Mobile phone firm focus to expand payment platform

Speaking during the launch of Vodashop and Smart Bomba promotion yesterday, Vodacom Head of Sales and Distribution in Nyasa region, Macfadyne Minja said so far they have surpassed their annual target for 2016 which was to have a total of 20,000 ‘Lipa Kwa M-Pesa’ outlets as they already have over 40,000 outlets countrywide.

He said the 40,000 ‘Lipa Kwa MPesa’ outlets entail retail stores, pharmacies, bars, restaurants, hardware stores, petrol stations and supermarkets to mention a few.

Furthermore, over 1,000 business services across the country are also subscribed to ‘Lipa Kwa M-Pesa’ thus giving Tanzanians a much more convenient and safer option of doing business transactions.

“With our plans to digitise Tanzania, we are slowly branching out to a cashless economy to catch up with developed countries hence our ‘Lipa Kwa M-Pesa’ is going to help us get there so I urge more traders, service providers and the rest of the business community to subscribe to ‘Lipa kwa M-Pesa’ as it is by far the safest and most convenient way of doing business in today’s world of technology,” said Minja.

Vodacom’s M-Pesa is Tanzania’s largest mobile money platform with 42 per cent market share in the fourth quarter of last year up from 41 per cent in the third quarter with customers base growing from 7,034,839 in September to 7,487,735 in December, according to the latest statistics from Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

Mr Minja mentioned other benefits of having a ‘Lipa Kwa M-Pesa’ business account for retailers as being able to send cash from their business accounts to personal accounts free of charge, pay other suppliers free of charge and withdraw cash from M-Pesa agents at a lower rate unlike using personal accounts.

He further urged Tanzanians in general to embrace the culture of paying for products and services with M-Pesa at any retail centres that have a ‘Lipa Kwa M-Pesa’ sign, saying paying with M-Pesa is actually cost effective than paying with hard cash.

“It is obviously cheaper to pay with M-Pesa because there are no extra charges, all you do is pay the exact amount of the product you have bought into the account of that particular outlet, unlike withdrawing cash from agents in order to pay for the purchase because with this option you will incur withdrawing charges… plus it only takes 5 clicks to complete a payment,” said Minja.

Vodacom’s Head of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations, Jacquiline Materu said, Vodacom Tanzania has the widest network of merchants who are trained to receive payments via M-Pesa.

“For every transaction made, a customer will receive free airtime bonus, while merchants will receive a reward amount ranging from 2000/- to 100,000/- per every transaction depending on the value of the transaction made.”

SOURCE: DAILY NEWS

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