M-Pesa statement is a summary that details all of your Mpesa operations for a specific time period. The statements are divided into two types: full statements and mini statements. Mpesa mini statements only display recent Mpesa transactions that are at least an hour old, with a limit of five transactions. The full statement, on the other hand, displays M-Pesa transactions for up to 12 months. Being aware of how to access your Mpesa statements helps you keep track of your money and account for it. 

This article is going to show you various options on how to access your Mpesa statement using your phone

1. Using the USSD Function

• First dial *234# and then select the “My Mpesa Information” option.
• Choose ‘Mpesa statement’.
• Then select Request Statement and hit the send button.
• Next, choose ‘Full Statement.’ then choose the time period for which you want to get the full M-Pesa statement: for instance, the last 6 months or 12 months. 
• Enter your official email address, confirm the email, and then enter your M-Pesa PIN.
• You will be notified by text message whether your registration was successful. Your Mpesa statement will be emailed to you.

How to Download Your Mpesa Statements  

Log in to your personal email and look for the Safaricom email that contains your statement. It is important to note that the Mpesa statement email is password protected.

When requested for a password, simply show the identification card number associated with your Mpesa line, such as your National ID Card, Passport number, Military or Diplomatic Identification Card number. 

The second most convenient way to obtain your Mpesa statement is via the Mpesa app, which allows you to examine, interact with, and act on your full M-Pesa statement immediately from the app’s home screen, as well as filter, download, and export your Mpesa statement in PDF format. Let’s see how the M-Pesa application works and how to use it step by step:

2. Using the M-PESA App

Begin by downloading the M-PESA app from either Google Play or the App Store. Then, follow the setup instructions to help you view your M-PESA transaction statements. While you must enter an email address when registering, you can choose to update it afterward.

Open the M-PESA option on the app’s start page, then expand the M-PESA Statement option at the bottom of the screen to show two buttons you’ll use to request a Mini Statement or Full M-Pesa Statement.

Below these two buttons is an option for changing the email address to which the M-Pesa statement will be sent.

Checking Your M-PESA Statements Online

You may choose to use Safaricom Self-care to download your Mpesa statement online.  Safaricom’s self-care service enables customers to easily manage their Safaricom account online through the Self-care portal.

Simply enter www.safaricom.co.ke in the address bar of your web browser and wait for the portal dashboard to fully load.

• Select self-care.
• Choose the type of registration you want to perform
• If it is for your own needs, choose an individual.
• Enter your phone number and username. Be aware that the Safaricom portal login requires the same username and password you entered at registration, so don’t forget it.
• Then agree to the terms and conditions after which you’ll receive the account activation number through your phone.
• Enter the activation number to finish the procedure.

After entering all of the required information, you should get a verification SMS on your mobile phone.

Note:

Once you access the portal, you can try selecting a specified time frame since you have access to a calendar to select particular dates. The time frame, on the other hand, is only valid for 12 months using the From Last Year option. If you require M-PESA statements for more than 12 months, Safaricom recommends using the USSD option to obtain records for a maximum of 24 months.

The post How to Get Your Mpesa Statement appeared first on PesaKit.

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!

The post PesaKit Recognized in CIO100 Awards 2021 appeared first on PesaKit.

The post 7 Reasons Why You Should Check Your CRB Listing Often!  appeared first on PesaKit.

In the face of a crisis, resilient organizations remain stoic and steadfast instead of being overpowered by it. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on people, businesses and economies around the world. Many companies have realized that having a resilience plan in place helps them to better mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are widely recognized for their important contributions to development by stimulating economic growth, creating decent jobs, eradicating poverty and improving livelihoods, especially in developing countries.

Although it is estimated that formal SMEs contribute up to 40 per cent of the national income (GDP) in emerging economies, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that globally, 74 per cent of MSMEs are informal. In Kenya, there are currently 8 million MSMEs, employing at least 15 million Kenyans. Additionally, 80% of all businesses in Kenya are MSMEs, highlighting the crucial role MSMEs play in Kenya’s economy.

