Privacy Policy - Koola Brands

Who we are

Koola Brands is a leading Kenyan company dedicated to delivering high-quality products that improve everyday life. Among our flagship ventures is Koola Waters, a Kingdom-driven bottled water brand committed to providing safe, clean, and healthy drinking water to families across Kenya.

Our website, https://koolabrands.co.ke serves as a hub for information about our products, initiatives, and services. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that any personal information you provide is handled securely, responsibly, and in accordance with best practices.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images or other media to our website, we recommend removing any embedded location data (EXIF GPS) or other sensitive metadata before doing so. This is important because visitors to the website may be able to download or access your media files, and any embedded data could potentially reveal your location or other personal information.

By taking care to remove this data, you help protect your privacy and the privacy of others. We take security seriously and strive to provide a safe environment for all users, but we cannot control data that may be embedded within the media you upload. We therefore encourage all users to be mindful of the content and metadata they share on our platform.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience, provide personalized features, and improve the overall functionality of our site. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device when you visit our website. They allow us to remember your preferences, provide a smoother user experience, and ensure the website operates efficiently.

Specifically, our cookies serve the following purposes:

• Commenting convenience: When you leave a comment on our site, you may choose to save your name, email address, and website in cookies. This allows you to avoid re-entering these details when leaving future comments. These cookies remain on your device for one year.

• Login verification: When you access our login page, a temporary cookie is set to verify whether your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal information and is discarded automatically when you close your browser.

• Login and display preferences: Cookies are used to save your login information and screen display preferences. Standard login cookies persist for two days, while screen options cookies last for one year. If you select the “Remember Me” option, your login session will persist for two weeks. Logging out of your account will remove these cookies.

• Content editing and publishing: When you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie is stored in your browser. This cookie contains no personal information and simply indicates the post ID of the article you edited. It expires after one day.

By using cookies in this manner, we aim to provide a more personalized, efficient, and secure experience for all visitors to our website. You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings; however, some features of the site may not function properly without cookies.

Embedded content from other websites

Some of the content on our website, including videos, images, articles, or other media, may be embedded from third-party websites. This embedded content behaves in the same way as if you were visiting the third-party website directly.

Please be aware that when you interact with embedded content, these third-party websites may:

• Collect information about you, including your IP address, browser type, and other technical details.

• Use cookies or similar tracking technologies to monitor your activity across their platforms.

• Embed additional third-party tracking, which may collect data for analytics, advertising, or other purposes.

• Track your interaction with the content, especially if you are logged into an account on the third-party website.

Koola Brands does not control these third-party websites and is not responsible for their data collection or privacy practices. We encourage visitors to review the privacy policies of any external websites before interacting with embedded content. This ensures that you are fully informed about how your data may be used.

By including embedded content, we aim to enhance your experience and provide rich, informative resources, while being transparent about potential interactions with third-party services.

Who we share your data with

Your privacy is a priority for Koola Brands. In certain limited cases, some information may be included in communications for security purposes. For example, if you request a password reset on our website, your IP address will be included in the reset email to help verify the request and prevent unauthorized access.

Beyond this, we do not share your personal data with third parties without your explicit consent. We may, however, share information in specific circumstances where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations, enforce our terms of service, or protect the security, integrity, and operation of our website and systems.

We take great care to ensure that any sharing of data is limited, secure, and compliant with applicable laws, and we are committed to safeguarding your personal information at all times.

How long we retain your data

At Koola Brands, we are committed to retaining personal data only for as long as it is necessary to fulfill its intended purpose, comply with legal obligations, and ensure a smooth user experience.

• Comments and Metadata: When visitors leave comments on our website, both the comment content and its associated metadata (such as IP address, timestamp, and browser details) are retained indefinitely. This retention allows our system to automatically recognize and approve any follow-up comments from the same user, streamlining the moderation process and maintaining the integrity of discussion threads.

• Registered Users’ Personal Information: For users who create accounts on our website, all personal information provided during registration or subsequently updated is securely stored in their user profile. This information may include, but is not limited to, name, email address, contact details, and any preferences associated with their account. Registered users have the right to view, edit, or delete their personal information at any time, with the exception of their username, which is permanent to maintain system integrity.

• Administrative Access and Management: Website administrators and authorized personnel may access and manage user data as necessary to maintain the functionality, security, and performance of the website. All data management practices adhere to industry-standard security protocols to prevent unauthorized access, tampering, or accidental loss of information.

By retaining this data responsibly, Koola Brands ensures both operational efficiency and compliance with applicable privacy regulations, while protecting user rights and enabling a secure, personalized experience on our website.

What rights you have over your data

At Koola Brands, we are committed to transparency and empowering users to control their personal information. If you have an account on our website or have previously submitted comments, you are entitled to exercise the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access and Data Portability: You may request a comprehensive export of all personal data we hold about you. This includes information submitted through forms, comments, registration details, preferences, and any metadata associated with your interactions on the site. Providing this data in a structured, machine-readable format allows you to transfer, review, or securely store your information.

• Right to Erasure: You may request the deletion of your personal data from our systems. Upon receiving a valid request, we will remove your information from active storage, except in cases where retention is required to comply with legal obligations, enforce our site policies, maintain security, or fulfill administrative requirements.

• Data Accuracy and Management: Users have the ability to view, update, or correct their personal data at any time through their account profile. This ensures that the information we maintain is accurate, current, and reflective of your preferences.

• Limitations and Exceptions: While we strive to honor all data requests promptly, certain information may need to be retained temporarily or permanently to comply with statutory requirements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, or protect the rights, property, and security of Koola Brands and our users.

By exercising these rights, users can maintain full control over their personal information while ensuring that the website operates securely and effectively.

Where your data is sent

To maintain the security, integrity, and functionality of our website, certain data submitted through our site may be processed by automated services. For example

• Spam Detection Services: Comments and form submissions may be analyzed by automated spam detection tools. These services assess the content, metadata, and technical information such as IP addresses and browser data to identify and filter spam, malicious content, or unauthorized activity.

• Third-Party Integrations: Some embedded services or tools integrated into our website may temporarily process or store certain technical data to enable functionality, improve user experience, or support analytics. These integrations operate under their own privacy protocols, and we encourage users to review the respective privacy policies for more information.

By routing certain data through these secure automated services, we ensure a safer, more reliable, and compliant online environment for all visitors while minimizing risks associated with malicious activity or spam.