For more than a decade, we have settled in the financial comfort of the existence of Mpesa.
Mpesa is an East African inbred mobile transaction service, an idea of one man’s dream that turned briskly successful.
If you want dig dipper and find out what are the advantages and disadvantages of Mpesa, click here.
14 months after the launch, Mpesa in Kenya had 2.7 million users and almost 3,000 users.
This means that Kenyans started to realise its importance and adapted very fast to its simplicity advantage over the years.
Mpesa has thrown our lives with many privileges, and I mention some…
Easy money transfer
Before March 2007, when Mpesa was launched, it took lots of effort to deliver money across the country to parties that did not possess bank accounts.
You had to board a bus, take money physically, or they had to travel to where you are to pick that money.
Imagine how costly and risky that was. But, we lived through it.
The forthcoming years have seen money being transferred as fast as a click of a phone button.
Mpesa’s elementary features are friendly to both literate and illiterate users allowing money transfer without difficulties.
Timely money transfer
Mobile money services in Kenya will take up to 3 minutes to carry out transactions provided by the strong 4G Safaricom network that is widely rationed to all corners of the country.
The process is minute and involves short easy-to-read terms like ‘Buy Airtime’.
Secure transactions
Mpesa is versatile on all enabled mobile devices.
Both smartphones and the regular feature phones also commonly termed as ‘Mulika Mwizi” can access its services.
For you to be eligible to own an Mpesa account, you have to possess a valid Identification card or passport.
This will be used to register your Safaricom sim card and also allow you to carry out your Mpesa transactions.
You must always provide your identification card and signature after making transactions with the agents.
Safaricom has enabled for reverse transactions after mistakenly entering wrong contacts and pay bills.
This has given natives more comfort to use Mpesa mobile money transfer services.
Lipa na Mpesa
Paying essential utility bills like power connection, water, school fees has been made cheaper, faster and more comfortable by Mpesa.
We have escaped long queues in banks to clear essential bills and worse school fees during the dreaded ‘back to school” time.
Mpesa has been taken further to making group transactions where one person is entrusted with the members as treasurer.
Buying goods and services using Mpesa
You’ve gone to a supermarket, and your impulse shopping condition has driven you to makeover the budget purchases, and you have run out of cash.
Simple as it, you can just call a friend to send you some money to complete the process.
The whole point is that some people are making purchases through M Pesa and ignoring the cash transactions.
Cash at hand prevalence
Mpesa is also playing a part in solving the social issues of climate change.
The purchase of airtime and data has been simplified by the Mpesa option.
This means less paper is being printed all in the name of airtime.
Mpesa transactions for airtime are simple and fast.
They can be done anywhere at any time of the day as opposed to physically going to make purchases from shops that are open and closed by the break of day.
Mshwari savings account for the Mpesa user
Safaricom recently introduced Mshwari, a mobile money account that can be opened freely without needing to fill out so many complex forms.
MShwari is for everyone and is completely free. It has zero fee charges for its services. It allows for a customer to withdraw all their savings with no minimum balance.
Mshwari has made banking easier for there are no long queues to access transaction services.
You have an option of saving money in a locked account and earn up to 70% interest in a fixed period.
Salary payment
I once worked as a janitor for an AIRBNB registered house.
For that time, the pay was not enough to cater to my multitude of needs.
My wages transpired through Mpesa, and I am beyond lucky to have escaped KRA, bank, and NSSF and any other obligatory charges I would have encountered if money was wired to my bank account.
Mpesa has provided for the low-income earners a soft spot for receiving their income.
Financial inclusion
Generally, Mpesa has made it possible for financial inclusion through its services due to its accessibility and convenience factors.
Mpesa outlets are found in almost every village across the country, albeit the disproportional distribution of banking institutions.
From the working class, in between to the upper one, all can freely carry out transactions with Mpesa as long as they possess a registered Safaricom sim card.
Moreover, with the introduction of Mshari, natives do not have to go through the trouble of the banking system just to save money and gain interests.
Mpesa is slowly drifting Kenya off to the era of staying cashless
Almost all basic transactions can be done through Mpesa, and it is simple and most likely free.
From paying the fare in the matatus as you head home to buy the smallest item in the busy streets along the outskirts of town.
Kenyans treat Mpesa with the utmost equivalence of credit cards in developed countries.
The only difference is that of a mobile phone infused with a Safaricom line and tough chipped credit cards.
Mpesa has its challenges amidst the comfort of its use.
At any given time, a customer can only hold Ksh100,000 in his or her account.
No transaction to your account can be allowed if you have tapped the maximum capacity stated.
You can only transact up to Ksh70,000 in a day.
In case you are doing transactions to multiple contacts, only 140,000 in total can be transferred.
Mpesa allows only 20 transactions in a month. This means a total of KSh500,000 can be transacted. (See Tuko.co.ke, June 2018).
I hope Mpesa will be able to sync its services to other international mobile money companies.
Or have credit cards that fit universally.
So that it is more convenient to transfer money clear bills internationally as fast as it is in Kenya.
Hongera Mpesa, hongera Safaricom!
(5 votes, average: 3.60 out of 5)
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