M-Pesa is probably one of the best Kenyan success stories. In fact, even those who do not use Safaricom as their main mobile network still have a Safaricom number for the sole purpose of Mpesa.
If you’re one of those big shots who does business international or you simply love to send and receive money to your loved ones abroad, then this is good news for you.
Kenya’s largest mobile phone-based money transfer, financing and micro-financing service, M-Pesa, has today unveiled a partnership with Western Union that will enable people to send money around the world using their mobile phones which will be connected to Western Union’s half a million agents all around the world.
With newly signed partnership, Mpesa customers will be able to send and receive a maximum of Ksh 140,000 per day globally through their mobile phones in a total of 130 different world currencies.
“M-PESA Global seeks to connect Kenyans to opportunities by making it easy and seamless for them to transact with the world and for the world to transact with Kenyans,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, Chief Financial Services Officer at Safaricom.
According to the mobile network operator, users will also be able to send money to bank accounts in the UAE, Germany and Britain immediately with more countries being added in the coming weeks.
The service will cost between a minimum of a hundred Kenya shillings for a transaction of up to Ksh. 5,000 and five hundred Kenya shillings for remitting offshore more than Ksh. 35,000.
Speaking at the launch, Safaricom’s Chief Customer Officer, Sylvia Mulinge announced that smartphone users on Android will need to refresh their M-Pesa app to access the service under M-Pesa Global while it may take up to four days from Tuesday for iPhone users to access it.
Customers can access the new service by dialing *840# or by selecting “M-PESA Global” under the M-PESA menu on the MySafaricom Application.
Richard Malcom, Western Union’s Regional Vice President for Southern, East and Anglophone West Africa said the two firms have been working on the new deal since it was conceived in July 2017.
“This is real a game-changer, a first one in the world for us. Kenyans who have children studying abroad can now send them money directly from M-Pesa in case of an emergence such as medical,” said Mr. Malcom.
This is another huge development for Safaricom after Google Play apps and games store started accepting payments in Kenya through M-Pesa this year in February. Safaricom is now exploring the possibility of expanding M-Pesa into other African nations like Ethiopia.
Will the new Mpesa Global service make your life easier?