Safaricom launches an Mpesa Visa card

 By Dan Muhuni

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore(left) and I & M Bank Limited CEO Arun S. Mathur exchanges the new visa Pre-Paid card launched today that will enable Mpesa subscribers  to transfer their Mpesa to the M-Pesa Prepay Safari Card, which is an international Visa card co-branded with I & M Bank.

Integrated communications firm Safaricom has launched a new service that allows M-PESA customers to transfer money from their accounts to a Visa Pre-Paid card.

This follows a partnership between Safaricom and I&M Bank signed at Safaricom headquarters today. Under the agreement, M-PESA users will now be able to transfer their M-PESA to the M-PESA PrePay Safari Card, which is a international Visa card co-branded with I&M Bank.

The M-PESA PrePay Safari Card comes as a major boost in the push to broaden M-PESA services from a money transfer to a total mobile commerce solution.

A first of a kind technology, it allows users to load the M-PESA PrePay Safari Card via their mobile phones, which in turn allows M-PESA subscribers to shop online, pay for hotel accommodation both locally and internationally, and purchase goods and services at over tens of millions of merchant outlets worldwide.

The card can be loaded through M-PESA in Kenya for a subscriber who has travelled internationally thus deepening M-PESA’s key propositions of convenience and accessibility. M-PESA customers will also be able to use the card to withdraw cash from over 1.7 million Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) both locally and internationally.

Speaking during the launch, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said M-PESA had become a prefered payment mode acceptable to many Kenyans and several businesses due to its inherent simplicity, safety and convenience.

“The fact that individuals or businesses do not need to incur heavy capital expenditure setting up infrastructure to tap into the business opportunity introduced by M-PESA has been a major accelerator for growth. This development is key for us as it marks a linkage between M-PESA and the world’s biggest payment card network, further underlining the service’s growth from mobile money transfer to a veritable m-commerce solution.”

To leverage on this, Mr. Collymore said Safaricom would continue exploring innovative means to expand M-PESA’s reach and menu of services.

I&M Bank CEO Arun Mathur, speaking at the signing ceremony said even unbanked Kenyans could benefit from the service since holding an account is not a requirement.

“Customers need not have an account with any bank to benefit from the service. We took into consideration the huge unbanked population in Kenya today,” said Mr. Mathur.

Users of this service will also enjoy the convenience of online shopping as they can easily pay using the Pre-Paid Visa cards. This also applies to accessing their accounts via the internet.

Stressing the growing need for innovation in the payments system to accommodate the fast changing payment landscape Mr. Charles Niehaus, General Manager, Visa Sub-Saharan Africa noted: “Visa’s global scale, products and processing platform offer a unique launch pad for the acceleration and growth of mobile payments and Visa continues to invest heavily in innovations to extend the convenience and security of digital currency to unbanked populations in emerging markets.”

Since launch in March 2007, M-PESA has evolved beyond money transfer into a total mobile commerce solution. Towards this end, Safaricom has partnered with various service providers cutting across various sectors of the economy. Over 400 organizations are now accepting bill payments via M-PESA through the PayBill functionality.