KCHKNA Pioneers a New Era of Merchant Services in Mzuzu

  🎉EntroPay by KCHKNA 🎉

Mzuzu, get ready! A massive upgrade to how local businesses operate and grow has just arrived. We’re thrilled to announce the launch of a digital merchant toolkit coupled with a revolutionary payment system.

This is not just about accepting payments; it’s about putting a powerful digital toolkit, called EntroPay, right into the hands of Mzuzu’s entrepreneurs so they can thrive in the digital age.

Beyond the Transaction: The Power of Digital Services

For too long, accepting payments and running a business have been separate, complicated tasks. Now, they’re seamless. By integrating with the trusted, world-class PayChangu gateway, we’re not only enabling merchants to accept a wide range of digital payments smoothly and reliably, but we’re building a vital digital service layer on top of the payment collection.

Imagine a single system that handles your cash flow and then immediately transforms that data into actionable business intelligence. That’s exactly what we’re delivering.

What This Means for KCHKNA and Mzuzu Merchants

KCHKNA, a leader in waste management services, is the first to experience this transformation. Customers can now “Scan and Pay” effortlessly for their services. This instantly provides:

• Seamless Collections: Say goodbye to slow or complicated payment processes. Paying for waste management is now as simple as a tap.
• Customer Convenience: Whether you’re a long-time customer or a new one, the ease of payment is unparalleled—convenience and efficiency are truly at your fingertips.

But the real game-changer is what happens after the payment:

• Financial Clarity & Predictions: Gain real-time insights into your business performance. Our system processes your payment data to give you clear financial analyses and even powerful sales predictions!
• Optimized Customer Relationships (CRM): Understand your customers better than ever before. The platform includes Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to help you manage sales, track customer behavior, and boost loyalty.
• Sales Management: Get the tools you need to manage your services and sales pipeline more effectively, ensuring steady growth and organization.

A Partnership Built for Growth

Our collaboration with PayChangu is the backbone of this innovation. This partnership delivers the security and speed needed for payment collection while simultaneously unlocking the sophisticated post-collection services.

This is more than a digital upgrade; it’s a commitment to empowering businesses across Mzuzu, helping them grow, manage, and predict their success with unprecedented confidence and digital sophistication.

The future of merchant services has arrived in Mzuzu, and KCHKNA is leading the charge! Stay tuned as we roll this transformative service out to more merchants soon!

Making a custom Arduino Board

Good morning!

Note that this is best called Arduino-like board since a genuine Arduino-branded board is made by the Arduino company. We use the name Arduino board to make it easy to talk about, but a custom board as described below is technically not an Arduino board though will have the function.

Let’s suppose you’ve made your own Arduino-like device. That is, you’ve developed PCB and assembled the components onto the PCB–components such as the ATMEL MEGA328, the crystal, the resistors, capacitors, FTDI chip, headers, etc. Then how do you make your Arduino-like device programmable from the Arduino IDE like any other Arduino? Well, you need to load a bootloader onto this custom board of yours! The bootloader is responsbile for loading your future compiled sketches onto the board. Here are the steps:
What you need

1. A regular Arduino i.e. one that already has the bootloader
2. Your custom board
3. Wires (male to female polarity)
4. Computer for programming and powering the devices
   

Obtaining the Bootloader Code

1. Arduino IDE: The Arduino IDE comes with the bootloader code for various Arduino boards. You can download the Arduino IDE or directly get the bootloader from the Arduino bootloaders page.
2. Bootloader Files: Once you have installed the Arduino IDE, the bootloader files can be found in the Arduino hardware folder. Typically, the path is something like:bashCopy code{Arduino IDE installation directory}/hardware/arduino/avr/bootloaders Here, you will find folders corresponding to different boards, such as atmega for the ATmega328P used in Arduino Uno.

