Kenya Insights

Tag: equity

  • Eight Kenyans Arrested In Rwanda Over Attempted Theft On Equity Bank

    Rwanda Investigation Bureau has nabbed an organized gang of eight Kenyans, Three Rwandese and one Ugandan over a cyber fraud attempt on Equity bank in Rwanda.

    RIB said that the gang was nabbed while in the process of hacking into the bank system to drain money from clients’ accounts.

    In September, Kenya insights published a series of well-informed and researched articles from the Chief editor of Kenya Insights highlighting back to back in-depth details of how and what 3 Kenyans are going through in Rwanda, the Rwandese Department of Justice has finally done the much-anticipated worry of  jailing the Kenyan entrepreneur and investor Charle Kinuthia two years in the prison over an alleged training scam in Rwanda.

    In Our recent articles that highlighted when internationally renowned motivational speaker and business strategist Dr. Charles Kinuthia aka Coach Ck touched down in Rwanda with his team for a Wealth Fitness Conference, he thought it was going to be an exceptional event like one of the many other successful events he’s held across the world, in twenty-seven countries.

    However, things would take an unexpected turn quickly, as it has. He and two of his employees, all Kenyans are still currently being held in inhumane conditions in Mageragere Prison, 30 km outside of Kigali, Rwanda. It has been verified that when Coach Ck first arrived at the prison, he was stripped of his clothes, beaten and forced to crawl in trenches full of sewer water and still continues to be mistreated while in custody.

    Kenyans are losing it and the fraudulent nature of a few crooks in the foreign nations has since seen innocent and law-abiding Kenyans in Rwanda and other States face equal treatment as the criminal minds. Also, foreign States are judging all Kenyans like cartels and fraudsters since almost if not all of our institutions and leadership structures are scandal-ridden and led by known fraudsters.

  • Rwanda Made Mara Smartphones To Be Availed On Kenyan Market

    Rwanda Made Mara Smartphones To Be Availed On Kenyan Market

    Last week, Kenya Insights wrote about Rwanda becoming the first African country to launch a manufacturing plant for smartphones.

    According to the production records, the Mara Phone factory commissioned last week on Tuesday by President Paul Kagame in Kigali is expected to manufacture at least 1,200 smartphones daily for sale in Rwanda and abroad.

    The Indian founder Ashish Thakkar who is also member of President Paul Kagame’s Presidential Advisory Council stated that the firm is in talks with regional countries including Kenya, DR Congo and Angola to export and sell the Rwanda-made smartphones.

    Thakkar had earlier disclosed that the company was scheduled to broaden on the continent and open another factory in South Africa.

    Since the official launch, Mara phones sale has increased with at least 30 handsets sold per day between Tuesday last week and today. In the past three months, the shop has sold about 130 phones.

    The Mara group established at a cost of over Ksh 5 billion by the Bank of Kigali, the factory directly employs 200 workers 90 per cent of whom are Rwandan and 60 per cent female to work in technology development, production and the assembly lines. The local and foreign engineers, currently work one shift a day.

    “Producing smartphones takes about 1,000 individual components in a complex manufacturing operation requiring significant technical skill and expertise,” said Mr Thakkar.

    Kenya Insights, due to blocked direct access to the factory floor, can not authoritatively authenticate claims that this is a manufacturing plant.

    However, according to a media source, the phones made at the plant are partially manufactured and partially assembled in Rwanda.

    “They make the motherboards in Rwanda using about 1,000 raw materials while the rest of the handset is assembled using imported parts,” the source told The EastAfrican.

    The factory is divided into different sections for technology development, production and assembly lines. The factory, so far, makes two phone models the Mara X and Mara Z retailing for Sh 13, 000 and Sh19,000 respectively.

    The Mara Z is a dual sim phone with a storage capacity of 32GB and memory of 3GB, while the Mara X is also a dual sim with 16GB space and 1GB memory. Both models are pre-installed with Google’s Android operating system.

    “I want to emphasise that this is a manufacturing facility and not an assembling plant,’’ Thakkar, the Indian founder of Mara group talked down the assembling allegations.

    As i had noted in the previous article, Mara Group has direct links with Equity Bank and the Bank has deep connections in the country, this is almost a done deal. Whether is good or bad for business time will tell. Rwanda is not a welcoming country for businesses runned and operated by foreigners. How our country will prioritize their products and sit down and watch locally produced laptops collapse with many Kenyan tech minds careers is what Kenyans should use when making next electoral decisions. And on Equity  why are your wings flying away from Kenyan innovations!?

  • Your Money Is Not Safe With Equity Bank

    Your Money Is Not Safe With Equity Bank

    Equity Bank Kenya is stealing from customers. Multiple reports by customers over missing cash from their accounts flood their customer care social media. This is not the first the Bank is on the spot for allegations of stealing from its customers and paying them off with bad customer service.

    Kenyans often take to social media to share stories about their horrible experiences with the giant financial institution. Shocking incidents of money mysteriously disappearing from their accounts and being asked to pay loans they didn’t apply for.

    One Kendi Gichobi took to Equity’s social media account late Saturday morning after money she had entrusted the bank with was withdrawn without her knowledge. In the tweet she furiously accuses the bank of not assisting her for a whole month and even blocking her calls.

    This is just one case of the amount of theft going on at the bank.  Earlier this year  Lydia Mathia, posted on facebook how the bank okayed withdrawal of her father’s Ksh34,000 in what looked like an inside job. Ms Mathia’s dad discovered that he could not use his Equitel pin and decided to visit Limuru branch where he had opened the account. The customer care attendants dismissed him rudely and told him off. After finally sorting things out by renewing the SIM card, the dad got a notification to repay an outstanding loan of Ksh34,000.

    Another client was late last year met with a rude shock after Ksh400,000 went missing from his account. His money was withdrawn using the Equitel platform barely two days after being issued with an Equitel line. The client claims he was initially able to even check his balance using the issued Equitel line but it later malfunctioned and before he knew it he was Ksh 400,000 poorer.

    Here’s a list of other Kenyans complaining about the same:

    Joyce Gathumbi says: “My dad’s money was withdrawn… 180k and a loan of 40k on top. And instead of helping him to track it they keep telling him his loan is due.”

    In a new scheme, Transfers from the bank to mobile money often takes long hours on end, some lasting up to two weeks. This kind of fraudulence should not be tolerated, In fact trust them with your money at your own risk.