Safaricom is an integrated communications company, providing voice and data communications services to consumers, businesses and public sector clients.
Innovation is central to Safaricom's growth. It allows us to transform lives by developing tailored and transformational products and services. Our innovations are 'social' in nature (designed to improve the lives of Kenyans directly), and promote financial inclusion (provide formal financial services to those without bank accounts). This innovation platform has provided young people with access to financial services via M-PESA.
M-PESA is a Safaricom service which allows you to transfer money using a mobile phone. Kenya is the first country in the world to use this service, which is offered in partnership with Safaricom and Vodafone. M-PESA is available to all Safaricom subscribers, even if you don't have a bank account. The M-PESA application is installed on your SIM card and works on all makes of handset. This new service gives young people, such as college students, access to money transfer services, making it easy to pay rent or school fees.
A mobile banking platform for youth
M-Shwari is an innovative new product that seeks to bridge the financial inclusion gap; it is a ground breaking venture between Safaricom and Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA). M-Shwari is a banking service that has now made it possible for millions of Kenyans to save, earn interest and borrow money using their mobile phones. This service is primarily aimed at the bottom of the pyramid; people who never bank, people who don't have a bank account, and people who struggle to get access to traditional banking.
M-Shwari was born out of our realisation that many Kenyans borrow money at a high cost. Many have no bank accounts and usually access credit through friends, families, local shop and other informal mechanisms such as investment groups.
The M-Shwari service gives M-PESA customers including youth an opportunity to save and earn interest on those savings, as well as accessing micro credit for a small amount of money. The loan can be accessed anytime and the customer receives the loan instantly on their M-PESA account. Money movement in and out of the M-Shwari savings account to the M-PESA account comes at no cost.
M-shwari lock savings account
This is a savings account that allows M-Shwari customers to save for a defined purpose and for a specified amount of time. The funds saved in the M-Shwari Lock Savings account will be kept until the predefined maturity date. Currently this product is targeted at young people so a culture of saving for defined purposes in ingrained.
Financially inclusive societies create and unleash the potential for all to contribute to prosperity and stability in development. That is what we at Safaricom want to achieve with our MPESA and M-Shwari products. We know the possibilities for the creation of wealth and reduction of poverty. We know the difference it can make if the millions of men and women who are excluded from financial services gain access to them.
That is why we at Safaricom are proud of MPESA and M-Shwari. It will ensure that financial services are not exclusive to a few, but are accessible for all, including children and the youth.
This content was contributed by Safaricom
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