Emergency help, one dial away — even offline.

KEA connects anyone in Kenya to verified ambulance, fire, police and crisis contacts by dialing *123#. No smartphone, no data bundle, no app download — just a phone and a signal.

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KES 0.50–1.00 per session <3s average response time 2G/3G compatible
The gap

Knowing who to call shouldn’t be the hardest part of an emergency.

Most people can name a national hotline, but in the moment, few know the right, local, currently-reachable contact — the ambulance actually operating in their sub-county, the nearest hospital taking trauma cases, the ward-level police line that answers. That lookup gap costs minutes that matter most, and it hits hardest for people without internet access or a smartphone in hand.

Who this is for

Residents, travelers, and anyone with a mobile phone in Kenya who needs immediate access to verified emergency services — with or without a data connection.

The menu

Three ways a phone call becomes help.

KEA is built around the same three actions a person needs in an emergency, delivered through a Premium USSD session anyone can dial.

1

Verified Emergency Directory

Select a category and county, and KEA returns verified contacts on-screen and by SMS — ambulances, fire stations, police, safe houses, and crisis helplines, kept current through ongoing verification.

2

Emergency Reporting

A user can file a report directly through USSD. It’s logged and routed to the responsible organization or its dashboard, with a clear disclaimer on how response works.

3

Callback Request

When someone can’t explain their situation in the moment, they can request a callback. The request is logged and visible to participating emergency organizations.

How it’s funded

A public utility, not a free app.

Citizens cover part of the cost through a deliberately small Premium USSD fee. Sponsors fund the rest — because verified emergency access is public-safety infrastructure, not a feature.

Citizens pay, per session

KES 0.50–1.00

Deducted automatically through the mobile network. Low enough to stay affordable, high enough to discourage misuse and automated abuse.

Waived during declared disasters

Sponsors co-fund the platform

Covering gateway charges, SMS delivery, data verification, hosting and administration.

Government agencies County governments Telecom partners NGOs CSR programs Development partners
Long-term revenue beyond the session fee: government sponsorship agreements, county emergency-dashboard subscriptions, callback & incident-management subscriptions for organizations, sponsored public-safety campaigns, and anonymized aggregate trend reports for approved institutions.
Pilot targets

What we’re proving first.

The MVP is scoped to a single pilot county, with success measured against three concrete targets.

10,000
completed Premium USSD sessions during the pilot
70%
of users complete a session after accepting the charge
90%
retrieve information or file a report in a single session
Next steps

From one county to a nationwide safety net.

Now

Functional prototype across directory, reporting and callback flows.

Pilot

Launch within one county with a live verified contact database.

Partner

Onboard verified emergency organizations to receive reports and callbacks.

Measure

Track adoption, session completion and sponsor interest.

Scale

Expand county-by-county with telecom and government sponsorship.

We’re raising a pilot round to cover Premium USSD gateway costs, contact verification and a single-county rollout — alongside sponsor conversations with counties, telecoms and NGOs.

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