Safaricom Responds to Kenyan Customer's M-Pesa Shop Request
- A Kenyan man on Facebook expressed his desire to start an M-Pesa shop and made a request to the giant telecommunications company, Safaricom
- The subscriber explained why he wishes to venture into the business in a comment on the social media app Facebook
- Safaricom explained to TUKO.co.ke why it could not grant the man his wish, but made a promise to him
Japhet Ruto, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over eight years of experience in finance, business, and technology reporting, providing in-depth analysis of economic trends in Kenya and globally.
A Safaricom customer has requested the giant telecommunications company for help to start an M-Pesa shop.
Source: Twitter
In a comment on Facebook on Thursday, August 7, the subscriber named Tambo Tish expressed his desire to start a business offering M-Pesa and other services.
What was Tish's request to Safaricom?
Tish noted that the company has been running the M-Pesa Sokoni Festival and opening shops countrywide.
The customer revealed that there is no M-Pesa shop in his area, and as such, many community members find it difficult to access the company's services.
"Please open an M-Pesa shop for me courtesy of M-Pesa Sokoni. In our area, we lack M-Pesa. Many of our community members find it difficult to access M-Pesa. This is a humble request," he pleaded.
What was Safaricom's response?
The telecommunications company acknowledged the customer's request, noting that it understands the challenges consumers face in his location.
However, the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed firm clarified that it does not establish M-Pesa shops for individuals.
"Hello Tambo. Thank you for your humble request. We truly understand the need, but currently, we do not have that provisioning in place. We appreciate your feedback and have noted the need for an M-Pesa shop in your area for future consideration," it stated.
It promised to set up an M-Pesa shop in the said area in future.
Safaricom told TUKO.co.ke that it had also suspended the onboarding of agents.
"Onboarding of agents has been put on hold until further notice. Apologies for any inconvenience caused," it stated.
Source: Twitter
How many customers are using M-Pesa?
M-Pesa was introduced in March 2007 and currently serves over 70 million customers across more than 170 countries.
The mobile financial services provider serves more than a million companies and agents in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt.
At its present capacity of 4000 transactions per second, the platform processes over 100 million transactions daily, making it Africa's largest financial solution.
Safaricom noted in a statement on Friday, March 7, that M-Pesa also has more than 55,000 integrations on its Daraja platform, which hosts an expanding developer community of over 100,000 people.
Who founded M-Pesa?
Nick Hughes came up with the concept for M-Pesa in 2006, according to Michael Joseph, the former chairman of Safaricom and the company's founding CEO.
At the time, Hughes was in charge of Vodafone's social ventures section, which owned 40% of Safaricom.
Additionally, Hughes is a co-founder of M-KOPA, an off-grid "pay-as-you-go" energy provider.
Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
