Design is in

M-Pesa affiliate

A banking transaction usually involves filling out forms, waiting in queue, and going from one counter to another. That’s if you are lucky and live in a city. If you are in village, you may live hours, or days away from your nearest bank. M-Pesa is a mobile phone based service that is changing all that by allowing users to perform basic banking transactions without visiting the bank branch.

The facility is offered by Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom, an affiliate of Vodafone. The system works through a network of agents, who operate bank accounts through their handsets. For example, to deposit money in your account, you go to an agent who will use his agent handset to deposit e-money in your account in exchange for cash that you give him. You can send or transfer money to any other mobile phone user, even if they are not a Safaricom subscriber. You can withdraw money with the agent, irrespective of whether you are an M-Pesa registered customer or not. You can withdraw money from any M-PESA agent outlet or participating ATM network. You can also buy Safaricom airtime, and pay bills. Other basic facilities such as checking your balance, changing your PIN or secret word, or selecting a different language are also possible. All these operations are explained here, and its easy to see how simple these operations are to perform, even in remote areas.

‘Pesa’ is Swahili for cash, and M stands for mobile, which explains this service pretty well. It is doing away with the need for a customer to have a bank account, and cross great distances to perform basic transactions. Instead, it is using the medium of the mobile phone, the use of which is widespread and growing rapidly in many developing nations, to move money quickly and securely. The big hurdle of living miles from the bank branch is removed, as agents can operate in every village if needed.

M-Pesa has won global awards for its service. Over 5 million customers now subscribe to M-PESA in Kenya. It has been launched in Tanzania and Afghanistan, with plans to expand into India, Egypt and South Africa. The M-Pesa money transfer system marries technology, network, and culture to provide an essential service to millions of people.

By Armeen Kapadia and Sanjay Basavaraju