out over the transaction as the decision to transfer the brand was not unanimous.

Pevans’ chief executive Ronald Karauri signed the deed of assignment on behalf of the firm, Kalina Karadzhova, a Bulgarian national signed on behalf of SportPesa Global.

It was not immediately clear whether Pevans received payments in the deal or if its liabilities to Sportpesa Global were defrayed in the process.

Mr Paul Wanderi Ndung’u, who holds a 17 per cent stake in Pevans, says the deal undervalued the SportPesa brand by billions of shillings.

The Registrar of Trade Marks certified the transfer of the SportPesa brand on September 15, 2020, a day after receiving the application. The effective registration date was backdated to June 2 when the deed of assignment was recorded.

Apart from BCLB, the firm has to deal with the investigations by the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC).

Sources within security circles say that FRC is investigating claims of money laundering made by some shareholders of SportPesa.

One such claim was made by Mr Paul Kinuthia to the Central Bank of Kenya, and claims that some Sh26 million was at the end of last year transferred from Bradleys Limited without the knowledge of the directors.

Bradleys is a subsidiary of SportPesa that was behind the Pambazuka National Lottery. The lottery suspended operations in January 2018, citing heavy taxation.

“When we suspended operations, we preserved about Sh44 million to deal with some anticipated liabilities which included court cases by staff who had lost employment,” Mr Kinuthia informed CBK on December 30 last year.

“On December 24, and to my surprise, I received information from the chairman of the company that an equivalent of Sh40.9 million had been transferred from the Bradley account to Kentech SLU account in Las Palma, Canary Island, which is a tax haven,” he said.

SportPesa is said to be the second most profitable company in Kenya after Safaricom with an approximated Sh480M value of bets being placed on the platform daily. It boasts of over 12M subscribers in Kenya alone keeping in mind its global stretch.

SportPesa operating licence was suspended in July last year following Sh21.4B tax row with KRA.

The Youth Enterprise Development Fund has been given a go-ahead to recover over Sh100 million from a microfinance institution that it tasked to lend to beneficiaries.

The lender breached the contract by failing to issue the funds. Already, the Youth Fund board has notified Rafiki Microfinance Bank of possible forceful acquisition of its assets if it fails to pay the Sh176.5 million.

The amount includes costs of the legal battle that has lasted over four years.

The recovery comes after the Milimani Commercial Court ruled that Rafiki Microfinance Bank pays back all the money that the Youth Fund extended to it and was not issued as per contract.

Principal amount

This will be in addition to the interest accrued to the principal amount plus litigation costs. According to the Fund’s board, Rafiki Bank had defaulted in issuing loans to beneficiaries as per their contract.

Chase Bank, now under receivership, was guaranteeing the agreement.

“It’s common ground that Rafiki is still in default and will have to suffer the penal interest ascribed in the contract,” Justice Francis Tuiyot of the Milimani Commercial and Tax Division of the High Court ruled.

Youth Fund, through Morara Apiemi and Nyangito Advocates had argued during the hearing that Rafiki Bank had refused to heed to its demands that it finds a new guarantee after the collapse of Chase Bank, which was the guarantee of the monies in question.

But Rafiki argued that there was an active contract with Chase Bank to continue guaranteeing it after the bank had been put under receivership.

“Even after the Chase Bank’s receivership, the guarantee was valid until January 2018 and the bank had written to the Fund to that effect,” the lender submitted to the court.

The Fund had also accused Rafiki of giving out loans on its behalf to people who were above the age prescribed in the policies of the youth kitty and contained in their deed, allegations the bank denied.

After the judgement dated October 5, the Youth Fund is now in the process of recovering the monies, which the High Court ruled should be refunded with accrued interest plus litigation costs.

In a notice served to the lender and the Central Bank dated November 26, and signed by the counsel for Youth Fund Philemon Morara, Rafiki Microfinance Bank has up to 21 days to repay the cash.

