About Chura
Making airtime move freely across every network.
Chura — Swahili for “frog” — was built on a simple idea: that airtime should be able to leap from one network to another. A decade on, we help organisations across Kenya distribute it fairly, transparently and at scale.
Our story
From a student idea to Kenya's airtime platform
Chura started in 2013 as a group of engineering students at the University of Nairobi, frustrated by a simple problem: airtime was trapped inside the network it was bought on. So they built a way to leap between them — move airtime between SIMs regardless of carrier, buy any network's airtime from any wallet, and even turn airtime back into cash.
That first product grew into something bigger. Today Chura is the platform organisations use to distribute airtime at scale — NGOs paying field teams, companies running promotions, programmes reaching thousands — with the receipts, controls and accountability serious money movement demands.
The thread through all of it hasn't changed: close the gap the market left open, and do it fairly.
Why “Chura”?
Chura is Swahili for frog — chosen for the way our first product let users leap effortlessly from one mobile network to the next.
What we stand for
Our values
Four principles that decide how we build, price and treat the people who rely on us.
Fair
The same honest rate and the same rules for everyone — from a one-person shop topping up a single number to a national programme moving millions.
Just
Every shilling is traceable. Receipts, approvals and audit trails are built in — so the people you answer to can always see exactly what happened.
An appetite for innovation
We started by doing something the networks said couldn't be done. Award-winning engineering is still how we solve problems — pragmatically, and in the open.
Solving market gaps
We build for the needs nobody else served — the multi-SIM user, the NGO with no clean way to pay a thousand people, the finance team that needs a compliant receipt.
How we got here
A decade of leaping forward
Founded at the University of Nairobi
A team of engineering students launches Chura to let people move airtime between networks, buy across carriers, and exchange airtime for cash — a first for the Kenyan market.
DEMO Africa winner
Chura wins DEMO Africa, the continent's leading launch platform for startups, earning a place among Africa's most promising young technology companies.
Ericsson winner & Africa Prize runner-up
Chura wins the Ericsson Innovation Awards for sub-Saharan Africa, and is named a runner-up for the Royal Academy of Engineering's Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.
From consumer app to distribution platform
Demand from NGOs and companies reshapes Chura into a platform built for bulk distribution, with team roles, approvals and ETIMS-compliant receipts.
Recognition
Award-winning by engineering
Chura's approach has been recognised by three of the most respected names in African and global technology and engineering.
Winner · 2014
DEMO Africa
Selected from startups across the continent and named a winner at DEMO Africa — recognised for showing how entrepreneurship drives Africa's prosperity.
Reported by CIO Africa
Winner · 2015
Ericsson Innovation Awards
Overall winner for sub-Saharan Africa — recognised for an airtime exchange app that eases how people manage and optimise airtime in a multi-SIM environment.
Reported by The Standard
Runner-up · 2015
RAEng Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
Named a runner-up for the Royal Academy of Engineering's Africa Prize — Africa's biggest engineering-innovation prize.
Reported by Disrupt Africa
Built in Kenya. Recognised worldwide.
Join the organisations distributing airtime the fair, accountable way.