Communication solutions company Safaricom has announced a partnership with Uber that is set to enable Kenya-based riders to pay for trips through the mobile money service M-PESA. Based on the information detailed in the announcement, the news follows a separate collaboration with Uber Eats which allowed consumers to pay for deliveries leveraging M-PESA, and delivery people to also have their earnings received through the same service.

M-PESA payments and disbursements and Uber – Safaricom partnership details With the launch of this new partnership, it is believed that the collaboration is set to benefit drivers that are unbanked, as Uber data showcases that approximately 20% of drivers on the platform do not have bank accounts and therefore lack the opportunity to leverage digital trips fully. With the integration of M-PESA for trip payments, the company is aiming to bring forth the ease and convenience associated with mobile money to riders on its platform, as stated by Imran Manji, Head of East Africa, Uber. The ride-sharing company is looking forward to partnering with Safaricom and taking what is considered a significant step towards enhancing financial inclusion in the country.

Adding on this, Kui Mbugua, General Manager UberEats, Kenya advised that the company entered the partnership with Safaricom with the goal to elevate the experience for delivery people and eaters on their platform alike through ease of access to earnings and, respectively, by providing a convenient mode of payment for deliveries. The press release further highlights that, according to Safaricom’s results for the past financial year, the company processed 6.4 billion payments through M-PESA. What is more, data from the Central Bank of Kenya showcases the number of total card payments in the country to have been at 70 million for the same timeframe, making M-PESA the most preferred method for cashless payments.

Furthermore, Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom believes the partnership with Uber to enable the company to provide a multitude of drivers and delivery people, alongside millions of customers, with a fully digital solution with increasingly fast, secure, affordable, and convenient payments through M-PESA. The spokesperson further said that they are maintaining a strong commitment to cooperating with partners of the likes of Uber, as they enable Safaricom to deliver added value and opportunities to its customers, in line with the company’s purpose of transforming lives. Recent developments surrounding Safaricom and M-PESA Come the end of July 2023, Safaricom announced two separate collaborations centring M-PESA payments.

It partnered with US-based lending provider EDOMx to extend Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) to Lipa Na M-PESA businesses and enable them to accept zero deposit, zero interest 30-day credit for customers purchasing via the cashless payment service. Additionally, it cooperated with global payments infrastructure company TerraPay to help facilitate outbound cross-border remittances with the help of Mobex, TerraPay’s group company acting as a licenced money remittance provider. As detailed at the time of the announcement, Mobex was set to enable over 30 million M-PESA mobile wallet users in Kenya to carry out real-time transactions via TerraPay’s network across wallets in Bangladesh and Pakistan, with further expansion plans set out for India and Nepal later in 2023.

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