Safaricom Formally Unveils Newly Redesigned M-Pesa Super App

The telco says the redesign follows the current digital shift and is a reflection of how Kenyans live their lives today and in the future.

“We have always been willing to adapt M-PESA to meet different needs of our customers. In response, at M-PESA, we have continued to introduce new services to the betterment of our customers and businesses.” Managing Director of M-Pesa Africa, Sitoyo Lopokoiyit said while speaking at the virtual launch.

Read: Safaricom Working On M-Pesa App to Help You Manage Finances

At a glance, the M-Pesa app shows your M-Pesa and Fuliza Balance. The page presents an organized financial ledger. You have the options to send, pay through Paybill and Till, withdraw and buy airtime by tapping on the preferred option. The page also has a prominent display of the total you have spent this month including your daily average. This is normally only available upon requesting and receiving your M-Pesa statement.

Swiping on the display, you will also get the totalized general spending, withdrawal amounts, spend on family and friends, and bills and services payments. It also shows you the percentage of the total amount spent allocated to the various categories.

The page also provides a list of your M-Pesa transactions with the most recent at the top of the page. This includes every M-Pesa transaction including the purchase of airtime, sending and receiving money, and paying bills.

At the bottom, you get more categories with a ‘Transact’ option which opens a page that displays transaction options. Here, you can manage your bills by date as the app shows which ones are due. The Paybill numbers for utility companies appear on a list to make them easily accessible.

Read: How To Apply For A Short Term MPesa Paybill Number From Safaricom

Safaricom airtime, SMS, bundles, and Bonga Points also get a dedicated page that displays your balances with the option to buy. The next page displays your spending habits for the month, classified into various categories tabulated in a graph.

Since its inception, M-Pesa has grown to be the largest fintech and digital ecosystem in Africa. In Kenya, over 30 million customers perform more than 30 million transactions daily, which is over KSH1 Trillion in terms of value that goes to the ecosystem

Safaricom said the M-Pesa super app is a digital solution especially with the high uptake of smartphones both in the urban and rural setting.

“More customers are taking up smartphones with more than 8.5 million 4G customers on our network. Safaricom is responding by going digital-first, creating digital solutions for a digital world.” Safaricom CEO, Peter Ndegwa, who was also at the launch said.

“This explosion in smartphones has led to a shift in the services and products that our customers need. In turn, it has become necessary for us to shift our products to the smartphone age.” 

Read also: Safaricom Unveils M-Pesa For Business App

For the last 14 years, M-PESA was largely built around the basic mobile phone. Currently, you can access the service through the USSD service, Sim Tool Kit, and now the App.

Initially, subscribers used the Safaricom App which empowered customers to navigate offerings across the telco’s different products as a whole. Over time, with the high usage of M-Pesa, the company decided to develop an independent app.

The M-Pesa Super App is available for download on Google’s Playstore and Apple’s App store. The Beta version has been available for the last few months, but now all subscribers can download it. Safaricom is giving away free 500MB of mobile data for every download.

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