Skip to main content

Cheers and Jeers for M-PESA

What a juggernaut this Safaricom has become that I find myself unable to get myself excited to blog about anything else but Safaricom. I'll keep this short though:

First the cheers.

Anyone with a new Safaricom sim card would have noticed two additional menus under the M-PESA section: 'Buy Goods' and 'ATM Withdrawal'. Very exciting stuff, I can already see myself buying groceries at Tusky's with my phone and withdrawing cash from my M-PESA account at the ATM (24 hour availability of cash, the last frontier for M-PESA withdrawals!)

Now the Jeers

There is a service known as 'Pay Bill' that has been on the M-PESA section for a long time but is grossly under-exploited. The Pay Bill service is the key to e-commerce in Kenya and can operate similar to PayPal, but Safaricom are being a real pain in the a** in opening this service to merchants. I applied for this back in April and was asked for nearly 10 documents (company certificate of incorporation, pin documents, CR-12, VAT certificate etc.) which I managed to secure after almost 3 months. One more request however stumped me, Safaricom asked for a 'license that permits me to collect money, and not my trading license' WTF??? Does one need a license to sell goods. Safaricom really need to get their act together, otherwise someone is going to steal their thunder with a 3rd party service, maybe that will be me... hmmm.

Comments

coldtusker said…
Please do... asap... SafCon has been holding us hostage too long!
August 27, 2008 11:40 PM
bankelele said…
wow sign of better things to come
August 28, 2008 5:29 PM
Harry Karanja said…
The MPESA/ATM service is now out. They are running it with PesaPoint. Can't wait for the Buy Goods service!

Meanwhile Equity is trying hard to catch-up with a new mobile banking service which unfortunately fell flat on its face on launch date.
I'm sure some programmers were fired
September 10, 2008 7:17 PM
Anonymous said…
Maze i feel you. Another solution would be the banks sell virtual debit card and one cam load cash on the card with m-pesa or any mobile service providers. I emailed like 5 banks and the mobile service providers with my idea and non but safaricom replied to my mail. they said that they only what the license permits them to!!!!!! Kawni i was asking them to commit theft or murder. Just imagine my quality of life.

identify some product on the net. Got to menu item on m-pesa "buy debit card" the bank sends me the virtual details for the card and i am good to go. Imagine !!! the banks can then upsale or cross sell to me coz i chose that bank for the card, m-pesa gets more transaction yani its a win win story, but nooooooo they will not even reply to mail! Hope you become the solution. peace good dreaming
November 22, 2008 10:35 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Young Entrepreneur Who Refused to Look for a Job

A read I thought would be of interest: LITTLE might be known about Imran Khosla, but not so for those who frequent courts or those in the information and communication technology industry. His is a story of a young entrepreneur who has refused to sit and just wait for jobs to come but has decided with the little cash he has to start off his own business that is now giving birth to new ventures beyond what he had imagined. Now in his late twenties, Imran set up his first electronic shop which also sold computer accessories in 2008. “After hearing lots of stories about graduates who have had tormenting search for jobs to no avail, obviously that was not the route I wished to take. I wanted to create my own job, and be my own boss, this was the inspiration that threw me into the world of entrepreneurship, and four years on, I tell you all is well and you cannot believe it I have over ten employees, and whose turnover is running into fortunes now,” Imran says with a cheer. His journ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sine qua non

Reader’s discretion: Strong Language and Violence Paxa  Rainne slams her open palm on the car horn frustrated. Another matatu has overlapped and cut her off just as she was to join the highway. Driving into town from Ngara is still a nightmare, despite a spanking new superhighway. Rainne wonders if her naivety in being polite to other road users is a magnet for this menace. Rainne has been in traffic now for over an hour and has hardly moved ten metres, giving way to dozens of other vehicles but not getting any reciprocation. She wriggles her bare toes, driving shoeless in these conditions is more comfortable.  She takes comfort in that small luxury. The lotion she applied on her feet earlier is keeping them nice and cool. The conductor of the matatu swings wildly from the door as it narrowly misses Rainne’s front bumper. “Siste, huku ni Nairobi, jikakamue”! She glares at him and he returns a lewd look, seemingly excited at the fact that he’s unnerved ...
Post a Comment
Read more

TO MENS REA OR NOT TO MENS REA

  Does excluding mens rea in the Statement of Offence make a charge defective? Rule of Law When a person is accused of an offence, his constitutional right to a fair hearing requires that he should be informed of the charge with sufficient detail to answer it [1] . In order for an accused person to be informed of the charge, first the charge is drawn up and secondly it is stated to him. Drawing the Charge A charge or information is drawn with sufficient detail to answer it if it contains:  a statement of the specific offence or offences with which the accused person is charged; and particulars necessary for giving reasonable information as to the nature of the offence charged [2] . The framing of a charge or information should follow the rules laid down in Section s137(a)(ii)the Criminal Procedure Code which provides: 137(a)(ii) the statement of offence shall describe the offence shortly in ordinary language, avoiding as far as possible the use of ...
Post a Comment
Read more