What the new Safaricom ‘M-Pesa for Business’ App does

Safaricom has today announced a Lipa Na M-PESA Business app for the more than 170,000 merchants on the service. Named “M-PESA for Business“, Safaricom says the app will empower business owners to access real-time statements, export statements, and track their business performance on the go. 

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. So if you’ve always wanted a Till Number, go to the website, make an application, and once that is processed, you can download the new App and access all your analytics, and much more.

Here are the benefits of the Safaricom ‘M-Pesa for Business’ App:

• Gives business owners access to real-time statements
• Allows business owners to export statements,
• Gives means for businesses to track their business performance on the go with rich, detailed reports including money-in and money-out charts, store overview, frequently used bills, and much more.
• People can now easily withdraw from their Lipa na M-Pesa account to their M-Pesa accounts, or to their bank accounts, or even through an agent.
• Business owners can further withdraw funds from Lipa Na M-PESA to their M-PESA accounts, bank accounts or at an agent.
• Till Number accounts can now also send money to other M-PESA customers. This can be helpful in paying wages, paying for supplies, or just making needed payments to other businesses.
• Businesses can also easily manage multiple accounts from the single app as long as all accounts are under the same nominated number.
• A feature called Roll Up allows businesses to push funds collected to the head office.

Safaricom’s CEO in a release has said, “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. The M-PESA for Business smartphone App is one such solution. It empowers more than 170,000 businesses across the country to send money and make payments and provides them with simple and detailed reports from the convenience of the mobile phone.”

The app is currently available on Google Play Store and Safaricom says it will be available on the iOS App Store in the coming days. The app complements the *234# menu which has been providing Lipa Na M-PESA merchants with the ability to manage their till and to make transactions.