Mullei said the company will ensure security to avoid fraudsters who would want to use the platform and get money from Kenyans illegally.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 30 –Kenya’s mobile phone industry is proving to be fertile ground for social entrepreneurs who are launching groundbreaking applications that are useful to the masses.
One such innovator, Kyai Mullei has launched M-Changa, a mobile platform for easy mobilisation and management of fundraising with greater transparency.
Mullei said the platform will make it easy for one seeking to raise funds to send a uniform message to their intended well-wishers who will, after receiving the messages, be able to continuously receive alerts of the progress of the whole fundraising to the end.
“This means that people don’t have to make committees for any harambee. It is easy to follow and know who has contributed and even all the withdrawals by the fundraiser,” explained. “(Currently) one can send messages to friends and ask for contributions but the contributors cannot tell when the money is withdrawn and even how it is used,”Kulei said.
He said contributions under the platform will only be made through MPESA and the Airtel Money.
“To register with the platform, the fundraiser will be required to send an SMS to 2231 starting with #MC and the name of the occasion. Follow instructions to enter your name and description of your fundraiser, then you will receive a fundraiser invite message to forward to all the people you want involved,” he explained.
Some of the features in the platform that can be used by the parties involved include, STATUS which is used by the fundraiser to request an overview of the fundraising performance, CASH, which is used to withdraw cash which has been contributed, ALL which is used to send the invite for contributions, TR to invite two or three treasurers who are expected to approve any withdrawal and PAY to request the fundraiser account number for payments.
There is also WEB feature, used to request web link to track fundraiser performance.
Mullei said the company will ensure security to avoid fraudsters who would want to use the platform and get money from Kenyans illegally.
“We know fraud may be the biggest fear for many who would want to contribute but we have the mandate given to us by the relevant government authorities to keep monitoring all the transactions under this new platform to ensure that all those who want to hold fundraising are honest and that they are genuine,”Mullei assured.
