👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Kenya gives banks a lifeline

Dear Kenyans, if you’ve used Uber Eats to order groceries, Bolt Food to get lunch delivered, or Glovo to send a parcel across town, you’ve been using services that have, until now, been operating under the same licence as a traditional courier company. That’s about to change.

Here’s the lowdown: The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) has said it wants to introduce a new ten-year courier licence, Courier Hailing Service Provider licence, that would regulate app-based delivery platforms, such as Uber, Bolt, Glovo, and Little, separately from traditional courier companies. 

Explain like I’m new here: Until now, these companies operated under the same licencing framework as conventional courier firms, despite running businesses that look very different. Instead of dispatching parcels through branch networks, they match customers, riders, and merchants through apps. The CAK said the new licence recognises that distinction and creates a dedicated regulatory framework for platform-based delivery services. 

What changes? From July 29, qualifying platforms will pay a KES 5,000 ($38.60) application fee, a KES 100,000 ($773) licence fee, and an annual operating fee of KES 100,000 ($773), or 0.4% of gross annual turnover, whichever is higher. They’ll also contribute a 0.5% universal service levy on annual turnover. Existing operators will be migrated to the new category and asked to pay the difference. 

Why now? Kenya’s regulators are drawing clearer lines around the platform economy. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the country’s taxman, has already moved to tighten tax compliance by linking eTIMS to receipts of Little Cab, a…