Browsing: Digital Payment Kenya

A few weeks ago, I was positively surprised to see a sign in a sports shop in Karen, stating that they no longer accepted cash, only cards and mobile money.  Until that time, “no-cash” policies in shops was something I had only seen in the Scandinavian countries, and even there, it is still rare. Since the start of the pandemic, however, digital-only payment policies have proliferated in Kenya, and are starting to become commonplace.

Cash as a payment method has been in a slow, terminal decline in Kenya for many years, but it has managed to survive, until now.

Kenya has long been a forerunner in terms of digital payments in Africa. Even as far back as in the Moi era, many shops and supermarkets, most upscale restaurants, and virtually every hotel accepted Visa and Mastercard.  This was at a time when Ethiopia had one single bank branch in the …

Digital payments in Kenya have been ruled by Safaricom through its revolutionary MPesa services. This is despite there being other local players like Airtel Money and Telkom’s  T-Kash competing for the local share of mobile money transfer.

Safaricom has gone global targeting international remittances and linking with global players like Western Union and Pay Pal to make trans-border  transfers.

However, during the just concluded East Africa EuroMoney Conference locally hosted by Central Bank of Kenya, the CBK governor Dr Patrick Njoroge noted that these innovations though first tested and embraced in Kenya, must not sleep on their laurels.

Dr Njoroge noted that Kenya was able to enjoy the innovation and domesticate the technology, which has drawn the admiration of global players and replicated world over.

However, it is the entry of global players like WhatsApp, WeChat, Alipay and Apple Cash which have made it easier to transfer money, purchase items …