M-Pesa to generate customer receipts, bills for businesses

An attendant makes an M-Pesa transaction for a customer in Nyeri. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By PATRICK ALUSHULA
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Summary

• The M-Pesa platform will now auto-generate invoices, send payment reminders and issue e-receipts to customers on behalf of businesses for free in a new innovation that targets businesses with repeat transactions.
• Safaricom said Wednesday that the service will be offered to all businesses with Lipa Na M-Pesa pay bills such as schools, landlords and utility firms, helping both the customers and businesses to manage bills payment cycle.
• Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa said the innovation offers M-Pesa customers a single point for viewing all outstanding bills, receive reminders, make payments and leave evidence for payment.

The M-Pesa platform will now auto-generate invoices, send payment reminders and issue e-receipts to customers on behalf of businesses for free in a new innovation that targets businesses with repeat transactions.

Safaricom said Wednesday that the service will be offered to all businesses with Lipa Na M-Pesa pay bills such as schools, landlords and utility firms, helping both the customers and businesses to manage bills payment cycle.

Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa said the innovation offers M-Pesa customers a single point for viewing all outstanding bills, receive reminders, make payments and leave evidence for payment.

“The service will equally empower millions of M-Pesa pay bill customers with better record keeping by providing digital receipts for each payment,” said Mr Ndegwa.

“Our ambition is to empower both businesses and our customers easily manage and keep track of payments.”

Customers using the service will instantly receive an SMS reminder when a new bill is generated or when the bill is due.

Besides automatically receiving invoices and receipts, customers will also be able to query pending bills at any given time.

Schools will for instance be able to customise different type of fees such as tuition, lunch and transport and send reminders to parents when the payments fall due.

Utility providers such as water, electricity and internet providers will be able to automatically bill their customers, allowing the bill to reflect in customers’ platforms as a pending bills that needs payment.

SMS bill requests and invoices will then be auto-generated and sent by the system at no cost to the business.

Safaricom’s innovation comes at a time many people are turning to mobile money payment service at the expense of cash transactions especially to lower risks of Covid-19 infections.

Lipa na M-Pesa service for instance now commands about 85.8 percent of non-cash payment for ordinary goods and services.

Central Bank of Kenya data shows that value 10-month mobile transactions increased by 13.2 percent to Sh4.08 trillion last October.

Safaricom disclosed that the service that was launched in 2013 processed deals worth Sh404.8 billion in the six months to September when payments on point of sale (POS) machines using credit, debt, prepaid and charge cards stood at Sh66.8 billion.