After launching Fuliza to all subscribers on its mobile money platform M-Pesa in January 2019, Safaricom is now extending the service to business owners.
The telco, together with KCB Bank has today unveiled Fuliza ya Biashara, a service that enables business owners on Lipa Na M-PESA to complete payments even with insufficient funds in their till.
Fuliza ya Biashara will apply when making transactions from a Lipa Na M-PESA Business Till to other Till Numbers and PayBill Numbers, when sending money to an individual, and when withdrawing to the nominated number or at an Agent. The service will advance an overdraft of upto KSh. 400,000 with a 24 hour interest-free period.
“We launched Lipa Na M-PESA as a way for businesses to conveniently receive cashless payments through their mobile phones, whenever they are. With more than 538,000 businesses accepting payments through the service, our strategy is to now go beyond collecting payments by providing business owners with tools to manage and grow their businesses. Fuliza ya Biashara caters especially to small businesses by providing them with instant, affordable credit of up to KSh. 400,000, empowering them to rapidly respond to their business needs,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO – Safaricom.
Fuliza ya Biashara is immediately available through the M-PESA Business App and on the Lipa Na M-PESA Transacting Till on *234#. Business owners can access a minimum overdraft of KSh. 1,000 and can draw multiple overdrafts of up to KSh. 400,000 based on their assigned limit. The overdraft is automatically repaid from incoming till payments with amounts outstanding beyond 24 hours charged at a 2% one-off fee for up to 29 days. The Fuliza ya Biashara limit is reset every time a repayment is made, enabling business owners to immediately access new overdrafts including the amount they just repaid.
“This proposition once again signifies the immense opportunities available within the digital ecosystem managed by KCB and Safaricom. We believe that the roll-out of this exciting feature will give Kenyan entrepreneurs the headroom to scale up their business operations without getting into the danger of not servicing some of their critical needs like payments to suppliers,” said Mrs. Annastacia Kimtai, KCB Bank Kenya Managing Director.
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