“Take further notice that we will commence liquidation proceedings against the bank unless the decretal sum is paid within the aforesaid statutory stipulated period without any reference to you,” read part of the notice.

External.

Youth unemployment has been a disaster and a worrying trend for many now. Job creation has been extremely lower than the number of young people channeled out of our learning institutions annually. Many have been left stranded without any sustainable livelihood. For some, they have tried different paths championing job creation while the lucky few got themselves employment contracts to support their livelihoods at the mercy of the performance of the economy.

With the Covid-19 pandemic coming into play early this year 2020, many youths were undoubtedly affected with massive job losses adding into pain to the already deplorable state of unemployment. The pandemic got many young dreams shuttered while others delayed indefinitely, as it was the beginning of the year with many new year’s resolutions ready to be played out, young people had to embrace the uncertainty and go back to the drawing board.

For sure it was a scary moment for many people, for the first time young people had to adhere to the containment measures that hugely disrupted their interactions and sources of income. It was painful seeing energetic youthful people forced to stay indoors without any reliable income streams to support their families, a good number had to settle back upcountry at least to make things under control for the meantime.

With movements restricted, entertainment, and education industries shut, some industries of essential services especially the food industry remained strong and tall. It’s during these darkest moments of the pandemic that people learned many lessons and had a change of perception on several matters.

What became apparent looking into other avenues to make extra bucks, with restricted movements and stay at home orders, a good number in the urban resorted to working from home, those fired also sought for other jobs or income sources, the PayPal Casinos in Kenya became popular during the 1stwave. To those, you can add the young ones that tried to start an eSports career from scratch, and of course most of them failed.Forex trading, stock trading, and bitcoin trading has equally gained traction in the recent past as well in Kenya. PayPal was and still is an easy and safe way to deposit money to those websites, therefore most of the newly registered users preferred to use PayPal to start using those platforms.

Let’s walk through some of the industries that were impacted the most.

Agriculture is one of the industries that redeemed its respect and presented many lucrative opportunities to many jobless people to support their families even with the strict containment measures in place. The agricultural industry has for a long time remained unattractive to young people leaving the old as dominant players in the crucial food industry. Many policies and campaigns have been in place to change the stubborn perspective with little success.

From many surveys, farming hasn’t been categorized by many youths as a ‘dissent career’ that wished to pursue. You couldn’t rush to blame that kind of mindset considering the nature of challenges farmers they saw growing up went through from manual farming, pests/diseases to high cost of production, and market challenges. At least for now with technological advancements and many mentorship/empowerment programs coming up to drive more youths into agriculture, the situation is changing gradually.

During the Covid pandemic many agribusiness ventures were born; new farmers that started simply to feed their families by growing their food, step by step, they slowly started filling the market demand in their communities, and now many plans in place to expand further. These many positive stories were shared through social media mostly by youths that have been stuck down in the lockdown and with a lot of time in their hands.

These inspirational stories changed the environment of the agricultural industry and many picked the challenge to give farming a try. Slowly you could see more stories being shared and an influx of many local markets with fresh produce. A clear picture of how youths can use technology and innovations to transform agriculture to the next level and establish gainful careers from farming.

It will also go into the record that the Covid-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise to several youths in agricultural sectors considering jobs created as other industries were shutting down. The youthful generation came to understand that despite any situation, people have to eat thus the unending market demand. It was also critical to note opportunities along the agricultural value chain, every person becomes a key player and dependent on the other.

Youths now coming in with technological prowess and innovativeness, youths are increasingly realizing that job opportunities in this great sector are overwhelming. With the traditional mindset, a farmer was to toil all day on the farm, right now, youths can come in with their expertise such as bookkeeping, marketing, transport/logistic among many other avenues to get a share of the lucrative agricultural value chain. To relate the situation with Covid pandemic time, many youths organized themselves to source fresh produce from farmers and get them to the market in time, some could pick the opportunity from the market and optimize on door-to-door delivery to consumers who were in lockdown.

