Last Mile Agent – PesaKit

PesaKit Recognized in CIO100 Awards 2021

Dominion Silas — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 13:49:22 +0000

CIO Africa Commercial Director, Aliza Lyttle with PesaKit Communications Manager, Dominion Silas (L) & Head of Customer Success, Tracy Mulei (R)

PesaKit has been recognized as one of the top 100 companies in Africa using technology to improve the user experience of its customers who are mobile money agents using its mobile app.

The 13th edition of the CIO100 Awards was hosted at the Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort in Mombasa on 19 and 20 November 2021. This year’s entrants boasted of industry leaders in technology, education, banking, public sector, health, SACCOs, transport, women in Tech leadership, manufacturing, hospitality, biggest adopter of technology and insurance.

The CIO100 Awards recognizes companies, startups and organizations that show innovation and leadership in their application of technology in different sectors.

The big winner of the night in the technology partner category PesaKit was nominated for was telecoms giant Safaricom PLC.

At PesaKit, we continue designing new products in the PesaKit mobile app that empower mobile money agents and MSMEs to increase their revenue streams and be efficient providers of financial services in their communities. Until next year’s awards & symposium, thank you CIO Africa!

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How PesaKit is empowering women to accelerate financial inclusion in Kenya

Paul Macharia — Sat, 30 May 2020 07:15:44 +0000

Elizabeth Wanja runs a mobile money agent business as her main source of income for her young family. Her business is solely reliant on Safaricom’s Mpesa service. During one of our design thinking sessions, we met Elizabeth to discuss her success, pain points and general experiences. Here is a recap of her story.
“Starting a mobile money agent business was a way of generating income to compliment my husband’s earnings. My motivation was based on the fact that through generating my own income, I would have more control on my financial life thus contributing towards providing a better life for our children in terms of education, clothing, and food.”
Mobile money has changed thousands of Kenyan households by providing business and employment opportunities. A recently published study found that the increased access to mobile money has impacted Kenya through poverty reduction particularly for female-headed households. This outcome can be ascertained to the increasing reach of mobile money across all corners of the nation. By the end of 2018, there were 198,234 mobile money agents in Kenya, an aspect that has greatly increased the industry’s competitiveness. Competition has further dwindled agents’ earnings through their monthly commissions. Lack of sufficient float and increased competitiveness have largely affected women-owned agency business such as that of Elizabeth through reduced productivity and diminished earnings.
Elizabeth and a majority of women that have ventured into mobile money agency business have been met with inherent limitations. These limitations, as we discovered, are majorly due to insufficient capital. More so, having insufficient float has led to agents such as Elizabeth disappointing their customers with the slogan “sina float” a Swahili phrase meaning “I do not have sufficient float.” Two years down the line, Elizabeth runs her agency business insufficiently and as a result, she has not been able to grow as she had anticipated.
Elizabeth explains, “I have not been able to fully achieve these dreams as I do not have sufficient float or cash and the banks are not willing to provide financial aid to grow my business.”
“Mobile money business was meant to be a progressive business, I even saw myself providing employment to other women down the line. It is really disappointing and heartbreaking to turn away customers because I don’t have enough float. To make matters worse, ever since I first started my operations, six more Mpesa outlets have been opened in close proximity to my business. The only option I have had for replenishing my float is traveling 3 km to Mlolongo town center to the banks. Closing down my business for this purpose has been inconsiderable besides the issue of ferrying money due to insecurity issues.”
“I registered with PesaKit two months ago and I interact with your virtual assistant daily, I also regularly use your float on-demand product. I have since not been worried about float challenges, I no longer tell my customers “sina float”, infact, my slogan now is “float iko” (Swahili phrase for “I have sufficient float”). I am currently serving more customers and the customers are quite loyal to my agent outlet. I know that through using PesaKit’s virtual assistant, I will continue being more competitive and my income will increase over time. Every woman running a Mpesa agent business in Kenya should register with PesaKit so that we can all grow together and contribute to our economy.”

What is PesaKit?

PesaKit is an AI-powered virtual assistant (chatbot) for mobile money agents. The chatbot helps agents to know, manage, and control their liquidity (e-float and cash) through predictive analytics by forecasting their needs for the next hour, day, week or month.

We are glad to be powering Elizabeth’s business run smoothly and energised to know the more our platform becomes intelligent the more accelerated financial inclusion will be. We are also optimistic that our technology will help Elizabeth achieve her goals of increased financial resilience and providing employment opportunities to other women.

