This is a comprehensive guide to the best affiliate marketing programs in Kenya.
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and most common methods to make passive income online in Kenya. There are many affiliate marketing programs in the world with the giants being Amazon Associates, Commission Junction, Clickbank, ShareASale, and LinkShare just to mention a few.
Today, I will be focusing on programs that are only specific to Kenya. That is, affiliate programs that are owned by Kenyan companies and probably pay using local methods such as M-PESA
You will agree with me that many Kenyans have problems with other international affiliate marketing programs or networks. Some of these programs do not even allow affiliates of Kenyan nationality. It is for example, very difficult to start earning with Amazon Associates as a Kenyan.
You need to put in a lot of work at the beginning before you start making any commissions. You need to work on your SEO, including intensive link-building strategies and other kinds of exposure.
This of course applies to all kinds of affiliate marketing but with the Kenyan market which is not as saturated yet, your experience as an affiliate will be smoother.
If you are one of those people that feel they are being left behind by these international affiliate marketing giants and think that you need to be closer home and start making some passive income, this is just the article for you.
Go through the list and see if you can find an affiliate program that best suits your needs.
Best Affiliate Marketing Programs in Kenya
#1 Betin Kenya Affiliate Program
It is hard to discuss the best affiliate marketing programs in Kenya without the Betin popping up.
Betin Kenya is one of Kenya’s top online game betting sites. The company, which is a BCLB-licenced African sportsbook and casino operator, partnered with Paysafe Income Access in August 2017 to create its affiliate program. The affiliate program which mainly focuses on Kenyan and Ugandan markets hopes to create opportunities for online passive income to sports lovers.
How it Works
First of all, you sign up for the Betin Kenya affiliate program. Creating an account is an easy and free process. All you have to do is provide information about your website or blog on their SIGN UP page. Your application will be reviewed by the Betin Kenya team and then when it is approved, they will send you an email confirmation with your access codes and unique tracking link.
Note that only websites that receive over 1,000 daily unique visitors qualify to join the Betin Kenya affiliate program.
After your application to join the Betin Kenya affiliate program is approved, you are presented with a number of different banner options to choose from. After you have settled on a banner that you like, you then copy and paste the banner code to your website. The banner codes contain your unique tracking ID.
How You Earn Commissions
You will earn a commission every time a customer joins Betin Kenya using your link. The commissions are paid out on a monthly basis.
#2 Travelstart Affiliate Program
This one is no doubt among the best referral programs in Kenya.
In case you don’t know already, Travelstart is probably the largest and fastest growing online travel agenccy. That is according to their blog. The company was founded in 1999 and has since been revolutionizing the travel industry in Africa. Travelstart allows travelers from Africa to search, compare flights, book and pay for the cheapest local and international flights.
Travelstart created an affiliate program to enable their customers or owners of travel websites to partner with them and earn commisssions by reffering more customers to them.
How it Works
After you sign up for the Travelstart affiliate program, you place Travelstart’s affiliate links or banners on your website. The program presents you with a range of affiliate tools to use such as GIF banners, search banners, text links, xml feeds and white labels.
With Travelstart, just like Jumia and Kilimall, you do not need a website to promote their services. You can use social media or even email.
How You Earn Commissions
You earn a commission every time readers use the links or banners on your website and make a booking with Travelstart.
For domestic bookings you earn Ksh 4,00, Regional bookings Ksh 800 and for international bookings you earn Ksh 1,200.
#3 Jumia KOL Program
Jumia Kenya is one of the fastest-growing online retailers in Kenya. It is also probably one of the most popular. Jumia Kenya launched its affiliate program in 2015 to give blog owners and social media users an opportunity to make passive income online by promoting their products.
Since then, thousands of Kenyan publishers and social media lovers have signed up for the program and are probably making a few commissions. This is so far one of the best affiliate marketing programs in Kenya.
