SimbaPay launches world’s first international access to M-Pesa PayBill

SimbaPay has launched a service that will allow Kenyans living abroad to make M-Pesa PayBill payments, a new addition to the existing SimbaPay platform.

The service dubbed M-Pesa PayBill is an M-Pesa service that has previously only been available to Safaricom M-Pesa subscribers in Kenya and allows the subscribers to pay hunderds of vendors via M-Pesa. By SimbaPay granting PayBill access to its customers, Kenyans abroad can now also pay hundreds of vendors and utility companies in Kenya directly via M-Pesa PayBill.

“Our customers want to pay vendors in Kenya faster and without having to go through friends and family”.  Nyasinga Onyancha, CEO for SimbaPay said.

“This new product allows them to do just that, especially for time sensitive payments such as those to hospitals, stock brokers and the like”. 

SimbaPay customers will not require a Safaricom phone number or M-Pesa registration to pay vendors via PayBill as is currently the case for M-Pesa subscribers living in Kenya. SimbaPay charges zero fees for its instant money transfers to M-Pesa PayBill numbers.

Kenyans living in the UK with a bank account, debit card or credit card will be able to use the SimbaPay app to make M-Pesa PayBill payments from any mobile phone, tablet or computer. Transfers made using SimbaPay to M-Pesa PayBill numbers are credited instantly. The service has already been rolled out to Kenyans living in the UK with other EU countries slated in the near future. 

For ease of use, the majority of M-Pesa PayBill numbers and vendors have also been pre-loaded on to the SimbaPay platform which eliminates the need for customers having to remember a vendor’s PayBill number. At the time of making an M-Pesa Paybill transfer using SimbaPay, customers will be required to select the vendor to be paid and then enter their account number with the vendor. For example if paying a hospital bill, the patient number will be required.

SimbaPay launched free, instant transfers to Nigeria  in May 2015 and continues to disrupt the cross-border remittance industry with its focus on speed and convenience.

The SimbaPay app can be downloaded for free from the Apple or Android app stores.

By Nixon Kanali, TechTrendsKE