Kumbaya - California based technology company establishes in The Hague

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Kumbaya Inc. has announced the opening of its new European head-office in The Hague. The business ecosystem of The Hague has made a great impression on Kumbaya with its business value and now Kumbaya’s European office can call The Hague Humanity Hub – a community of innovators in peace, justice and humanitarian field – a home. Welcome to The Hague!

 “Kumbaya – an IT company from California – officially announced this week that they are getting their European office set up in The Hague. We met with Kumbaya here at the Holland Pavilion of the Mobile World Congress over the past years, where we informed them about the Dutch High tech ecosystem & business opportunities our country offers to innovative technology companies. We are proud that our Investinholland program led to these new Foreign Investments into our Country. As Ambassador I would like to officially welcome them to the Netherlands!”, says the Dutch Ambassador to Spain, Mattijs van Bonzel.

From Mobile World Congress to Investing in the Hague

Following the Meeting with The Hague Business Agency (THBA) at MWC 2017, Kumbaya learned of the great environment The Hague has in place for businesses of global social impact and the multitude of opportunities available to the company through an expansion in the Netherlands. Being one of the best countries to do business in, the international city of The Hague runs a unique program on impact economy – ImpactCity – carefully designed to facilitate businesses that work on innovations for a better world to start up and scale up, by providing access to a comprehensive business and impact investment network. THBA has set up a fact finding trip for Kumbaya to join the ‘Impact Startup Fest’ initiative of ImpactCity and the biggest festival for impact-makers in Europe. As a delegate in 2018 and in close collaboration with The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency office in San Francisco – a tailor-made program was created to assist Kumbaya with all the necessary information for the company to open its office in world’s first ImpactCity: The Hague.

 “I am proud to welcome Kumbaya to our city. The Hague as an Impact City has a large international community of social innovators. The city is also traditionally known as ‘Telecom-capital’ of The Netherlands. The establishment of Kumbaya in The Hague is a wonderful crossover between these two areas. I am sure Kumbaya has chosen the perfect ecosystem for their next step.”, says Deputy Mayor of the City of The Hague, Saskia Bruines. 

 Scalable impact through The Hague

“There are several factors that played a key role in our choice for establishing our European head office in The Hague. The ImpactCity program of The Hague includes a highly relevant network of humanitarian and like-minded organizations, a friendly business environment, people and events. Moreover, The Netherlands is the perfect gateway to reach our core market in Africa.”, says Mike Freni, CEO of Kumbaya.

Kumbaya is now readying to kickstart trials to fill rural connectivity black spots with its award-winning zeroXess Solar-Powered, Communications and IoT Solutions Hub in Ghana and Malawi.

The company aims to connect 15,000 households in 2019 to test the technology commercially. With plans for a full rollout in the region, the trial will demonstrate the scalability and sustainability of its unique business model in addition to testing the localized content delivery platform that is tailored to address the customer needs including both the end-user and the network service providers, ultimately creating a win-win for all parties involved.