• Lemonade Payments, founded in November 2022 by Kenyan entrepreneur Mark Machiri Kihara, offers digital solutions to accelerate and simplify business payments.
• The platform supports all company sizes across sectors including retail, e-commerce, hospitality, travel, marketing, and services, providing both technical and commercial assistance.
• Clients access detailed dashboards to monitor financial flows, payment performance, and customer behavior, enabling data-driven business decisions.

Mark Machiri Kihara co-founded and serves as CEO of Lemonade Payments, launched in November 2022. The company designs digital payment solutions to make transactions faster, simpler, and more secure for African businesses.

Lemonade Payments manages daily inflows and outflows for companies of all sizes. The platform serves multiple sectors, including retail, e-commerce, marketing, hospitality, travel, consulting, and a wide range of service industries. Kihara said the goal is to leverage payments as a growth driver through reliable and rapid transfers.

The company goes beyond transaction processing. Each client receives dedicated support teams for technical integration and commercial follow-up. This assistance streamlines system integration, resolves issues quickly, and optimizes payment workflows.

Lemonade Payments provides clients with detailed dashboards that track financial flows, payment performance, and customer experiences. These analytics help companies identify peak payment times, evaluate payment methods, and make better operational decisions.

Kihara holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from United States International University – Africa, earned in 2009. He began his career in 2012 as a client relationship manager at Standard Chartered Bank and later served from 2022 to 2024 as head of corporate relationships at Co‑operative Bank of Kenya.

This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum

• Kenai centralizes visitor, employee and vehicle access management on a single digital platform.
• The company integrates biometric facial recognition, real-time occupancy tracking and compliance reporting aligned with GDPR and POPIA.
• Kenai recently raised an undisclosed amount from Gallagher Security to fund its international expansion.

Kenai operates as a digital solution developed by a South African start-up. The platform unifies reception processes, entry and exit management for visitors, staff and vehicles through a single interface.

The company enables pre-registration, rapid check-in, biometric facial recognition and real-time presence tracking. The system replaces paper forms and manual logbooks that often create errors and delays. The company operates from Johannesburg, and Robert Salzwedel founded the start-up in 2018.

Moreover, the solution captures non-disclosure agreements, consent forms and security checks with time-stamped digital signatures that companies can use for compliance reporting. The platform supports regulatory frameworks such as the General Data Protection Regulation and South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act.

Kenai reduces registration processes that traditionally required several minutes to only a few seconds through automation and digital kiosks. Managers monitor site occupancy in real time and access instant reports, which strengthens planning, security oversight and audit readiness.

Recently, the start-up secured an undisclosed funding round from Gallagher Security to support its international growth. “Cet investissement nous permettra d'accélérer notre croissance soutenue et de renforcer notre équipe à mesure que nous nous développons à l'international,” said Robert Salzwedel.

Kenai structures its modules to cover the full management cycle, including visitor management, employee access, perimeter control, resource booking, safety training and evacuation procedures. The platform integrates with existing infrastructure and access control systems already deployed on corporate sites.

Adoni Conrad Quenum

• The Democratic Republic of Congo aims to train 250,000 young people in digital skills under a five-year national program.
• The government signed a memorandum of understanding with Cisco and Cybastion in September 2025 to implement the initiative.
• Authorities target digital skills as a response to youth unemployment, as young people represent more than 50% of the working-age population.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Monday, February 16, the completion of the first phase of trainer training in Kinshasa under a national digital upskilling program that ultimately targets 250,000 young Congolese. Authorities will now extend the project rollout to the provinces.

On February 13, 2026, the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education detailed the program framework. Five hundred young participants began a hybrid training pathway, and organizers will use a final test to select 200 top-performing candidates. Program managers will assign selected participants to three levels—Basic, Intermediate and Advanced—and will deploy them nationwide as skills multipliers.

In September 2025, the Congolese government signed a memorandum of understanding with Cisco and Cybastion to implement the program over five years. The curriculum will provide training in networking and cybersecurity, data science, programming and operating systems, technical English, digital transformation and entrepreneurship.

The ministry stated that, beyond training, “Cisco and Cybastion will support the professional integration of young people through their network of local partners, thereby creating real employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.”

The completion of the trainer training phase marks the effective launch of the broader youth training program in digital professions. Authorities view digital technology as a key driver of economic and social development and as a vehicle for job creation and youth empowerment, particularly as employment concerns persist in the country.

A 2022 study by the Ministry of Planning showed that individuals aged 15 to 29 account for 50.44% of the working-age population. The study reported a youth unemployment rate of 2.5%, compared with 1.4% for adults, and it showed that long-term unemployment affects 61.8% of young people versus 61.2% of adults. The study estimated that the country will need to create about 9.6 million jobs between 2022 and 2030 to stabilize unemployment and labor force participation rates, and nearly 35 million jobs by 2050.

Isaac K. Kassouwi

• Three start-ups from Jordan, Madagascar and Tunisia won the 2025 international final held in Casablanca on February 4.
• Orange awarded a total of 50,000 euros and support through its Orange Digital Centers network.
• The 2025 edition trained 369 young innovators from 14 countries, and 56 Startup4Good projects emerged.

The international Orange Summer Challenge competition, which promotes responsible entrepreneurship in Africa and the Middle East, announced the winners of its third edition during a final held on February 4 in Casablanca, Morocco. The jury recognized three start-ups for their potential impact in occupational safety, sustainable energy and water resource management.

Jordan-based SafeGuard secured first prize with an intelligent workplace accident prevention device that uses risk detection technology. Madagascar-based GasNika ranked second with a biogas production solution that converts organic waste into biological fertilizer. Tunisia-based DripIn completed the podium with a connected solution that uses artificial intelligence to detect water leaks and optimize consumption.

Organizers granted the winners financial, technical and commercial support through the Orange Digital Centers network, and they allocated a total prize of 50,000 euros to accelerate project development.

For the 2025 edition, 369 young innovators from 14 countries completed an intensive support program that combined training, mentoring and coaching. Orange Afrique et Moyen-Orient deployed the program with support from technology and institutional partners, including Amazon Web Services, Meta, the United Nations Development Programme, The Hashgraph Association and Dar Blockchain. The program generated 56 projects under the Startup4Good theme across sectors such as environment, health, education and agriculture.

According to Ben Cheick Haidara, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Orange Afrique et Moyen-Orient, the 2025 edition reflects the group’s ambition to position Orange Digital Centers as open innovation platforms focused on social and environmental impact. “Bien plus qu’une compétition, ce programme permet aux jeunes entrepreneurs de développer des solutions technologiques, notamment basées sur l’intelligence artificielle, pour répondre concrètement aux défis sociétaux et environnementaux. À travers les Orange Digital Centers, Orange s’engage durablement aux côtés de la jeunesse pour faire émerger une innovation à fort impact en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient,” he said.

Samira Njoya