Kenya’s mobile money space has received a boost following the launch of the Chipper Cash mobile app that allows users to send money both locally and internationally at no transaction charge.
The app comes at a time when the world is battling the Covid-19 pandemic, and at a time where people in Kenya and around the world are encouraged to embrace the use of cashless transactions.
In Kenya, during his address to the nation, President Uhuru Kenyatta called on Kenyans to avoid handling banknotes after the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the notes had the potential to spread the Covid-19.
“We’re committed to significantly improving access to critical financial services to over one billion people living in Africa,” said Mr. Serunjogi, one of the founders.
For more than 10 years, Kenya has been voted as a leader in financial inclusion against 20 other African countries attributable to the use of mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa. Chipper Cash founders say the platform is set to help Kenya sustain this position.
The mobile app is currently available to consumers and businesses in seven countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California with offices across the globe, Chipper Cash delivers fair financial services that make the lives of millions of Africans better in a small way, every day.
According to the founders of the platform, it is free for everyone, every time-no transaction costs for local or cross-border transfers. Users can also buy discounted airtime of 2% on most mobile networks across Africa.
Users can also send money to someone who doesn’t have a Chipper Cash account, send and receive money from any network, and easily link the same to their contacts.
“We are going to be introducing Chipper for Business suite of services that will allow you to use Chipper to pay for goods or services using your Chipper wallet at merchants that accept the Chipper as a payment method or through mobile websites or apps that are approved to offer Chipper as a payment option.
If available, the option to pay using Chipper will appear as a Chipper-branded payment button at checkout. When we introduce this service, we will notify all our users and promote it accordingly,” Mr. Serunjogi added.
According to TechCrunch, Chipper Cash is now at over one and a half million users and doing over $100 million dollars a month in volume.