Mr Viral
Safaricom, which recently unveiled its Daraja 3.0, a new iteration of its application programing interface (API) for its developers, has now made its platform fully self-service to allow developers log in and plug their applications without much back-and-forth.
The home of over 100,000 developers, is making onboarding on Daraja paperless ans without much back-and-forth documentation.
“Now, it’s a whole lot easier for you to test what you’re trying to do on the Daraja,” said Victor Odada, Head of M-PESA Payments at Safaricom at the 14th annual Connected Africa Summit in Diani, Kwale County. “This is to ensure that there’s less interaction. As a fintech or even as a developer, you’re fully suitted to be able to take advantage of this.”
Odada added that the techco has also set up a new Ratiba API to allow developers integrate repeat payments and standing orders.
“Currently, I know we’re piloting. We are going in the same direction as what we’ve done for digital onboarding. You literally self onboard, so there’s less back-and-forth, taking advantage of advancements within Optical character recognition (OCR) and digital sign offs.
Apart from being self-service, the new Daraja API is more secure, more flexible and simple for merchants to integrate payments. The once bulky documentations and tutorials have been simplified, and there is a dedicated support team for developers.
Safaricom’s M-PESA empowers over 34 million customers who transact, save or borrow money through their mobile phone, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to 83.7% in 2021 of the adult population from a low of 26.7% in 2006 and generated over KES 161 billion in revenue as at FY25.
Recently, Safaricom launched an improved credit solution dubbed Fuliza Biashara targeting micro-small and medium businesses. The initiative will allow businesses to have access to credit through an overdraft facility, Fuliza Biashara and a Term loan ‘Taasi Till’. Taasi Till is a business credit offers short-term credit ranging between Kshs 1,500 to Kshs 250,000 depending on eligibility.
Through Fuliza Biashara, Lipa na M-PESA Merchants can draw multiple overdrafts from a minimum of Kshs 1000 to Kshs 400,000 based on their assigned limit. As part of the revamp, merchants will now be able to repay their overdraft flexibly recovered when there’s inflow on the till to allow business continuity. The credit solutions are available via the M-PESA Business App or USSD *234#.
For businesses using Pochi la Biashara, ‘Taasi Pochi’ offers credit ranging from KES 1,000 to Kshs 250,000, available immediately on the Pochi wallet via the M-PESA App or USSD *334*8#.
To be eligible for credit for ‘Taasi’ and Fuliza Biashara, merchants must have had active tills or Pochi wallets for more than six months. Upon approval, funds are deposited directly into the user’s M-PESA wallet with flexible repayments periods of between 14 and 30 days.
“Businesses play a pivotal role in Kenya’s economy and make a significant impact in our communities. Leveraging the power of technology Taasi, will offer convenience and access to credit for MSMEs, allowing them to focus on scaling their businesses,” said Dr. Peter Ndegwa, Group CEO, Safaricom PLC.
Credit plays a vital role in the financial health of businesses enabling operations and funding key investments that spur growth. M-PESA continues to offer both businesses and individuals frictionless, safe and convenient financial services tools building a resilient and financially healthy Kenya.
Safaricom connects over 49 million customers connected and supports over 1.1 million jobs both directly and indirectly with a total economic value estimated at KES 562 billion ($ 4.3 billion) for the 12 months through March 2024. Making its API accessible to more developers will mean more products and services for Kenyans and Africans at large.
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