Safaricom has unveiled a Lipa na Mpesa promotion targeting to reward both its customers and merchants in an eight-week long marketing. The promotion will see both consumers utilizing the facility to make payments as well as merchants earn 1 point for every KES 100 payment made through the facility. This basically means if you spent KES 1,000 through the Lipa na Mpesa facility, you’ll get 10 points as well as the merchant (seller).

The promotion which is slated to last for the next eight weeks will see both buyers and sellers stand a chance to win houses, cashback, tractors tracks as well as Tuktuks. Winners will be selected from weekly draws up until march 5^th 2020.

Lipa na Mpesa promotion will be distributed across 8 regions in the country where in the grant finale, customers from the eight regions will stand a chance to win one of the 8 tractors equipped with a plough and trailer.

Safaricom will also reward 8 customers across the eight regions every minute with a surprise cashback, with more than 600,000 shoppers getting awarded by the end of the promotion. Merchants utilizing the Lipa na Mpesa facility to accept payments during the promotion will receive 25 percent of their daily till charges as a cashback in addition to standing a chance to win one of 8 Fuso F1 nine tonne trucks per region or one of 120 Tuktuks also to be awarded regionally.

Speaking on the launch, Safaricom’s Chief Customer Officer Sylvia Mulinge said that M-PESA had emerged as a preferred way to make and receive cashless payments due to its convenience and the peace of mind it delivers to shoppers and businesses. She also added that with the promotion, the telco was encouraging merchants and customers to use Lipa Na M-PESA to receive and make payments at kiosks, supermarkets, fuel stations, bars, restaurants, car washes and various merchant tills giving them a chance to win big.

Kenya’s largest telecom company by number of subscriber’s intents to deepen the uptake of cashless payments in the country through the promo. The company launched Lipa Na M-PESA in June 2013, and for the first time, the service provided many businesses with an easy and convenient way to receive cashless payments. Today, more than 140,000 businesses accept payments through Lipa Na M-PESA.

According to data from the Central Bank of Kenya, the mobile phone is now the most popular way to make and receive non-cash payments, accounting for more than nine of every ten such transactions. Current statistics indicate that cash remains the most popular means of transacting in Kenya accounting for more than nine of every ten transactions. The Lipa Na M-PESA promotion is Safaricom’s latest initiative in the war against cash as it deepens the war against cash, which has seen the company launch different partnerships in the recent past.

Safaricom and the Kenya Breweries Limited have teamed up to connect KBL coolers countrywide by leveraging on the internet of things (IoT). Kenya Breweries Limited coolers across the country will be fitted with sensors that internetwork with smart devices to collect and exchange data in a service that’s said to be free of charge. Kenya’s largest telco provider has been experimenting on various service offering and their latest move could be an indication of something bigger happening soon.

While commenting on the development, the Kenya Breweries Limited Managing Director Jane Karuku said the brewer had been exploring efficiencies in their route-to-consumer channels and had found technology to be a critical enabler over the years. She also acknowledged that as the country’s largest brewer moves towards improving its cutting-edge technology in manufacturing and logistics, the Kenya Breweries Limited will be redoubling its efforts in the marketplace as well, to ensure that consumers enjoy products the way they should. She also added that the project was going to enable the firm extend its capability to track and invest in coolers and that it hoped its existing products and innovations will reach consumers with minimal cost, delays and wastage.

On its part, Safaricom’s Chief Enterprise Business Officer Rita Okuthe, noted the company had developed an internet of things (IoT) solution that consists of devices installed in the coolers that will have sensors which will transmit various data to a platform which generates business insights that will assist KBL to optimize the coolers. For instance, EABL distributors can now tell where their assets are located, if the assets are in use or not (on/off), whether the assets are at the optimal temperature and how many times the door of the cooler is opened. Over 2,000 coolers are already connected”

Going forward, Safaricom also intends to be a digital partner of choice for businesses by providing solutions that improve the efficiency with which they do business, saving them money and therefore creating additional value for their end-users. Safaricom has also partnered with KBL in driving a cashless payment model among its distributors, who now transact on M-PESA when dealing with retailers. Safaricom is also planning to bring valuable solutions by leveraging on IoT to deliver smart water metering and animal tracking system. The new Internet of Things (IoT) network will tap into the Safaricom existing 4G network.

Using technology to curb fraud is a fast growing phenomenon in Kenya that’s almost being utilized by all sectors with fraud related risks to curb such risks. It’s a segment that just recently welcomed a new body – the association of Kenya Insurers who have been keen to eliminate fraud in the industry. With an expected overwhelming growth in Kenya’s insurance sector that continue to introduce new products that tie-up or exceed other segments in the financial services industry, the sector has equally experienced an increase in fraud related issues.

Globally, the insurance sector is amongst areas with impressive growth owing to increased uptake by the middle class. Its therefore no surprise that the sector has become equally vulnerable to fraudsters that have compelled the likes of the Association of Kenya Insurer’s (AKI) to explore technological remedies – hence the virtual motor insurance certificate.

Although insurance related risks are not directly compared to other forms of crime since technically no one is harmed, they’re real and needed an approach. Fraudulent claims range from making a false claim or the exaggeration of a genuine claim by a few thousand shillings and these is mostly perceived as the proverbial drop in the ocean of the insurance companies’ finances. But even so, the reality is very different. While most claims are genuine, an ever increasing number of people make fraudulent and exaggerated claims.

The association of Kenya insurer’s (AKI) unveiled a virtual motor insurance certificate to curb insurance-related fraud in the industry. The digitization of the insurance certificates intents to eliminate motor vehicle fraud related incidences that has been denying the industry millions of shillings through fake multiple claims. The development intents to eliminate motor insurance fraud by ensuring that only one motor insurance certificate is issued per vehicle. Cases of double insurance, fake certificates and stolen insurance certificates will be eliminated. Notwithstanding, the virtual certificates will consequently save the insurance industry millions of shillings. Insurance companies will no longer have to physically deliver the certificates to their customers as they will receive the virtual motor insurance certificate on a digital platform.