PesaKit is currently registering agents across Kenya. Please follow the link below and register to the smart agent app. Registration Link: http://crm.pesakit.co.ke/forms/wtl/f523d88061a77b5259770e07941bffe8

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How PesaKit is impacting small businesses in Kenya

Rina Joseph — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 07:48:50 +0000

This is the story of Karen, a PesaKit agent paving the way for more female-led businesses in the country

Meet Karen Nyambura. She runs a mobile money agent business in Kenya which is her main source of income. Let’s take you through her story and learn about her pain points, her successes and her experiences with PesaKit.

“I run a small shop in Nairobi, selling household items. I began a mobile money business to become more financially secure and independent. Being able to contribute to the family finances is a matter of pride and joy for me. Every shilling counts when it comes to caring for your family and children.”

Mobile money has changed thousands of Kenyan households by providing business and employment opportunities. 2019 was a momentous year for the mobile money industry with over a billion registered accounts and close to USD2 billion in daily transactions, mobile money is evolving like never before. In Kenya, which has led the world in the expansion of these services and where 96 percent of households have a mobile money account, you can find an agent almost anywhere.

In Kenya, where mobile money transaction volume constitutes nearly 50% of GDP, there are 231,292 mobile money agents (Jan 2020, Central Bank of Kenya), and a population of 53.4 million. There is a mobile money agent for approximately every 231 people. These agents are able to reach large volumes of the population via a real human touchpoint, at a scale no other organizations can compete with.

Female agents play a pivotal role but they too have unique challenges to overcome. There is evidence that female agents improve acquisition and retention of both female and male customers. They tend to appeal more to women, who are half of the potential customer base. They have proven to offer enhanced customer service with higher activity rates than their male counterparts.

There is also evidence that recruiting female agents brings socio-economic benefits to the women, families and their communities. But, lack of sufficient float and increased competitiveness have largely affected women-owned agency business such as that of Karen through reduced productivity and diminished earnings.

“It’s more common than you think that I have to let my customers go, telling them “sina float”, (Swahili for “I don’t have float) and it has been very hard on my business. I stopped getting customers because they would assume I would not have cash on hand.”

“I began using PesaKit because of the PesaKit float loans. It has been a saving grace for my business as I can confidently serve new customers daily. I no longer tell my customers “sina float”, in fact, my slogan now is “float iko”. (Swahili for “I have sufficient float”).

Karen has also been using PesaKit Protect, our micro-insurance product, which covers an agent’s business against fire, theft, fraud and personal accidents at work.

This ensures protection from losses and enables them to bounce back from a catastrophe or an illness.

“My entire family is insured under PesaKit Protect, it is just another way PesaKit has positively impacted my life. I am able to do so much through one app, I have much more confidence in my business and in myself now.”

“Why I enjoy using PesaKit apart from the loan and insurance functions is how it enables me to earn extra income through the sale of essential financial services. I sell my customers airtime, KPLC tokens and pay their water bills and I earn a commission every time I make a sale. Since my business targets women, and a lot of them are homemakers, I get a lot of requests from them to pay their water and electricity bills.

PesaKit has helped me tap into a new way of earning income. I am confident that using the app, I will attract more customers. To every woman running an M-Pesa agent business in Kenya, I encourage you to register with PesaKit so that we can all grow together and contribute to our economy.”

Karen started her household shop in 2018, since introducing PesaKit’s services in her shop, Karen has been able to use her commissions to invest back in her business, make some necessary repairs to the shop and has slowly seen an increase in profits.

About PesaKit

PesaKit is revolutionizing last-mile access to financial services and digital commerce through mobile money agents, for everyone, everywhere. We are a last mile agent network platform enabling digital and human interactions to accelerate digital commerce and financial inclusion. PesaKit currently operates in Kenya and Tanzania.

Our mission is to empower every mobile money agent across Africa to become the source of more affordable and convenient digital financial services, so they and their communities can grow and prosper.

PesaKit is recognized for its innovation in Kenya and beyond. PesaKit was a participating company in Catalyst Fund, a global inclusive fintech accelerator backed by JPMorgan Chase & Co., and UK Aid.

In 2019, PesaKit was the winner at the 3rd Digital Tech Excellence Awards as The Most Promising Agency Banking Tech Solutions Provider. PesaKit was also selected as a finalist in the AppsAfrica Changing Africa Awards and the Global Fintech Hackcelerator organized by the central banks of Kenya and Singapore. In March 2020, PesaKit was selected as a finalist in the Mondato Awards for Fintech Innovation in Africa.

In October 2020, PesaKit was selected as part of the 2020 Inclusive Fintech 50 cohort and received a Financial Resiliency cash prize of USD 25,000 for its efforts towards revolutionizing last mile financial and digital inclusion through mobile money agents.

PesaKit harnesses the power of cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, combining it with human intelligence, a synergy that facilitates accuracy and consistency in delivering a variety of digital and financial services to improve the financial health of the underserved across Africa.

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