Uber, Safaricom in Mpesa Payment Deal

Uber and Safaricom have partnered to ease payment of trips by riders across Kenya through Mpesa.

As a result of an earlier agreement between the telco and UberEats, customers can now pay for delivery using Mpesa, and riders can also get their profits through the same platform.

The new partnership also aims to make it simple for drivers without bank accounts to get their weekly paychecks.

Uber claims that 20% of its drivers do not have bank accounts, which prevents them from taking full advantage of digital trips.

Imran Manji, the head of Uber East Africa, stated during the event at the Michael Joseph Centre that due to Mpesa’s extensive presence in the region, both drivers and customers can now take advantage of services without any hassles.

Drivers can select to receive money directly to their Mpesa accounts rather than online bank accounts, he noted.

“Many drivers use Mpesa as their main wallet for their everyday transactions,” he said.

“This saves them the cost and hustle of transferring the funds from a bank account into their mobile money account.”

Prior to this, according to Cynthia Kropac, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at Safaricom, it took several days to pay drivers.

She claimed that by incorporating Mpesa into the transportation service, weekly payments to drivers are quickly accessible after being distributed.

“For passengers, it is about enhancing the customer experience by providing a seamless way of making payments,” she said.

Kropac stated that preparations are being made to implement a bonga points payment option.

“Soon passengers will be able to gain bonga points when they use Uber and can equally use them to make payments,” she said.

According to Safaricom’s financial year-end data, the provider processed 6.4 billion payments via Mpesa.

CBK data indicates that there were 70 million card payments made across the country within the same time period.