Installing the Bootloader

1. Programmer Hardware: To burn the bootloader onto your custom Arduino board, you will need a programmer. Common options include:
   • Another Arduino board (acting as an ISP programmer)
   • USBasp
   • AVRISP mkII
2. Connections: If you are using an Arduino as an ISP, connect it to your custom board as follows:Arduino as ISP PinCustom Arduino Pin

3. Burning the Bootloader:

• Open the Arduino IDE.
• Load the “ArduinoISP” sketch (File > Examples > 11.ArduinoISP > ArduinoISP) onto your Arduino board acting as the programmer.
• Connect your programmer to your custom board as shown in step 2.
• In the Arduino IDE, go to Tools > Board and select the appropriate board type for your custom Arduino (e.g., “Arduino Uno”).
• Select the appropriate programmer from Tools > Programmer (e.g., “Arduino as ISP”).
• Click on Tools > Burn Bootloader.

This process will burn the bootloader onto your custom Arduino board, making it ready to use with the Arduino IDE.

At KCHKNA we look forward to mass-producing Arduino-like boards starting in 2025. These will be available for sale across Africa & Asia so that many more people can easily start off their embedded programming journey. Stay tuned!

Go Green Campaign

We believe in working with the entire community so that we can together create a circular economy wherever we are; the ideas about circularity need to be learned and understood from an early age. Here are some pictures from some of our events where we worked with schools and other partners.

Series on “Serving Static Files using Nginx with the Django Framework”

Part 1: Installing Django using Anaconda & VS Code

Django a web framework with which one can develop an entire app, backend and front end inclusive. To install Django on your computer depends on how you want to use it. The recommended way would be to start with installing Visual Studio Code as the Integrated Development Environment. Then install an the Python Extension as shown below

NOTE: You must already have Python installed on your system.

We prefer using Anaconda. Install that too.

What you should have installed by now:

1. Visual Studio Code, and the Python Extension
2. Python
3. Anaconda

Next, run the Anaconda Navigator app

Then create a new virtual environment by clicking “Create”. Name the environment “djangoAppEnv”.

Once the environment is created choose that environment

Then in the search box on the top right, search for django and install the django packages shown below (except django-location-field, not needed at the moment). Make sure to click on “All” in the drop-down menu next to the “Channels” button; this allows you to search for all packages, namely those installed and those not yet installed.

Now open your VS Code application.

In VS Code go ahead and launch a new terminal session; in the menu bar click on “Terminal” then click on “New Terminal”. In that new terminal type

conda activate djangoAppEnv

If successful the beginning of the prompt line will change from (base) to (djangoAppEnv).

You are ready to develop within the virtual environment. We’ll go into more details but for now you can install other python packages that you may need for your specific application. For example install tensorflow for Machine Learning things. To do so you’ll type in the terminal

conda install -c conda-forge tensorflow

This installs Tensorflow into your virtual environment (djangoAppEnv). Note that you also could do this using the Anaconda Navigator application by searching for “tensorflow”.

Join Our Team

Position: Administrative Officer

Location: Mzuzu

KCHKNA Inc. is a renewable energy and technology company that develops innovative solutions for creating smart, highly functional and tech-enabled human settlements. One of KCHKNA’s current initiatives is largescale energy recycling whereby a city’s waste pipeline is managed to extract value from it, such as generating electricity from the waste. Join us in creating clean, fun, and liveable places!

Position: Administrative Officer

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Your purpose at KCHKNA

To assist in the effective execution of the company’s projects.

Expected Contributions from You

a. Maintain company calendar schedule and appointment

b. Answer queries by employees and clients

c. Prepare regular reports on expenses and office budget

d. Distribute and store correspondence

e. Schedule in-house and external events

f. Analyse historical and current client data to recognise trends and patterns

g. Check that regulatory and ethical guidelines are followed when handling client data

h. Develop action plans for the company

i. Liaise with organisation’s vendors and partners

j. Organize meetings logistics including travel arrangements, visas, permits for company employees

k. Maintenance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform.

Your Profile

a. Swift in getting things done.

b. Good grasp of how technology can be an enabler for people

c. Effective negotiation skills

d. Diploma in any commerce field or social science related field.

Apply Now

For more roles see here

Let’s Collect Your Waste!

We currently collect waste in Malawi in the following places.

So whether you have a factory, a medical institution, an office or a home, we are ready to provide you a consistent and reliable waste collection service that you subscribe to. We can also do one-off disposals. Please contact us via WhatsApp through +265881794148