Also, several young people are now depending on technology for information about farming, this was another opportunity for tech-savvy youthful agripreneurs to bridge the gap.

Covid-19 pandemic silently but surely brought a revolution in the agricultural sector especially among the youth as the next best frontier. It’s time to move the discussion on how to retain more youths in the sector while attracting more newcomers to tap into the overgrowing opportunities along the agricultural value chain. We have got the long-awaited pace, let’s keep the wheels rolling while feeding the nation and taking the front seat in job creation.

The debt ridden retail chain Tuskys that has been on distress and a familiar route of downfall is facing even more hurdles just when they thought a repeat had come their way over a possible Sh2B injection to get them out of the more than Sh6B debt hole.

Tuskys is seeking to sell a majority stake to a consortium made up of a private equity firm and an undisclosed foreign retailer as part of efforts to raise cash to pay suppliers and win back their confidence.

But this deal has stirred a new set of rows and confusions to the desperate company.

According to news reports, the undisclosed foreign investor in tax haven Cayman Island is willing to advance the ailing Tusker Mattress Limited with Sh2B but on ridiculous terms as holding the entire shares of Orkam as security which will be converted to equity on default.

What this means is the current shareholders of Orakam Holdings which is the mother firm owning 100% stakes in Tuskys has to give up the shares to the investor. In the event of a default on the loan, the investor then becomes the main shareholder.

Sources familiar with the share sale deal say that the potential investors are concerned about committing resources to a deal that could be scuttled by insiders.

They are also fretful about the possibility of ending up with an aggrieved minority shareholder who could rock the boat from within. The jitters are based on previous fallouts that saw Mr Yusuf Mugweru in 2018 scuttle a merger deal between Tuskys and then cash-strapped Nakumatt, which has since collapsed.

Orakam Holdings shareholders who’re the children of the founder late Joram Kamau include; Stephen Mukuha, Sammy Gatei, Yusuf Mugweru and George Gachwe each own a 17.5 percent stake in Orakam. John Kago, Mary Njoki and Kenneth Njeri who each hold a 10 percent stake in the company.

The sibling rivalry has seen them in endless court battles and this is a reason of concern to possible investors whore now putting the demands of the firm committing the shares.

One of the significant investors in supermarket chain Tuskys, Stephen Kamau, has obtained court orders allowing the cash-strapped retailer to fast track a shareholder meeting to approve the injection of new capital.

The move is also seen as a manoeuvre to pre-empt obstacles to the planned meeting by another significant shareholder, Yusuf Mugweru, who has been wrangling with his siblings in the family-owned business.

Mr Kamau told the High Court in Nairobi that Orakam Holdings, the that Orakam Holdings, the investment vehicle which owns Tuskys 100 percent, needs to convene a meeting within 48 hours to save the retailer from collapse.

A meeting of shareholders has since been set for 28 September where they’ll have the issue of committing the shares on the table.

Tuskys had earlier estimated that it needed at least Sh2 billion to survive in the short term as piling debt led to supplier defections, stock-outs and closure of some stores.

Should this injection be approved and Tuskys rebounds to profitability, they’ll pay the debt and get back their shares. Should it fail then the investor takes control of the company.

What doesn’t make sense in this deal is why the unnamed investor would commit all that money to a company that its profitability is uncertain. If Tuskys drowns, it will leave the investor with nothing but empty assets not enough to recover the debt, which begs the question of why risk all Sh2B with a side eye on high failure? It’s like throwing a fish in the lake and hoping it comes back to you.

Another possible explanation of the mysterious investor’s motive is someone likely a Kenyan looking into launder back money from the tax haven and that’s why the idea of company’s profitability is not important to them.

The Ghost of Chase Bank which collapsed four years ago is haunting the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) which inherited the failed bank’s customers.

SBM has taken a Sh10 billion loan from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) indicating they have tapped into the liquidity support used to keep struggling banks alive by injecting emergency funds to keep the banks awash with cash.

