The number of Safaricom’s Pochi La Biashara tills grew 72.6 percent to 1.5 million in the six months to September this year, outpacing the growth of ‘Buy Goods’ tills as they sought a cashbox that does not charge the traders.
Safaricom’s latest disclosures show ‘Buy Goods’ tills registered a slower 32.2 per cent growth to 870,740 during the review period.
This reflects a shift by merchants to Pochi La Biashara, which allows them to receive payments without incurring fees unlike Buy Goods’ tills.
Consumers incur charges for using Pochi La Biashara and do not pay fees for products purchased via Buy Goods’ tills
This pricing structure has seen traders embrace Pochi to lower their costs of receiving cash for their products and services.
Safaricom launched Pochi La Biashara in 2020 to help small traders who did not have formal Lipa na M-Pesa merchant accounts receive payments in a separate business wallet without mixing personal cash and business turnover.
The product, launched at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic as Kenyans were being discouraged from handling cash, also enables business operators to avoid instances of cash reversals, a practice that had become rampant as more Kenyans paid for goods and services to mobile lines of traders.
“A big worry for small business owners using personal M-Pesa accounts to receive payments is how often people take advantage of that by reversing the funds sent to purchase a service or product,” Safaricom said at the time.
“With Pochi La Biashara, one cannot reverse any funds without consent from the other party involved, shielding business owners from fraudulent customers.”
Small businesses also prefer Pochi La Biashara because the funds sent to the business account would not be deducted by Fuliza, a mobile overdraft facility.
Additionally, the business owners can access statements for the account and can opt in or out of the service at will.
Transactions on the Safaricom payment platforms, coupled up with cash transfer services, pushed up M-Pesa revenue by 14 percent year-on-year, rising to Sh88.1 billion up from Sh77.2 billion previously.
