KERUGOYA, Kenya, Jun 17 – The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has partnered with Safaricom to roll out a cashless payment solution at all its 66 factories across the country.
The factories, which transact approximately Sh1 billion annually through the Factory Door Sales channel, will now receive payments using the Safaricom mobile money solution M-PESA, also addressing long-standing concerns regarding security of cash at the factories.
“The adoption of M-PESA as the sole payment option at our factories lowers the overall inherent cash handling risks and will increase accountability. This move will translate into better revenue management, which will in turn lead to increased returns for our factories,” KTDA CEO Lerionka Tiampati said.
All payments for tea at the factory doors will be made through a till number assigned to each payment point.
Rather than pay for their purchases using cash at the factory door, tea buyers will make their purchases using the cashless system.
“The adoption of this system not only represents a technological convergence that provides much required solutions, but also underpins KTDA’s quest to be innovative in order to add value to our shareholders and help boost the county and national economies,” he added.
KTDA has in the recent past adopted various innovative technologies such as fibre Internet and Electronic Weighing Solutions that are geared at enhancing the performance of the Agency.
Technology at the Agency has been adopted in all departments including procurement and human resources and the attendant efficiency will result in benefits to farmers.
“We believe this initiative will transform the entire payments cycle for farmers and KTDA factories. As we continue to deepen M-PESA’s utility beyond person-to-person payments, this partnership demonstrates the ability of the service to provide an efficient payments channel for industries,” Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said.
Fifty four KTDA factories have already started collecting revenues through M-PESA, with positive impact on their operations with the remaining 12 factories to go live in the coming months.
They spoke during the official launch of the system at Kangaita Tea Factory in Kerugoya, reputed to be the home of specialty teas owing to its production of the purple and white tea varieties.
