Mali which means wealth in Swahili is an investment project by Safaricom’s for their subscribers who are keen on saving.
However, the savings plan is still under pilot and will be rolled out to their subscribers once it’s ready for use. Currently, it can be accessed via the USSD code *230# but once it will be rolled will be available on my Safaricom APP.
Registered MPesa users will be able to save as low as Ksh100 up to a maximum of Ksh70,000 and will attract an annual interest of 10 per cent.
Following the recent market upsurge with loan applications everywhere, Safaricom’s mali might be a chain broker in this case.
Contrary to the loan applications like Stawi, Fuliza, Okash, Tala, Branch and many others, the norm, as usual, has been allowing users to borrow money and their limits increase as they continue to borrow but in real sense falling in the cuffs of borrowing since the more you borrow it becomes more difficult to return with the increasing amounts.
Although mali is no different from banks the service is arguably convenient for users who have have no access to banks especially mobile banking services.
Mali requires you to be an MPesa customer for a period of three months or more, have more than three days after a sim card replacement, provide an email address and next of kin contact a thereafter you choose to invest via the USSD code or via a pay bill number that is yet to be revealed.
Mali will support instant withdrawals of both partial and full amount of money depending on the preference of the customers. The money will then be credited the MPesa account for withdrawal.
For customers who wish to take overdrafts, the payment will roll over days until the full investment pays off.
On the application withdrawals and deposits are absolutely free with a 15 per cent withholding tax charged on the investment income.
According to a statement by Safaricom, “Mali is one such innovation that is currently in early testing stages and is still subject to ongoing engagement with authorities for approval”
In addition to that, the firm also commented that it is premature for them to comment on the future plans of Mali.
However, since the launch of MPesa 12 years ago tremendous innovations have happened around the firm.
Mshwari which seemingly offers the same services as Mali from Mshwari lock savings and the Mshwari 52 week challenge. Both the services have one similar comparison with Mali although. Once you continually save on the platforms you earn interest.
Besides that, Mshwari offers a loan in place of the overdraft while the 52-week challenge doesn’t offer any other services apart from saving which puts Mali at a higher opportunity to thrive.
