SAFARICOM AND KCB LAUNCH FULIZA YA BIASHARA OVERDRAFT

Safaricom and KCB Launch Fuliza ya Biashara Overdraft

By Douglas Muriithi

Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) and KCB Bank

Kenya (KCB) have launched Fuliza ya

Biashara, a service that enables

business owners on Lipa Na M-PESA to

complete payments even with

insufficient funds in their till.

Fuliza ya Biashara will apply when

making transactions from a Lipa Na M-

PESA Business Till to other Till

Numbers and PayBill Numbers, when

sending money to an individual, and

when withdrawing to the nominated

number or at an Agent. The service

will advance an overdraft of upto KSh.

400,000 with a 24 hour interest-free

period.

“We launched Lipa Na M-PESA as a way

for businesses to conveniently receive

cashless payments through their mobile

phones, whenever they are. With more

than 538,000 businesses accepting

payments through the service, our

strategy is to now go beyond

collecting payments by providing

business owners with tools to manage

and grow their businesses. Fuliza ya

Biashara caters especially to small

businesses by providing them with

instant, affordable credit of up to

KSh. 400,000, empowering them to

rapidly respond to their business

needs,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO –

Safaricom.

Fuliza ya Biashara is immediately

available through the M-PESA Business

App and on the Lipa Na M-PESA

Transacting Till on *234#. Business

owners can access a minimum overdraft

of KSh. 1,000 and can draw multiple

overdrafts of up to KSh. 400,000 based

on their assigned limit. The overdraft

is automatically repaid from incoming

till payments with amounts outstanding

beyond 24 hours charged at a 2% daily

access fee for up to 29 days. The

Fuliza ya Biashara limit is reset

every time a repayment is made,

enabling business owners to

immediately access new overdrafts

including the amount they just repaid.

“This proposition once again signifies

the immense opportunities available

within the digital ecosystem managed

by KCB and Safaricom. We believe that

the roll-out of this exciting feature

will give Kenyan entrepreneurs the

headroom to scale up their business

operations without getting into the

danger of not servicing some of their

critical needs like payments to

suppliers,” said Mrs. Annastacia

Kimtai, KCB Bank Kenya Managing

Director.

“As a partner, KCB will conveniently

provide the much-needed support to

guarantee scalability and access

across its various customer delivery

touchpoints,” she added.

Safaricom and KCB say that the launch

of Fuliza ya Biashara seeks to meet a

gap in access to affordable credit

especially among small and micro

businesses that have been previously

locked out due to their size and

perceived risk. The solution provides

each business with a tailored

overdraft limit based on transaction

history on Lipa Na M-PESA and

repayment history of previous

overdrafts.

Fuliza ya Biashara is M-PESA’s first

credit solution dedicated to

businesses and the latest in a string

of innovations targeting business

owners on the platform. In 2020,

Safaricom introduced the Lipa Na M-

PESA Business Till and M-PESA Business

App, enabling businesses to make

payments from Tills and providing

simplified cash flow management

through the app.

More than 390,000 businesses have

downloaded the M-PESA Business App

with over 50% of business transactions

on M-PESA being made through the app.