This archive report was first published on 14 June 2020.
As the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, Kenya's mobile payment landscape is poised for a significant shift. According to Dennis Ondeng, chief technology officer at Kopokopo, the current pandemic might stir positive action in mobile payments, making it an opportune time to prioritise online payments.
Published on June 14, 2020, Ondeng noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the need to integrate online payment models into business. Over 13 years since M-Pesa was founded in Kenya, online payments have failed to gain the traction they were expected to. However, with the pandemic forcing people to adopt digital transactions, Ondeng believes that the time has finally come for the founders' dreams to be fully realised.
"We have seen Safaricom waiving fees on transactions of under Sh1,000, meaning that individuals and small businesses will manage to transact with ease. More people are now encouraged to take digital payments up," he said.
Kopakopo, which was launched in 2012, partnered with Safaricom to bring Lipa na M-Pesa Buy Goods service to small and medium businesses throughout Kenya. The company has 45,000 merchants in the country, with over 20,000 of them active.
Despite the slow uptake of online payments, Kenya remains a regional leader in mobile money transfer, with the acceptance of M-Pesa very high even as other countries grapple with sensitizing masses to accept online transactions. However, a major disruption is needed to rope in some of the sectors that refuse to adopt online payments, such as the matatu industry.
"A mind shift is very difficult. After M-Pesa started, very few companies believed in Nunua na M-Pesa. But we all use M-Pesa now," Ondeng said.