The good thing with the Jumia KOL (Key Opinion Leaders) program is that you are allowed to promote your links anywhere without the risk of being banned from the program. You will notice that with other affiliate programs, such as Amazon associates, you are not allowed to post affiliate links or banners anywhere aside from the blog or website you registered with.
How it Works
Once you have signed up for the Jumia KOL Program, you now work on generating affiliate links or banners and share in your blog or on social media.
If you have not already created an account, read this article and follow the steps outlined on how to create a Jumia Kenya affiliate program.
After creating an account and generating affiliate links and/or banners, it is now time to start promoting your products. Follow the link below to read an article that will explain in detail how to generate affiliate links and banners and place them in your WordPress or blogger blog.
How You Earn Commissions
When people click on your link and make purchases, you earn up to 13% in commissions for sales made through your affiliate link. The commission models vary with each product category. For example for Fashion items your earn 13%, phones are 4% Sports and fitness is 10% and so on.
Here is a screenshot of the different commission models in each product category.
When a customer uses your link, they receive a 30-day cookie. This means that even if the customer does not make a purchase on the first day of using your link, you still earn a commission if they do so within 30 days.
#4 Kilimall Affiliate Program
Kilimall is also one of Kenya’s most popular shopping platforms. Like Jumia Kenya, Kilimall has a wide range of products that affiliate marketers in Kenya can choose from for promotion.
According to reports, Kilimall boasts of over 100, 000 products, and with more merchants signing up to sell on their website, they have projected to hit the mark of 1 million products in the course of next year.
This is very good news for you as an affiliate marketer in Kenya. Product diversity is actually the joy of every affiliate marketer because that way, they will be able to equally diversify their promotion.
Kilimall created the affiliated program with the goal of creating over 100,000 jobs for unemployed Kenyans. Are you ready to be part of their statistics? Read on.
How it Works
Once you sign up for the Kilimall affiliate program you will be given your own unique ID or code that will be embedded in every affiliate link you share. This ID, like in any other affiliate program, is used to track sales made through your affiliate links so that you can earn commissions.
Like the Jumia affiliate program, you don’t need a website to qualify for the Kilimall affiliate program. That means you have the flexibility of promoting your links even on social media or chat platforms like WhatsApp and Email.
Kilimall also provides training materials for their affiliates to enable them to sharpen their affiliate marketing skills. So if you feel that you are still green and need some skill booster, feel free to check out their materials.
How You Earn Commissions
Every sale you make earns you a certain amount of commission. Like in the Jumia affiliate Program, the commission rates vary with each product category.
Here is a breakdown of the different commission models in each product category:
Fashion – 8%Hair and beauty – 5%Mobile accessories – 4%Laptops – 3%Mobile – 2%
Check this article for the complete Jumia commissions model table
Commissions are paid monthly by PayPal, check, or M-Pesa.
#5 KenyaPesa Affiliate Program
Founded in January 2013, KenyaPesa is an online money transfer service that allows its users in Kenya to send money online and make payments directly from their banks.
According to their website, “KenyaPesa allows you to send money to Kenya fast and cheaply from your bank account. The funds are delivered via Safaricom M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Bank transfer or cash pick up from one of our agents”
KenyaPesa launched its affiliate program in Kenya to enable them to diversify its business by allowing web publishers to promote them. If you are looking for the best affiliate marketing jobs in Kenya, you should definitely check out this one.
How it Works
When you refer clients to use the KenyaPesa money transfer service, you earn a certain amount of commission. This is possible after you register for a free affiliate account.
After registering, you will be given an affiliate link that you use to refer clients to KenyaPesa.
How You Earn Commissions
When you refer a customer to KenyaPesa and they make their first transaction using their service, you earn CAD 5.00.
You can then withdraw these earnings once you accumulate an amount of $10.
#6 Tropical Valley Tours and Travel Affiliate Program
Tropical Valley Tours and Travel is a travel company operating in Eastern Africa that allows clients to book travel services to East African destinations. They provide such services as tours and safaris, hotels, airline tickets, and rental cars.