The liquidity support was introduced in April 2016 following the collapse of Dubai Bank, Imperial Bank and Chase Bank within months of each other.

SBM recorded an 83 per cent drop in after-tax profits during the first six months of the year to Sh98 million down from Sh585 million during a similar period in 2019.

The significant dip in earnings was attributable to increased loan loss provisioning which soared by over 15 times from Sh23 million in 2019 to Sh356 million

Moreover, the bank’s asset quality worsened in the period as 70 per cent of the lender’s outstanding loans were defaulted.

Sh16 billion out of a total loan book of Sh22.6 billion are dud loans. SBM made an entry into the Kenyan market by acquiring Fidelity Bank for 100 shillings.

The deal raised eyebrows from various quarters with Fidelity having been linked to opaque deals at Imperial Bank, now in receivership.

The Mauritian lender then incorporated Chase Bank operations in its books taking only ‘the good borrowers’ together with the 1,300 Chase Bank employees, in about 62 branches for only Sh471,335 as cash consideration.

Inheriting Sh69.59 billion assets and Sh66.68 billion liabilities of Chase Bank, enabled SBM to consolidate its banking business in the Kenyan market to become a strong tier-II bank with increased market share.

But while the banks may have come cheaply and helped solve a mutual crisis of bank collapses in Kenya, SBM and CBK are now tied to the fate of the ghosts of the two banks and their delicate survival especially in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

Low cost carrier Jambojet has announced the launch of Private Charter operations. The charter flights will allow customers to fly to any destination within the region and further; subject to regulatory approvals.

Acting Managing Director Mr Karanja Ndegwa says that Jambojet is targeting Corporates and families who want to travel as a group to destinations that aren’t part of Jambojet’s scope of operations.

Customers who wish to charter flights will be provided with an email address where they will be able to send in requests for destinations they wish to fly to.

Mr Karanja says that having foregone nearly Ksh 1.2 billion in revenue , the Charterd flights will contribute to the business recovery after COVID-19  grounding. He estimates that the chartered operations will account for at least 15% of the airline’s annual revenue.

Safaricom subscribers using feature phones can now access their M-Pesa services through short code, the telco has announced.

The firm says it has consolidated all M-pesa service on the *334# in a single easy to use menu with more flexibility compared to what is available on SIM toolkit menu.

According to the firm, the new menu makes it easier to send money to the correct recipient by displaying the receiver’s name and only advancing once the customer confirms the transaction.

“We have embarked on a strategy to simplify our range of products and services for our customers and to provide them with an even better experience. M-PESA on *334# is our first solution as part of the ongoing strategy and it refines how our customers interact with the service. Customers now have the opportunity to truly confirm the details of a transaction before it can progress making reversals a thing of the past,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.

• President Donald Trump’s net worth is down $600 million from last September and has fallen 64 spots lower on the Forbes 400 list 
• The president is now worth $2.5 billion and ranks No. 339 on the list 
• Trump’s sector, commercial real estate and hotel properties, have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic 
• The biggest loser among his properties was the Trump National Doral Miami, down an estimated $114 million, according to Forbes 
• At the same time, his other Florida properties, including the ‘winter White House,’ Mar-a-Lago, are up as people are seeking more outdoor-friendly locales  

President Donald Trump’s net worth is down $600 million from last September and he’s fallen 64 spots lower on the Forbes 400, the magazine reported Tuesday.

The president is now worth $2.5 billion and is No. 339 on the list.

Trump’s sector, commercial real estate and hotels, has been aversely impacted by the coronavirus crisis, with his Miami golf property, Trump National Doral Miami, taking the biggest hit – down an estimated $114 million.

It’s now worth an estimated $28 million, once mortgages are accounted for.

That’s an 80 per cent decrease in one year.

Office properties, like his 30 per cent stake in 1290 Avenue of the Americas in New York City, are taking a hit with many Americans working from home.

That piece of property is down an estimated $109 million since last year.

