Safaricom yesterday announced a Lipa Na M-PESA Business smartphone app for the more than 170,000 merchants on the service.
Named “M-PESA for Business“, it will empower business owners to access real-time statements, export statements, and track their business performance on the go.
Through the app, business owners can further withdraw funds from Lipa Na M-PESA to their M-PESA accounts, bank accounts or at an agent.
Business owners with a business till can now also send money to other M-PESA customers such as to pay wages, pay for supplies, and make payments to other businesses all through the app.
“At Safaricom, we are taking a focus on the needs of small and medium businesses to provide them with suitable technology solutions to help them grow and the app is one such solutions,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
In addition to making transactions from their Lipa Na M-PESA tills, the app will offer additional management features such as an overview of different tills for business owners with multiple outlets and till usage management.
The app is also packed with rich, detailed reports including money-in and money-out charts, store overview and frequently used Lipa Na M-PESA Tills and PayBills.
The app will be available from the Android google playstore and on the IOS App store in coming days.
It will complement the *234# menu which has been providing Lipa Na M-PESA merchants with the ability to manage their till and to make transactions.
Safaricom has also rolled out a portal where any business across the country can now apply online for a Lipa Na M-PESA Till at m-pesaforbusiness.co.ke.
The “M-PESA for Business” app will be immediately available to all businesses once their application is processed and a Till Number allocated.