The Tropical Valley Tours and Travel affiliate program allows blog/website owners to earn commissions when they refer clients to use their travel services.
How it Works
After you create an account and you are accepted into the program, you will be provided with an affiliate link and banners. When users of your blog or website use these links and are directed to the TVTT website, you earn a commission when they purchase any of their services.
How You Earn Commissions
Tropical Valley Tours and Travel pays a commission of 30% to their affiliates every time they refer a customer and the customer uses their services.
#7 Kenya Website Experts Affiliate Program
Kenya Website Experts is a web hosting company licensed by the Kenya Network Information Centre and Communication Authority of Kenya. They deal in web hosting, domain name registration, and web design services.
KWE claims to have designed over 30,000 websites in over 50 countries with a satisfaction rate of 99%.
You make money from their affiliate program by promoting their products and services. It is steadily growing to become one of the best affiliate marketing programs in Kenya.
How it Works
After you create a free affiliate account, you will be served with our own unique referral link. You then promote this link on your website whenever someone clicks on it and make a purchase for example buy a web hosting plan on the KWE website, you earn a certain amount of commission.
How You Earn Commissions
Whenever someone clicks on your links or banners and makes a purchase for example buy a web hosting plan on the KWE website, you earn a certain amount of commission.
The commissions you earn by promoting KWE products and services will be added to your account. You can request a payout via M-Pesa once your commission reaches KES 5000.
#8 Africa Point Affiliate Program
Africa Point is another travel agent headquartered in Nairobi Kenya. Their site offers online booking to travelers destined for such African countries as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Mauritius, and Seychelles. They also offer individual safaris, beach holidays, car rentals, hotels and Lodges, Flights, and Tours.
Their affiliate program utilizes web publishers to refer clients to their site for a small commission.
How it Works
First of all, you have to create an affiliate account after which you will be given an affiliate link after your approval is approved.
You place this link on your website and when clients click through to the Africa Point website and make a purchase, you earn a small commission.
How You Earn Commissions
Africa Point uses a revenue-sharing program with their affiliates that allow them to pay affiliates a fixed percentage of revenue generated from the referral.
#9 E-Host Kenya Affiliate Program
EHost Kenya is a web hosting company specializing in web hosting services, domain registration, email hosting, and reseller hosting. The company is based in Kenya and is known to offer cheap web hosting services.
Their affiliate program is a great opportunity for website owners to earn some commission by promoting their products and services.
How it Works
To be an affiliate with e-Host Kenya, you first have to create an account in their website. After signing up, you log in to your account and click on ClientArea then select Affiliate.
You will be given a unique referral link. You can then generate link text links and banner codes and share them on your website.
How You Earn Commissions
When people click on your links and banners and conduct full transactions on the EHost Kenya website, you will earn a commission.
After you reach the required minimum amount, you can then request a payout through M-Pesa or PayPal.
#10 E-Pay Kenya Affiliate Program
E-Pay Kenya is an online money transfer service. They offer PayPal/Skrill/Payoneer-related money solutions. On top of that, they also offer online payment solutions for online shoppers, online workers such as article writers, and merchants.
They also have an affiliate program as a way of getting more clients in partnership with web publishers. It is not that attractive but there is no doubt it will soon be among the best affiliate marketing programs in Kenya.
How it Works
To qualify for the ePay Kenya affiliate program, you have to be an ePay Kenya verified member.
First, you have to create an account and then after that, you upload a copy of your national ID. You then wait for up to 24 hours to allow for account verification.
After verification, you then sign up to be an affiliate. Affiliates are approved within an hour.
After your affiliate account is approved, you will be given banners and text links to share on your website or email template.
How You Earn Commissions
When people use ePay Kenya services after following your referral link, you will earn 1% of the Net Sales Value. Customers going to the ePay Kenya website using your links are served with a six-month cookie meaning you can still earn a commission even if they don’t conduct transactions until six months later.
Affiliate commissions are released at the end of every month after you reach a minimum amount of $30. You can be paid via PayPal Skrill or ePay.
