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Kenya set to host regional hub for postal services

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Postmaster general Dan Kagwe at a recent event. PHOTO | NICHOLAS KOMU

Kenya is set to host a regional postal hub for distribution of parcels as African governments seek to grow e-commerce as an alternative source of revenue for State-owned postal authorities.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has selected Nairobi as one of six African regional hubs for Ecom@Africa, a project which is supposed to drive the adoption of e-commerce on the continent.

UPU will build a virtual e-commerce platform as well as a smart package distribution centre in each of the six countries.

“Kenya would become a hub so that anything coming in would be distributed locally by Posta or connected to other countries in the region,” said postmaster general Mr Dan Kagwe.

Mr Kagwe was speaking Monday after the opening of the 36th ordinary session of the administrative council of the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU).

This infrastructure will be managed by Posta although it will be made open to other businesses, especially small enterprises that want to enter the e-commerce market.

Other countries identified for the pilot stage of the project are South Africa, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia, and Morocco. Tunisia has recorded the most progress on the project having established a smart logistics centre at its airport in Tunis. 
ICT Cabinet Secretary Mr Joe Mucheru said that Kenya was still in talks with the UPU  on building the Kenya hub.  He argued that if African postal authorities are going to thrive, they will need to adapt to new technologies and jump into e-commerce.

The Postal Corporation of Kenya is betting on technology to grow revenues. Last year, the firm linked post-office boxes to mobile phone numbers.

The Corporation last month called for software companies to develop a mobile application that will act as a portal to all its services.