One of the driving forces behind the economic growth of our country is the emergence and rapid increase in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Safaricom, the countries largest mobile service provider, in a bid to plug into this market has introduced the LIPA NA MPESA service. Lipa Na M-PESA- a campaign aimed at entrenching the use of its payment services as primary tool of transactions.
It is an umbrella service for the M-PESA payment services which include: Payment of salaries, utility payments, promotional payouts, dividend payments as well as payments within the transport industry. The first phase of Lipa na M-PESA is anchored on an aggressive countrywide recruitment exercise targeting to enrol more than 100,000 small and medium sized by April 2014. To ensure the success of the campaign, Safaricom has simplified the registration process for the traders who will only be required to produce copies of a PIN certificate, Identification Card and trading license in order to get a till number.
So how does the MPESA service benefit traders? Safaricom’s General Manager for Financial Services, Ms. Betty Mwangi-Thuo noted that by adopting M-PESA as a primary tool of transaction, traders will not only have ready access to more than 17 million M-PESA customers, but they will also be able to provide their customers with a safer and more convenient way of making payments. She also highlighted to the fact that LIPA NA MPESA will also help traders enhance business efficiency.
Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore noted that the widespread use M-PESA of was driving the country’s cash lite economy agenda which he said is a more secure and efficient method of transacting.