[kictanet] Safaricom

Tue Mar 12 19:02:43 EAT 2013

Edith,

Some years ago, I made my daily bread designing mobile banking products for
Cellulant, one of which was the 'Transfer to MPESA' service from your bank
account and reverse, and I had a look at this particular option. It would
be possible, technologically, but the business case and amount
of reconciliation that would be required makes it unlikely that Safaricom
will do it.

   1. Airtime is booked by Safaricom as  sales and contributes to revenues,
   while MPESA float is money that Safaricom holds on your behalf and only
   charges you a small portion when you transact. Transferring to MPESA would
   technically be a refund to you of money that Safaricom may have already
   paid out a commission to distributors of,  say,  10%. They would need to
   charge you, say 25%, to recoup their commission and make 15% on the money
   that you are transferring.
   2. While they register the sale when you actually use the airtime *(or
   should anyway -this is Safaricom)* the ways in which you can use airtime
   is limited - call, text, data, or transfer - all from which Safaricom makes
   substantial margins. Your airtime in its entirety is for Safaricom to '
   take ' in the delivery of their service. Transferring airtime to MPESA
   would mean that Safaricom only takes a small portion of the total volume as
   charges that may need to be split with agents, rather than taking all of
   it, which would be more profitable for them.
   3. On the reconciliation side: For all the  transactions that MPESA
   handles, there is usually very little in terms of actual cash movement. To
   create MPESA float, an equivalent sum must have been received by the
   trustee bank, CBA. One reason, to ensure that Safaricom is not 'creating
   money'. In the airtime-MPESA transfer, Safaricom would be required to
   transfer cash from its sales account, to the MPESA account, and that would
   possibly need to be done before they could create the float. That transfer
   would need to reflect on all other records - from airtime sales to cash in
   bank.

There would need to be very, very many people using the service for it to
make sense for Safaricom.
--
Joel Macharia

mobile:: +254 712 210 600
on twitter <http://twitter.com/themacharia> | on
linkedin<http://ke.linkedin.com/in/joelmacharia/>
www.macharia.co.ke

--
On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 5:40 PM, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca> wrote:

>  Brian,****
>
> ** **
>
> I’ve checked their service, it’s done at a huge premium of 35% cost!! and
> no guarantee that money will be sent to me unless they have proven
> reputation.****
>
> ** **
>
> Safaricom should tell us if they have anything in the works?****
>
> ** **
>
> Edith****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=
> idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of *Brian Ngure
> *Sent:* March 12, 2013 5:25 PM
>
> *To:* Edith Adera
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Safaricom****
>
> ** **
>
> There is a company that does this:
> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peoples-Market-Kenya-PMK/358014810880759****
>
> ** **
>
> See also this thread:
> http://www.kenyaplex.com/discussionforum/12438-transferring-money-from-airtime-to-mpesa.aspx
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 5:05 PM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo at gmail.com>
> wrote:****
>
> ** **
>
> On 12 March 2013 16:20, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca> wrote:****
>
> Listers,****
>
>  ****
>
> It just occurred to me to ask if anyone knows whether you can convert
> airtime to mpesa money and effect a transfer via mpesa?****
>
>  ****
>
> If not, has Safaricom thought of this innovation?****
>
>  ****
>
> Edith ****
>
> ** **
>
>
> Hi Edith,****
>
>
> A previous discussion by techies somehow came to a consensus that it is
> close to impossible/untenable:
>
> http://orion.my.co.ke/pipermail/skunkworks/2012-September/070111.html ****
>
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
> Nairobi,KE
> +254733744121/+254722743223
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
> I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler.
>
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>

-- 
Joel Macharia

mobile:: +254 712 210 600
on twitter <http://twitter.com/themacharia> | on
linkedin<http://ke.linkedin.com/in/joelmacharia/>
www.macharia.co.ke
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