With less than a year after it was introduced, Safaricom’s Lipa Na M-PESA has been ranked as the most preferred method of making payments without money among customers in Kenya.
This is according to a study done by McKinsey, a global management consulting firm.
The study found out that nine out of ten payments are still made in cash. However, growing evidence reveals that cashless services like Safaricom’s Lipa na M-PESA have overtaken the volume of transactions registered through debit and credit cards as well as other mobile money propositions.
McKinsey says with over 32,000 active merchants and average transactions of Kshs. 1,000 and above on the service, there has been a remarkable increase in the volume of transactions through Lipa Na M-PESA.
“It is not lost on us that 94% of transactions in Kenya are in cash and we feel that there is an immense opportunity for the number of cashless transactions to grow’’ said Betty Mwangi, General Manager, Financial Services, Safaricom.
She added that Safaricom has already made investments in the public transport sector and in government transactions, which it believes are the next growth frontiers for Lipa Na M-PESA.
Safaricom has also launched an eight-week consumer and merchant promotion to encourage the use of M-PESA for retail transactions, as it seeks to grow usage of the revolutionary mobile money service and entrench a CashLite culture in the country.
Ms. Mwangi explained said a majority of Safaricom’s over 19.5 million registered M-PESA customers already use the service to make Person-to-Person transactions.
With this promotion Safaricom is aiming at encouraging M-Pesa users to also enjoy the additional benefits and convenience derived from additional value added services available on the money transfer service.
During this promotion, Safaricom will reward one customer each week with a fully furnished house valued at Kshs. 12 million. Consumers will also win Ksh.32 million in cash and 16 million in airtime.
Lipa Na M-PESA merchants also stand a chance to win a pick-up vehicle every two weeks. In addition, merchants will win Ksh. 40 million in cash.
To qualify for the promotion, customers will need to use Lipa Na M-PESA to pay for goods and services, move money between their mobile phones and their banks and/or SACCO’s, or take M-Shwari loans during the two months of the promotion.
