Kenyans Redeemed Bonga Worth Ksh 300 Million For Food

Bonga for Good, an Initiative by Safaricom has come in handy in cushioning Kenyans during the Covid-19 pandemic as the latest data revealed that 301 million shillings worth of the points were used to purchase food and household items.

Since it was unveiled on April 3, 2020, millions of Kenyans have benefitted from the Bonga for Good initiative, where they spent most of the points on food, household purchases, solar equipment, and paying bills for utilities like internet and TV subscriptions.

Other items purchased using Bonga points include medicine, personal protective equipment, farm input while more customers are also redeeming their points for mobile data as they spend more time online for work, education, or entertainment.

Safaricom had increased the value of the Bonga points by 50 percent from 20 cents per point to 30 cents during the Covid-19 pandemic and it has helped most Kenyans especially the vulnerable households who were living on hand to mouth.

As high-income earners are likely to have more Bonga points, Safaricom urged them to donate some of their points to the vulnerable people who are likely to face hardship during the coronavirus pandemic. Corporates were also allowed to transfer their points to Businesses and employees during the period.

The initiative was scheduled to end in May but Safaricom extended it to June 3, 2020. The first phase of the initiative saw up to 200,000 Kenyans using over 670 million points worth 200 million shillings to purchase items for households.

In just a day, an estimated number of 10,500 people redeemed the Bonga points to buy food which translated to a total of 26 million.60 percent of the Bonga points for goods purchases occurred in supermarkets.

“This initiative is to empower Kenyans to use the savings they have been making by using Safaricom products over the years to meet their needs to pay for their essentials or donate to the most vulnerable in the society,” said Safaricom Boss Peter Ndegwa.

Even though the Bonga point’s service has been in existence since 2007, customers were only allowed to redeem the points to purchase airtime, bundles, and mobile devices by dialing *126#.