Safaricom and Gulf Bank Africa have partnered to launch a Sharīʿah-compliant loan facility called Halal Pesa. It is the first Sharīʿah-compliant mobile and digital financial solution in the country allowing all customers on the M-Pesa platform access to full amounts requested with a repayment period of 30 days at a 5% Murabaha margin.
How to access Halal Pesa:
- All M-Pesa customers can access the facility.
- On your M-Pesa Super App, it is available as a Mini App under the Grow Section
- You can Dial *334# and find Halal Pesa under Loans and Savings
Safaricom says customers will initially be provided with a personalised facility limit based on their M-Pesa usage. Similar to M-Shwari and KCB M-Pesa loan facilities, the limits will be increased based on a customer’s usage of Halal Pesa.
Safaricom says Halal Pesa will empower M-Pesa customers who have previously been locked out of access to financing due to barriers such as the lack of Shariah modelled mobile facilities.
What they said:
“Kenya is now a highly innovative, interconnected and fast-paced community that requires solutions on the go. All our digital offerings, including Halal Pesa, seek to directly address this aspect. Our current strategy is focused on digitization for financial inclusion. Our aim is to provide instantaneous access to interest-free credit through Halal Pesa. We are glad that we could partner with a like-minded partner like Safaricom limited to advance this vision,” said Abdalla Abdulkhalik, MD – Gulf African Bank.
“We remain keen on partnerships that enable us to provide a wide variety of financial solutions that meet the diversified needs of our customers further broadening financial inclusion to ensure that we leave no one behind. Gulf African Bank is a strategic partner that will enable us to deliver affordable and convenient M-PESA services such as Halal Pesa that are Shariah-compliant in accordance to the Islamic faith,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO -Safaricom.
