Safaricom Limited has set its sight on the medium and small enterprises with the launch of ‘lipa an M-PESA Services, a campaign that is aimed at establishing the use of its payment service as a primary tool of transaction.
The ‘lipa na M-PESA payment service for the M-PESA includes the payment of salaries, bills, merchant payment collection services, retail distribution, bulk payments and transport solutions.
The service will enable customers to make payments for goods and services that costs as little as ten shillings to as much as 70,000 shillings with no transaction fee.
Bobb Collymore, Safaricom’s CEO understood that the widespread use of M-PESA was driving the country’s cash lite economy agenda which he said is a more secure and efficient method of transacting.
“lipa na M-PESA is one of the ways through which we wanted to make mobile money work in micro-transactions. We want the mama mboga to tell you that it is okay for your sukuma via M-PESA or for the kibanda guy to say it is okay for our customers to pay for a plate of food via M-PESA. In the end, we want M-PESA to be celebrated not because it is a clever product; but because it is a product that is giving practical solutions to everyday problems,” said Bob Collymore.
CBK reports indicate that the country’s financial inclusion levels are now at 80 percent, with mobile money contributing to about 57 percent for the total number of Kenyans with access to some form of formal financial platform.
The first phase of lipa na M-PESA is anchored on an aggressive country wide recruitment exercise targeting to enroll more than 100,000 small and medium sized business on to its merchant service by April 2014.
Merchants looking to sign up for the services can visit a Safaricom retail shop, Safaricom authorized dealer or M-PESA agent.