afaricom has announced the launch of a bill management service for MPESA that targets businesses.
The M-PESA Bill Manager allows thousands of Kenyan businesses, to digitize their businesses at no additional cost, beyond just collecting payments. By offering digital receipts for each invoice, the service would similarly empower millions of M-PESA PayBill clients with better record keeping. Our mission is to enable both businesses and our customers to easily handle and keep track of payments,” said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.
This service is aimed at repeat financial services or utilities, thereby providing a platform where users can present and collect pending payments and issue electronic receipts.
For instance, educational institutions may use the Bill Manager platform to configure various types of payments, such as tuition, food, transportation, school events, and more. Property managers will submit reminders of rent payments and reconcile any payments earned. Utility companies such as water and internet providers will be able to charge their customers automatically, who in turn will have a way to access and manage pending bills easily.
Safaricom has said all payments to all businesses obtained via MPESA will be reconciled on the platform immediately. An option to manually add payments is also present. When a new bill is created or when the bill is due, customers using the service will also receive an SMS notification instantly.
For all businesses with a Lipa Na MPESA or Pay Bill account can connect to the MPESA Bill Manager website, this service is free of charge. The SMS bill requests and the system-generated invoices are free for the company.