Safaricom PLC has redefined its merchant-credit services by introducing Taasi Till/Pochi term loans, ranging from KES 1,500 to 250,000, and enhancing Fuliza Biashara overdraft facilities, which now extend from KES 1,000 to 400,000. These initiatives target over 600,000 Lipa-na-M-PESA merchants across the country.
Announced yesterday in Nairobi, the offerings grant merchants with M-PESA tills or Pochi wallets that have been active for six months immediate access to financing via the M-PESA Business App or USSD. Repayments, structured flexibly over 14 to 30 days, are seamlessly deducted from incoming transactions.
This strategic move addresses the acute working-capital constraints plaguing Kenya’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which contribute nearly a third of the nation’s GDP yet are largely excluded from formal financial credit.
By embedding credit solutions directly into transactional ecosystems, Safaricom harnesses its extensive behavioral data to assess risk without requiring collateral, thereby mitigating cash flow uncertainties for informal traders, kiosks, and other small-scale operators.
Beyond alleviating short-term liquidity challenges, this revamp consolidates Safaricom’s dominance over the MSME financial ecosystem. Each loan disbursal strengthens merchant reliance on M-PESA’s infrastructure, enhances credit-scoring models, and creates avenues for partnerships in sectors such as insurance, inventory financing, and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).
In a competitive landscape where rivals are accelerating the integration of financial services into payment systems, Safaricom’s data-driven strategy sets a high benchmark, reshaping access to capital for Kenya’s five-million-strong informal business sector.