The office portion of Trump Tower is down $70 million, Forbes estimated.

And Trump’s penthouse in Trump Tower is also down, by an estimated $9 million.

Forbes reported that Trump’s properties in D.C. and Chicago – where he was significantly in debt to begin with – are ‘underwater these days.’

The Trump International Hotel in D.C., located steps from the White House, is down an estimated $66 million. And it’s now valued at a negative $2 million because of the debt owed.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is down $13 million in a year and is valued at a negative $9 million for the same reason.

The Trump International Hotel Las Vegas is down $10 million. The president owns a 50 per cent stake in certain condo-hotel units.

It’s not all bad news for the president, however.

Mar-a-Lago, the ‘winter White House’ in Palm Beach, Florida, is up $10 million. Trump’s three nearby Florida homes are also seeing an increase.

Tusker Mattresses Limited, the company that owns Tusky’s Supermarket, has launched an aggressive campaign to re-launch its outlets countrywide following months of economic hardships.

The campaign, known as back-to-back campaign, is aimed at building the confidence of the retail chain , the company’s Head of Business Development, Mr. John Muitiriri, told journalists in Malindi, Monday.

Speaking during the re-launch of Tusky’s Malindi Branch, Mr. Muitiriri said the company had entered into a deal with its suppliers with a view to bouncing back into business.

He announced that the company had received Sh2 billion from Mauritanian investors to help revamp its business that had run into trouble with the suppliers.

He said 55 of its branches were up and running and assured the supermarket’s customers that it had resumed quality services.

Mr. Muitiriri said Tuskys was back on its feet, adding that the months of trouble were as a result of low business occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic that led to a closure to some of its stores in the country over debts.

“We have agreed with our customers on how we shall repay our old debts even as they continue supplying,” he said adding, “We are now re-launching Tuskys country-wide to bring back the confidence our customers used to have with us.”

He said most of the supermarket’s shelves stores were fully stocked and assured the customers that they would be offered one of the best shopping experiences.

”The re-stocking exercise is going on in all our stores countrywide which is fully supported by suppliers. We have an agreement with suppliers to give us stock and pay them back after a short period,” he said.

He added, “Despite what we have gone through in the past few months, Tuskys is here to stay. We are going nowhere despite the challenges we have faced previously.”

Mr. Muitiriri said the Covid-19 pandemic had made many of its customers to have less disposable income that made them to spend less thus leading to a decline in the sales.

He said over the last one month Tuskys’ sales had been growing, especially after relaunching in Kisumu, Eldoret, Kisii, Mombasa and Nairobi, and hoped with the re-launch of all the 55 retail outlets, Tuskys would be able to get back on its feet.

The Head of Business assured the supermarket’s workers that they would get all their unpaid salaries accumulated over the last three months.

”We have engaged our employees and opened up channels of communication and feedback too. This helps in addressing the issues as they come on a real-time basis,” he said.

Kenya Airways has announced a 50 percent ticket price waiver for the country’s health workers intending to travel.

The national carrier on Tuesday said the move is meant to honour the front-line health workers in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, that has so far claimed 572 lives, while 19,590 have recovered.

By Monday evening, 33,794 people had been infected by the disease since March.

In a statement, KQ said health workers will be required to show their work Identity Card at the time of purchase and checking in.

“We celebrate our medical heroes with an exclusive offer. Healthcare workers can book tickets by 30th Sep 20 & get up to 50 percent off in Business and Economy class to 20+ destinations,” reads the statement.

The one-month-long offer kicked off on Tuesday, with health workers now traveling on a 50 percent off in Business and Economy class to more than 20 destinations.

By July, Kenya had more than 250 health workers infected by coronavirus, while four had succumbed to the disease.