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on MSMEs globally as they are vulnerable to economic shocks linked to reduced access to credit, reduced customer demand among other challenges they currently face. There also exist other factors that exacerbate their vulnerability in the midst of a raging pandemic

Both recovery and business continuity are important elements to ensure that the impact from the crisis on MSMEs is minimized and that resilience is enhanced. It is critical now more than ever to support MSMEs as they often lack the support they need to resist prolonged disruptions.

 

MSMEs happen to be more vulnerable to disruptions than larger firms, as they may have limited access to effective risk management frameworks. Furthermore, MSMEs in emerging markets or developing nations deal with more constraints in the event of a major disruption such as

• an abrupt drop in demand
• working capital issues
• logistics disruptions
• medium-long term disruption of business models in certain sectors, and
• a significant loss of livelihoods and income

MSMEs have been facing unprecedented income losses and uncertainties about their future because of business disruptions due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The Central Bank of Kenya warned a major collapse of these businesses as they do not have the liquidity needed to continue operations and do not have financial reserves to meet expenses during emergencies. According to a BFA Global study, Only 39% of Kenyans have set aside funds to manage emergencies that arise from loss of income.

MSMEs often don’t have a business continuity framework in place like bigger companies. However, understanding the disaster risk and taking precautionary measures could help to mitigate many of the risks and help the MSMEs to bounce back after a disaster strikes.

 

At PesaKit, we continue to support mobile money agents in various ways to assist these MSMEs adapt their operations to the new environment. These methods not only strengthen their odds of surviving the crisis, but will ensure they emerge more resilient in a sustainable and inclusive manner.

We enable mobile money agents to maintain regular and consistent cash flow by diversifying the financial products and digital commerce services at agents’ locations. Additionally, mobile money agents can use the PesaKit platform to access a “Float Exchange”. This allows agents to purchase float remotely from their shops, reducing their need to frequent banks, and build their capacity to meet their customers deposit/cash-in needs. By providing agents with access to credit, we facilitate business growth, increased income, decent job creation and catalyze entrepreneurship.

 

We also launched a safety and misinformation campaign on the best practices to prevent the spread of COVID19 at agent shops using communication materials such as posters, pamphlets, SMS and videos. Through these materials we aim to educate mobile money agents and their customers on best practices to prevent spread of COVID-19 at agent shops ensuring safe and secure DFS locations.

And finally, we introduced a COVID-19 insurance scheme that mitigates the adverse outcomes associated with COVID-19 related health shocks supporting them to rebuild when disaster hits. The scheme offers agents a 12-month hospitalization cash insurance cover that provides them with an income safety net in the event they test positive, are quarantined or admitted to a hospital due to COVID-19.

The MSME pillar in Kenya is recognized as a key driver of growth and the lack of resilience in these businesses is a cause of great concern. Therefore, it is imperative that MSMEs be equipped with the tools and know-how on how to survive a sudden and abnormal disruption of this magnitude and its business models should be retailored to enable adaptation, mitigation and continuity.

PesaKit serves a network of mobile money agents across Kenya (and soon Tanzania), the majority of whom run microbusinesses of their own in addition to their mobile money businesses. We understand the importance of building their financial resilience and their financial health, especially because of the interconnectedness between their household finances and the businesses themselves. Our goal everyday is to empower mobile money agents to be at their most effective. Because, when mobile money agents thrive, we all thrive.

The post Why MSMEs need to be resilient in this new normal appeared first on PesaKit.

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.

The post How PesaKit is impacting small businesses in Kenya appeared first on PesaKit.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a significant role in Kenya’s economy and in many other emerging markets. MSMEs represent a core pillar of the global economy and play a key role in driving sectoral competitiveness, business innovation and wealth creation. They are one of the strongest drivers of economic development and employment, particularly in developing countries.

Access to finance has been identified as a key barrier to growth for MSMEs in emerging economies. Worldwide, MSMEs represent a core pillar of the economy and play a key role in driving sectoral competitiveness, business innovation and wealth creation. In Africa and other emerging economies they play a crucial role in creating decent jobs and improving livelihoods.

