They can sign up for M-Shwari by going to the Safaricom menu on their phone, selecting “M-PESA”, going to “My Account”, going to “Update Menu”, then entering their M-PESA PIN before waiting to receive their updated M-Pesa menu.
Collymore revealed that the service will introduce a new feature to the Kenyan market that allows Safaricom’s 19 million customers to know how much they can borrow by dialling *234*6#.
M-Pesa customers can also apply to CBA for a mini-loan, again directly from their phone and based on the individual customer’s M-PESA transactions and savings history, CBA determines the customer’s eligibility.
Collymore said that the loan money is sent by CBA to the customer’s M-PESA account immediately, again emphasising the convenience and simplicity of M-Shwari.
Director of Global Mobile Money for Vodaphone and former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said, “M-Shwari is a transformational service because saving is no longer the privilege of the elite. All Kenyans can now save, even the smallest amounts, at their own pace.”
“M-Shwari creates a safe environment for customers to borrow small amounts and links the amounts of credit available to the ability to save. Through their M-Shwari savings account, M-PESA customers are empowered to manage their financial lives,” he added.
There are two million M-PESA transactions performed daily valued at Sh2 billion and the total amount of M-PESA users now stands at 15.2 million, compared to the 52,452 Kenyans who used the service when it launched in April 2007.
Revenue from M-PESA jumped 32 percent to Sh10.4 billion shillings in the six months through September and the service contributes about 18 percent of Safaricom’s total revenue.
Collymore explained that Safaricom’s partnership with CBA is a testament of the growing and mutually beneficial convergence between the telecommunications industry and the banking sector.
“Safaricom has extensive and dynamic relationship with 25 commercial banks that enables the company to offer mobile banking solutions using its M-PESA payment ecosystem,” he said.
“We value the relationships and partnerships that we have with these banks and other financial institutions and we believe that these partnerships will help us all drive the financial inclusion agenda in Kenya,” he added.
