Zoho partners with J-Hub Africa to Promote Innovation

• Zoho announces partnership with J-Hub Africa to promote innovation among entrepreneurs and upskill students at Zoholics Kenya;

Zoho, a global technology company,announced its partnership with J-Hub Africa, the digital innovation hub that supports budding innovators and entrepreneurs at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

The company has also partnered with Electronic Certification Service Providers (E-CSP) in order to help local businesses digitally sign legally-valid contracts, and integrated its solutions with Safaricom M-PESA, a Kenyan payment gateway provider. Zoho grew by 41% in Kenya in 2023, making this one of the fastest growing markets in Africa.

The announcements were made on the sidelines of Zoholics Kenya, the company’s annual user conference, being held at Hyatt Regency in Nairobi.

“Growing with local communities is as important for us as delivering value for our customers through our solutions. We actively endeavour to contribute to overall community progress in Kenya by collaborating with local and hyper-local bodies. 

Our partnership with J-Hub promotes technology adoption among young innovators and early stage startups, and provides upskilling for students who are about to join the workforce.

We are also investing in localising our products to ensure businesses here can easily leverage our solutions while staying compliant with local and global laws,” said Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head, Zoho Kenya.

Partnership with J-Hub;

As part of the partnership with J-Hub Africa, Zoho will support individuals and startups associated with the hub, by providing them Zoho Wallet Credits up to KES 100,000. These credits can be used to purchase any of Zoho’s 55+ cloud products for any business function such as sales, marketing, HR, accounting, communication, and collaboration.

They can also access Zoho One, the operating system for business, wherein they can access multiple Zoho solutions from a single platform. As all Zoho products have been built on the same technology stack, they easily integrate with each other, creating a seamless flow of contextual data.

Furthermore, through this partnership, Zoho will provide training to JKUAT students from  technology streams on how to leverage cloud-based business tech to gain a competitive advantage.

This will include training on Zoho Creator, a low code platform that can help them create custom apps for various business needs, Zoho CRM,customer relationship management platform for managing sales and marketing, and Zoho Books, that will help companies manage their finances, while staying compliant with the TIMS and VAT regulations.

The upskilling initiative will help empower students with technology skills for when they join the workforce, irrespective of the industry.

Dr. Lawrence Nderu, Chairman of the Department of Computing at JKUAT, said, ‘We are delighted to embark on this transformative journey with Zoho. This is a collaboration that promises to significantly enhance the innovation landscape both within and outside the JKUAT campus. Furthermore, this alliance opens a pathway for our IT division students to gain technical skills in the context of various business functions. This initiative is a testament to our commitment to integrating practical skillsets with our academic curriculum, ensuring our students are well-equipped to navigate and excel in the ever-evolving tech industry.”

Zoho Sign partnership with E-CSP   

Zoho Sign, a digital signature app, has partnered with E-CSP TendaWorld Limited, licenced by the Communications Authority of Kenya, to offer legally valid digital signatures. With this, Kenyan businesses can execute digital signatures for contracts and agreements, compliant with both Kenyan and global laws. Zoho Sign integrates with over 100 third-party applications such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Recruit, Zoho Books, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Zapier, and more.

This integration allows companies to use Zoho Sign from within the application of their choice. Zoho Sign offers blockchain timestamping, generative AI capabilities, and controls for life-sciences. Zoho will provide free migration and onboarding assistance for Kenyan businesses who want to switch to Zoho Sign.

Integration with Safaricom M-PESA

Offering customers the option to pay online helps businesses get paid sooner, thereby improving cash flow. The integration of Safaricom M-PESA with Zoho’s finance suite of applications like Zoho Books (TIMS-compliant accounting software), Zoho Inventory (order and inventory management software), and Zoho Billing (end-to-end billing solution) will assist businesses in accepting online payments. Customers can make payments through customer portal or via the provided payment link. Once the payments are made, the corresponding invoices will be automatically marked as paid within these applications, eliminating the need for manual entry.

Growth in Kenya 

In 2023, Zoho has increased its employee count by 33% and partner network by 212% in Kenya. The growth has been driven by Zoho One (a unified platform of over 55 products), Zoho Workplace (enterprise collaboration platform), Zoho CRM Plus (customer experience platform), and Zoho Books (TIMS-compliant, accounting software). The top industries driving this growth are: retail, insurance, financial services, IT hardware and IT related services.

“Kenya’s growing digital economy and the resulting uptick in cloud adoption among businesses have largely contributed to Zoho’s growth in the country.

Our customers particularly value the localisation in our products, such as robust integrations with regional vendors for e-signing, online payments, and other business operations, and the ability to buy Zoho apps in KES. As the needs of Kenyan businesses continue to increase and evolve in this digital era, Zoho is well-placed and committed to supporting and empowering them with its robust tech stack,” said Premanand Velumani, Regional Manager, Middle East and Africa, Zoho.