The more than 170,000 merchants enrolled on Safaricom’s Lipa na M-Pesa Business platform can now withdraw money from Lipa na M-Pesa to their M-Pesa accounts, bank accounts or agents using a new medium: an app.
The M-Pesa for Business app, that Safaricom has announced today is already available on the Google Play Store (see link below).
Through it, Lipa na M-Pesa Business users can not only make a withdrawal of their funds but they can also access statements in realtime, export them and track their business performance from their phones.
“Business owners with a business till can now also send money to other M-PESA customers such as to pay wages, pay for supplies, and make payments to other businesses all through the app,” a statement from Safaricom says.
“The app is also packed with rich, detailed reports including money-in and money-out charts, store overview and frequently used Lipa Na M-PESA Tills and PayBills.”
The app complements M-Pesa’s *234# shortcode menu that Lipa na M-Pesa Business users have been relying on to manage their till numbers and make transactions. It takes advantage of smartphone capabilities to provide users with the above-stated features and more.
For instance, those who run multiple Lipa na M-Pesa till numbers can get an overview of the performance of each one of them at a glance.
To go with the new M-Pesa for Business app, Safaricom has also announced a new portal through which any business in Kenya can apply for a Lipa na M-Pesa till. “The M-Pes for Business app will be immediately available to these businesses once their application is processed and a till number allocated,” the company adds.
