When Safaricom launched its Shangwe @25 promotion in October 2025, the headline attraction was the chance for customers to win cash prizes, including KES1 million. But beyond the consumer rewards, the campaign also channelled equipment, inventory support and funding for community projects to businesses, giving the promotion a wider economic dimension.
The campaign, which ran from October 31, 2025 to January 19, 2026, was part of Safaricom’s 25th anniversary celebrations. It rewarded customers for using Safaricom services while directing a portion of the campaign’s prizes towards micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The business-focused rewards included 25 Bajaj tricycles for small and micro businesses, KES250,000 worth of stock for another 25 businesses, and KES500,000 each for 15 medium and large enterprises to support community projects.
The structure matters because access to working capital and productive assets remains a persistent challenge for smaller businesses. For a retailer, inventory can determine how much revenue the business generates. For a farmer or distributor, transport can influence the cost and reliability of moving products to market. By offering stock and equipment rather than limiting the promotion to cash prizes, Safaricom linked its anniversary campaign to some of the practical costs of running a business.
One of the businesses selected to receive a Bajaj tricycle in the first draw was Sakifarm Ltd, an avocado-growing and export business working with hundreds of farmers. Its experience illustrates how digital services and physical business assets can complement each other in agricultural supply chains. TechMoran previously covered Sakifarm and other enterprises when Safaricom announced the first winners of its Shangwe @25 enterprise promotion.
Sakifarm works with approximately 300 farmers and handles more than 100 payments daily during peak seasons, according to its chief executive, Elijah Sawe. The company uses Safaricom Business services, including M-PESA for Business and bulk SMS, to manage payments and communicate with farmers. Sawe said the tools had improved operational efficiency and farmer engagement while helping the company reduce human resource costs.
The tricycle adds a physical asset to that digital infrastructure. While its precise use by Sakifarm will depend on the company’s operations, transport equipment can help businesses move goods and manage distribution more efficiently. For an agricultural enterprise working with a network of farmers, the value of such an asset extends beyond the initial prize.
Safaricom’s first round of business winners also showed the range of enterprises targeted by the promotion. The 10 businesses announced as Bajaj tricycle recipients included Sakifarm Ltd, Millys the Redbeet Fresh Mat, Tito Busienei, Leonard Oongo, Carrix Media Group Ltd, Samuel Kimando, Alex Wasike, Manjok Ltd, Douglas Onserio and Muriiri Girls Secondary School.
Nine businesses were also named among the first recipients of KES250,000 worth of stock each: Ebee Mobility Kenya Ltd, Justus Kiprono Koros, Robert Nyakundi Ayuka, Taifa Sacco Ltd, Federico Investments, Robstar Premium Fit Ltd, Sawe Cheruiyot Mais, Ronak Distributors and Golden Green Properties Ltd. The first round further included KES500,000 community-project awards for six organisations: Moringa School, the European Union, United Nations Federal Credit, Vivo Activewear, Kenya Human Rights Commission and GlovoApp.
The distinction between the three categories is important. The tricycles and inventory support were directed at businesses, while the KES500,000 awards were intended to fund community projects. Together, they extended the campaign beyond individual winners, although the awards served different economic and social purposes.
The promotion also built on Safaricom’s wider role in providing payment and communication infrastructure for businesses. M-PESA has become a core payment channel for many Kenyan enterprises, while services such as bulk messaging and business connectivity support customer engagement and daily operations. For smaller businesses, access to these tools can reduce the administrative burden of managing payments, communicating with customers and coordinating suppliers.
Safaricom said customers could participate in Shangwe by purchasing, renewing or reactivating eligible services, including voice, internet, cloud, IoT and M-PESA for Business. The campaign therefore connected the company’s consumer and business service ecosystems to a rewards programme that included both individual customers and enterprises.
The business awards ran alongside the campaign’s consumer millionaire draws. TechMoran reported on the first five millionaires crowned by the Shangwe @25 promotion, as well as individual winners whose plans for the money included business expansion. One example was Mombasa tuk-tuk driver Joseph Ndung’u, who said he intended to buy another tuk-tuk and open a spare-parts shop after winning KES1 million, as TechMoran reported.
The promotion eventually concluded after creating 25 millionaires, with more than five million customers winning prizes worth KES250 million, according to Safaricom. But its business awards offer another measure of the campaign’s reach: support directed at enterprises that need inventory, transport and resources to expand their operations.
The wider question is what happens after the prizes are handed over. A tricycle can become a productive asset if it is deployed effectively. Stock support can help a retailer replenish inventory and meet demand, but its longer-term impact depends on sales, margins and the ability to restock. Community-project funding can also create value, although its outcomes depend on how the money is allocated and implemented.
For MSMEs, the significance of such interventions is not simply the value of a prize. It is whether the support helps a business serve more customers, move more products, improve cash flow or build the capacity to grow. In that respect, Shangwe’s business awards placed part of Safaricom’s anniversary spending into the hands of enterprises whose next stage of growth may depend on access to precisely these resources.