According to the World Bank, the finance gap for formal MSMEs in these developing countries is estimated at USD 5.2 trillion. Additionally, it has been estimated that 41% of formal MSMEs in developing countries or 131 million MSMEs are credit constrained. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the potential finance gap for MSMEs is estimated at USD 331 billion while in Kenya, it is estimated at USD 19 billion.

In Kenya, MSMEs already constitute a very important segment of the economy and employ about 14.9 million Kenyans. However, the sector hasn’t fully achieved its full potential because of a series of challenges, among which is limited access to financial services.

Today, most MSMEs claim that access to finance remains crucial to their continued growth, but a large part of them still face difficulty in accessing the amounts they need, mostly because of collateral requirements.

There are approximately 235,168 mobile money agents, a majority of whom operate as micro and small businesses, providing essential and critical financial services to underserved and unbanked populations.

The PesaKit e-float loans lending service enables small businesses across Kenya to serve more customers, increase their revenue and keep their businesses running. At PesaKit, we strive to ease an agent’s daily liquidity and operations pressures by providing working capital in the form of e-float loans so that they do not struggle with unpredictable fluctuations due to in-client demand or incur travel expenses on rebalancing activities.

 

Our app uses insights into their cash flow, to make predictions about how much business a particular agent might conduct in one day. These predictions can then be used to help agents manage their businesses, and for credit scoring for the provision of e-float. If the prediction indicates the agent’s income might be low that day, for instance, they will not extend the agent a loan. This helps prevent agents from entering a debt spiral, and through insights and financial planning tools, furthers their understanding of how to balance their own cash and float.

PesaKit aims is to build a network of resilient small businesses across the continent, united via a single platform which will serve as a local distribution channel for digital financial services, reaching underserved populations on the ground. This not only improves their access to financial services, but increases their exposure to fintech innovations that can greatly improve their financial health, via trusted sources in the form of their local agent businesses.

Beyond business management tools, the PesaKit app transforms agents into digital merchants, offering additional revenue sources through the sale of digital services (such as airtime and electricity tokens) and micro-insurance.

As part of our disruption in last mile distribution of financial services, PesaKit is improving agent viability in rural areas through greater service aggregation. In rural areas, sparse populations lead to lower transaction volumes thus unattractive financial incentives for businesses to serve as agents. By diversifying the range of services offered by mobile money agents, PesaKit is improving the agents’ ability to generate more CICO transactions per customer thus enhancing sustainability of agents in underserved areas.

Our supply-side intelligent platform creates new markets for financial and ecommerce service providers. It enables them to expand their reach, consumer base and expand last mile distribution through our API.

The post The significant role of MSMEs in the Kenyan economy appeared first on PesaKit.

Mobile money agents and shop owners often end up turning away customers because they lack airtime of a particular service provider. This is detrimental to the customers as they will lose trust in a particular M-Pesa agent or shop, and also a disadvantage to the mobile money agent since they will end up turning away customers and therefore earn less revenues and profits.

With the PesaKit platform you won’t have to turn away customers because you lack airtime from a particular mobile service provider. Using the PesaKit app, you can sell Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom or Faiba airtime and earn BIG COMMISSIONS.

All you need to do is deposit for free using our paybill number: 802499 and use your phone number as the Account Number and start selling airtime using PesaKit.

Easy steps to start selling airtime on the PesaKit app

Step One: Download the PesaKit app from the play store and register

Step Two: Open the PesaKit App and login

Step Three: Deposit for free using our paybill number: 802499 and use your phone number as the Account Number.

 

Step Four: Select ‘Sell Airtime’

Step Five: Select your customer’s airtime choice: Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom or Faiba airtime

Step Six: Enter your customer’s phone number

Step Seven: Enter the amount your customer wishes to purchase

Step Eight: Enter your PesaKit account secret PIN

Step Nine: Finally, Press Sell now.

Step 10: Airtime SOLD. Your customer has received the airtime and you’ve earned a BIG commission!

 

 

 

Stop turning away customers because you lack airtime from a particular service provider. Increase you income by downloading the PesaKit app from the play store, register and start selling airtime to earn BIG COMMISSIONS!

The post How to sell airtime on PesaKit App and earn money appeared first on PesaKit.