The M-Pesa Story: The Financial Revolution Sweeping Across Kenya

The term M-Pesa is slowly replacing the use of the term “money” or “pesa” in a day-to-day conversation. They say without money in Kenya, no one can survive and having money without M-Pesa is like having a souvenir just to be looking at it.

You will hear people saying “I have not received an M-Pesa” or “He did not M-Pesa me as agreed” or “I will send you an M-Pesa.” It is no longer “I will send you the money” or “I will send you the cash” but “M-Pesa.”

My mum in the village doesn’t ask for cash using the words she used to use before the advent of M-Pesa. Before the advent of M-Pesa, her usual “borrowing” line was “utapatia Jose wa North Rift pesa za sukari lini?” With M-Pesa, her line changed to “Utatuma M-Pesa?” or “Tutumie M-Pesa tulipe fees” and so on.

Who doesn’t use M-Pesa nowadays? M-Pesa seems to be everywhere in our lives. Interestingly, other players tried to compete with M-Pesa and none has even managed to make their own corporate color known beyond Nairobi.

What I am trying to say is, M-Pesa has become part of every Kenyan. Where we are currently, we cannot run away from M-Pesa, unless we want to run into self-destruction. Was it not for M-Pesa, Kenya would not be topping 20 other countries as a successful nation in financial inclusion.

READ: Safaricom & Ria Money To Power International Money Transfers With M-PESA

Through M-Pesa, Kenyans are able to send and receive cash, not only within the country but from and to other countries too within minutes. M-Pesa is basically a whole bank that one has in their phone giving one full control over finances.

Have you heard about M-Pesa Global? Through M-Pesa Global, M-Pesa customers are sending and receiving money from anywhere across the world. M-PESA customers can send money to almost any individual across the world through a variety of channels including directly into their bank accounts, and for pick up at more than 500,000 Western Union agent locations.

“M-PESA Global seeks to connect Kenyans to opportunities by making it easy and seamless for them to transact with the world and for the world to transact with Kenyans,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, Safaricom’s Chief Financial Services Officer.

Other countries look at Kenya with admiration in the financial sector because of M-Pesa. Facebook’s Founder Mark Zuckerberg at one time came to Kenya just to learn how M-Pesa works. M-Pesa is Kenyan.

READ: Safaricom’s M-Pesa Goes Global: You can now Send and Receive Money Across the World

Paying for products and services has been made easy, thanks to the Lipa Na M-Pesa product. Through Lipa Na M-Pesa, Kenyans can comfortably pay for their products and services without worry. This has also enabled the growth of online shopping as many platforms require customers to pay via M-Pesa.

Through Lipa Na M-Pesa, Safaricom has launched an eight week Lipa Na M-PESA promotion that will reward both customers and merchants for making and receiving payments through the service. Buyers and sellers are receiving 1 point for every 100 shillings payment with customers standing to win one of 6 houses in weekly draws.

The promotion runs until March 5^th, 2020 and will reward both customers and merchants in 8 regions across the country. In the grand finale, customers across the 8 regions will win one of 8 tractors each equipped with a plow and trailer.

READ: 8 Tractors And 8 Fuso Trucks Among Prizes To Be Won In The Lipa Na M-Pesa Customer And Merchant Promotion

Have you heard about Fuliza? With this Njaanuary, am sure many people understand what Fuliza means and how great it has been to them. Safaricom, in partnership with KCB Bank and CBA Bank, rolled out an overdraft facility dubbed ‘Fuliza’ which allowed M-Pesa customers send money or pay for goods and services even with an insufficient balance in their accounts.

Through Fuliza, M-Pesa customers are now able to access overdrafts of as high as 50,000 shillings depending on the value of their transactions. Fuliza is more like Okoa Jahazi of Lipa Na Mpesa.

With Fuliza, a customer who Send Money and Lipa Na M-PESA transaction (Buy goods and Pay bill) value is greater than their M-PESA wallet balance, can complete the transaction with the benefit of the Fuliza limit for an Access fee of 1 percent.

What has M-Pesa done for you? Share your story with us.