The Rise of Pochi La Biashara: How Safaricom is Quietly Transforming Women-Owned Businesses in Kenya

If the report released by GSMA about Pochi La Bishara is something to go by, then women in Kenya are carrying the weight of biashara across the country.

From vegetable stalls in Murang’a to small fashion shops in Nairobi and mobile money kiosks in Kajiado, women micro-entrepreneurs are powering households, educating children, and sustaining local economies.

According to the latest GSMA report on Pochi la Biashara and Women Micro-Entrepreneurs in Kenya, women now make up the majority of active Pochi la Biashara users, signaling something bigger than just mobile payments.

This is not merely a fintech success story. It is a story about dignity, financial control, safety, and the evolution of biashara in Kenya.

Launched by Safaricom in 2020, Pochi la Biashara was designed to help small business owners separate business money from personal funds while allowing them to receive customer payments seamlessly. But behind this seemingly simple innovation lies a deep understanding of the realities facing Kenyan women in business.

For years, many women traders have struggled with one major problem: mixing household money with business money. A customer pays for tomatoes in the morning, and by lunchtime, the money has already been used for supper, school transport, or emergency family needs. Business records disappear. Profit becomes difficult to track. Growth becomes almost impossible.

Pochi la Biashara appears to have solved a problem many banks and financial institutions ignored for years.

The report reveals that women using Pochi reported increased savings, improved financial discipline, higher sales, better business tracking, and stronger control over spending habits. One woman entrepreneur from Kajiado summed it up perfectly:

“Pochi makes me feel like the CEO of my business. I’m in control, I track my money, and I’m able to support my family.”

That sentence captures the emotional power behind digital financial inclusion.

In Kenya’s informal economy, trust is currency. And one of the biggest reasons Pochi gained traction among women was the non-reversal feature. Unlike ordinary M-PESA transfers, where customers can reverse transactions after receiving goods, Pochi protects merchants from fraudulent reversals.

For mama mbogas, mitumba traders, salon owners, and kiosk operators, this is not a small feature. It is business security.

The findings show that between December 2024 and December 2025, the number of women actively using Pochi grew by approximately 92 percent, outpacing growth among men. Women now account for over 52 percent of active Pochi users, representing more than 900,000 users.

That statistic alone tells a powerful story.

It shows that when financial products are designed around real customer pain points rather than boardroom assumptions, adoption follows naturally.

Interestingly, the report also highlights something often ignored in discussions about digital finance: women adopt technology faster when trust is built through people, not just advertising. Nearly half of new users learned about Pochi from friends or family, while Safaricom’s field agents played a major role in driving adoption through demonstrations and face-to-face support.

This human-centered approach may be one of Safaricom’s biggest wins.

Instead of simply pushing an app, the company invested in training agents, educating users, offering incentives, and listening to women traders directly. The result is a financial product that feels less like a corporate tool and more like a biashara companion.

Another critical insight from the report is the importance of safety and privacy. Many women traders expressed concerns about harassment after customers obtained their phone numbers from payment stickers. In response, Safaricom removed mobile numbers from payment SMS notifications and is developing enhanced privacy features for rollout.

That responsiveness matters.

Because financial inclusion is not just about access to money. It is about creating systems where women feel secure, respected, and empowered to grow.

The broader economic implications are enormous. Kenya’s micro-enterprises account for roughly 15 million jobs and nearly 85 percent of non-farm employment. If digital tools like Pochi can help even a fraction of these businesses become more stable and profitable, the ripple effect across households and communities could be transformative.

At a time when many SMEs are struggling with shrinking margins, high transaction costs, and financial uncertainty, Pochi la Biashara is quietly becoming more than a payment platform.

It is becoming a survival tool for Kenya’s informal economy — especially for women who have long operated at the center of biashara, often without recognition, protection, or structured financial support.

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