Dr. Doreen Lugaliki was the first Kenyan doctor to succumb to the disease. Capital

The world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, is wealthier than he’s ever been. Early Wednesday he crossed a milestone previously unseen in the nearly four decades Forbes has been tracking net worths: With Amazon stock edging up 2% as of Wednesday afternoon, Bezos’ net worth is up by $4.9 billion, making the 56-year-old the world’s first-ever person to amass a $200 billion fortune.

As of 1:50 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, the Amazon founder and CEO is worth $204.6 billion—nearly $90 billion more than the world’s second-richest person, Bill Gates, who’s currently worth $116.1 billion.

Even adjusting for inflation, Forbes believes Bezos’ fortune is the largest ever amassed. The person to come closest is Gates, who was the world’s first-ever centibillionaire. Near the height of the dot-com bubble, when Microsoft reached its then-peak in 1999, Gates’ net worth surpassed $100 billion, roughly $158 billion in today’s dollars.

Fueled by the change in consumer habits as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon stock is up nearly 80% since the beginning of the year, and Bezos’ net worth, which was roughly $115 billion on January 1, has skyrocketed in tandem. Bezos’ roughly 11% stake in Amazon makes up more than 90% of his fortune. He also owns the Washington Post, aerospace company Blue Origin and other private investments.

Bezos would be even richer had he not gone through the most expensive divorcesettlement in history last year. When he split from ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, last July, he agreed to give her 25% of his Amazon stake, a chunk of stock now worth $63 billion. Even after giving away $1.7 billion in charitable gifts earlier this year, Scott is currently the world’s 14th-richest person and second-richest woman, behind L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.

Bezos isn’t alone among tech titans with fortunes surging to massive new heights. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ended Tuesday as a brand-new centibillionaire, worth $103.1 billion after adding $3.4 billion to his fortune in one day, on Facebook stock gains. That surge continued early Wednesday afternoon, with Zuckerberg up an astonishing $6 billion just on Wednesday as of publication time. He’s now worth $109.1 billion.

There are now more centibillionaires on the planet than ever. Joining Bezos, Gates and the newly crowned Zuckerberg is LVMH chair Bernard Arnault, who first joined the 12-figure ranks last year. Though his net worth slipped to about $80 billion at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in March, Arnault reclaimed the centibillionaire title in May and today is worth about $115 billion. This makes him the third-richest person on earth–$90 billion poorer than Jeff Bezos.

Jambojet customers can now pay for their air tickets using Bonga Points following a partnership between the regional low cost carrier and Safaricom.

The partnership will allow Jambojet customers redeem their Bonga Points to purchase air ticket to any of its six local destinations namely Nairobi, Mombasa, Diani, Malindi, Kisumu and Eldoret.

“We are aware of the financial impact COVID-19 has had on many families. There are those who may want to travel but are cash –strapped. We want to provide options to the customers and tell them that they can still travel by redeeming Bonga Points,” said Titus Oboogi, Head of Sales and Marketing, Jambojet.

To pay for the flight ticket using Bonga Points, dial *126# select ‘Lipa Na Bonga Points’, then select ‘Pay Bill’.

One will then be prompted to enter the Jambojet Pay Bill number, 737700, and account number, which is the Reference Number issued during booking.

The customer will then be required to input the amount they want to pay via Bonga Points, and get a response showing the number of points needed to pay the for the air ticket. If it isn’t the full ticket amount, the customer will receive a message advising them of the balance due.

Bonga is a loyalty scheme launched by Safaricom in 2007 to allow its customers accumulate and redeem points based on usage of services on its network.

“We have enhanced our Bonga loyalty scheme over the years to reward our customers for their loyalty to the Safaricom network. Through our partnership with Jambojet, we seek to provide our customers more options in how they utilize the value of their Bonga points,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.

Last month, Jambojet introduced a Progressive Web App (PWA) to allow customers book tickets, check in and access their boarding pass on their smartphones.

PWA, which is available on both Android and iOS, offers convenience to customers while streamlining processes, to save time and help reduce physical touch points.

Unlike the standard mobile apps or the web, PWAs consume less data and are reliable even in uncertain network conditions.