Program policies

The Kela Affiliate Program lets approved individuals in Uganda earn a commission by introducing new shoppers to the Kela marketplace. The program is operated by Trident Technologies Corp, the company behind Kela.

Joining is free. Affiliates apply, are reviewed by the Kela team, and once approved receive one personal referral code and one referral link. There are no fees, no stock to buy and no sales targets. Participation can be ended by either side at any time.

Affiliates earn their full tier commission for each successful referral. The current tiers and rates are:

Commission adjustment for low delivery fee orders

For referrals where the referred customer's first order has a delivery fee below UGX 5,000, the affiliate earns half the normal commission for that referral. The referral still counts toward the affiliate's total referral count and toward tier progression; only the commission amount is reduced.

This adjustment applies because Kela's revenue comes from delivery fees rather than product sales, and very low delivery fee orders represent minimal platform revenue. Reduced commissions are labelled in the affiliate's earnings history with the reason shown.

Permanent record

For every commission earned, Kela permanently records the tier the affiliate was in at the time and the rate applied. These values are never recalculated and never change.

A referral earns commission only when all of the following are true:

• The customer is completely new to Kela and has never had a Kela account before.
• They registered using the affiliate's referral link or personal code.
• They verified their email address.
• They placed their first order and it was successfully delivered by Kela Crew.

Commission is never awarded for cancelled, refunded or undelivered orders, or for orders that did not complete the full delivery confirmation process. Each Kela customer can generate at most one commission, for one affiliate, program-wide; where more than one code is involved, the code used first takes precedence.

Every affiliate starts at Bronze. As successful referrals accumulate, the affiliate moves up through the tiers automatically, and is notified in the dashboard and by email on each promotion.

Tier progression is not retroactive. When an affiliate crosses a tier threshold, the new rate applies only to referrals earned from that point forward. Commissions already earned keep the rate they were earned at. For example, an affiliate reaching their 21st referral earns the Silver rate on the 21st and every referral after; the first 20 remain at the Bronze rate permanently.

Tiers do not decrease over time. Kela may update tier thresholds and rates; any change applies to future referrals only and never affects commissions already earned.

Commission moves into the affiliate's available balance once the referral has qualified and cleared review. Available balance can be withdrawn at any time from the Payouts page in the dashboard.

• Payouts are made to MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money or a bank account nominated by the affiliate.
• Requests are typically processed within 24–48 hours; requests made on weekends or public holidays are processed on the next working day.
• The affiliate is responsible for the accuracy of the payout destination. Failed transfers caused by incorrect details are returned to the available balance.
• Affiliates are responsible for any personal tax obligations arising from their earnings.

Automatic checks run on every referral event. A referral is rejected and earns no commission where:

• The affiliate referred themselves.
• The same customer has already been counted as a successful referral for that affiliate.
• The customer has already generated a commission for a different affiliate.
• The affiliate account is suspended. No commissions are earned and no referrals accumulate while suspended.

Unusual patterns — for example three or more referral events from the same IP address within a short window — are held for manual review rather than rejected outright.

Prohibited activity includes creating multiple affiliate or customer accounts, incentivising fake signups, misrepresenting Kela's offers or prices, spamming, and using paid advertising that impersonates Kela. Suspension carries a written reason, which the affiliate sees when they log in.

Kela reserves the right to reverse any commission, including one already paid, if it is later found to have been earned through manipulation or abuse, or where the underlying order was refunded or reversed.

Every reversal carries a mandatory written reason. The affiliate is emailed, and the reversal appears in their earnings history clearly marked with that reason. Affiliates who believe a reversal was a mistake can reply to that email or use the contact form; an admin reviews the case and restores genuine false positives.

Kela may update these policies, tier thresholds, commission rates and program features at any time. Material changes are communicated to active affiliates by email and in the dashboard, and apply to future referrals only.

An affiliate may leave the program at any time; any cleared available balance remains payable. Kela may end an affiliate's participation for breach of these policies, in which case commissions earned through the breach are forfeited. Commissions properly earned before termination remain payable.

Last updated: August 2026.