Are you an SME?Poa ! internet has got you covered as it has unveil unlimited business internet at speeds from up to 4Mbps in a bid to boost incomes and jobs in Kenya’s low-income and rural areas .
Poa!internet CEO Andy Halsall said that businesses need the lowest cost possible to access unlimited Internet so they can really develop the opportunities that being online brings.
Adding that,”enabling businesses with low-cost, reliable internet is key to our business mission and strategy,” said Halsall”.
“Our entire purpose in developing super low-cost internet services in areas such as Kibera, Kawangware, and Kiambu has been to stimulate Kenya’s low-income and rural communities, with easily accessible broadband access, and it has become increasingly apparent that we serve local micro business entrepreneurs as well as regular consumers.
poa’s! new, unlimited business internet services start from just Ksh2000 a month, with a one-off installation fee of Sh7000. However, the first 250 businesses to sign up to this service will have their installation discounted to Ksh2,000.
“Supporting micro and small businesses so that they can run and access online platforms to market their goods and services without the worry of running out of data is key to many of these businesses future survival,” said Chris Rhodes, COO poa! internet.
A survey by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics released in 2017 showed that 46.3 per cent of micro, small and medium enterprises closed down during the first year of operation. The survey established that there were about 1.56 million licensed MSMEs and 5.85 million unlicensed businesses.
The survey cited a shortage of operating funds, increased operating expenses, declining income and, consequently, losses, as the main reasons for these business closures. Kenyan businesses seeking to grow their online presence need to embrace best practice to militate against such losses.
Unreliable internet connections can have costly repercussions to businesses and any amount of unplanned downtime can bring business productivity, internal and external communications to a complete stop.In fact, research has found that businesses risk losing roughly 25 per cent of its online visitors if its website takes more than four seconds to load.
“Making sales is the lifeblood of any business, and in this day and age of social media, being cut off from marketing channels, as well as normal means of business communication and information, creates an extra and burdensome handicap for low-income businesses,” said Andy.
According to a research published by the world development on science direct journal, volume 27 issue 1, a third of all working people in Kenya are employed in MSMEs which contributes 13 per cent to national income. But, 73 per cent of the MSMEs make less than the absolute poverty line in urban areas and none of the MSMEs in rural areas makes above the absolute poverty line.
poa! business is not just for the MSME’s. For those companies located within poa! areas that have heavier speed and usage, the company is offering faster speeds, over and above the basic package, costing just Sh500 per month for every additional Mbps of speed.
It is easier for startups venturing into the e-commerce space to launch websites due to a high internet penetration in Kenya of 82.6 per cent, and with over 35.5m users, this guarantees businesses a presence of consumers, especially in urban areas.
The move of Poa! internet into business network has seen the company emerge as Kenya’s fastest growing internet provider.