• Safaricom reported significant year-on-year growth in the number of Pochi la Biashara tills, with 632,681 tills as of June 2024, up from 292,634 in 2023
• In its annual report for the financial year ending June 2024, Safaricom revealed that M-PESA contributed 42.2% to its total service revenue
• Small and micro businesses have adopted Pochi la Biashara to better organize their finances and mitigate fraud, as it allows them to separate business funds from personal funds

Elijah Ntongai, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, has more than three years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting expertise, providing insights into Kenyan and global trends.

Safaricom reported a significant year-on-year growth in the number of Pochi la Biashara tills in Kenya.

In its annual report and financial statements for 2024, Safaricom reported that M-PESA accounted for 42.2% of the total service revenue for the financial year ending June 2024.

Read also

Bundles purchase, other services affected as Safaricom announces system maintenance today

M-Pesa service revenue comes from transaction costs and tariffs. To increase revenues and enhance customer value, Safaricom introduced Pochi la Biashara wallets under the Lipa and M-Pesa services.

Growth in Pochi la Biashara usage

Pochi La Biashara is a micro merchant service that allows small business owners such as food vendors, small kiosk owners, bodaboda operators and others to receive and separate business funds from personal funds on their M-Pesa line.

Safaricom reported that as of June 2024 there were 632,681 Pochi tills compared to 292,634 in 2023, representing a 116.2% year-on-year growth.

The company credited the growth in Pochi La Biashara to increased adoption of a wallet dedicated only to business, separated from personal use by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Why MSMEs are embracing Pochi la Biashara

TUKO.co.ke sought views from small business operators using Pochi la Biashara for payments. Many stated that the wallet allows them to organise their finances, making it easy to calculate profits and stock at the end of the day.

Read also

Safaricom’s Lipa Mdogo Mdogo smartphone sales soar to over 1.2m

Many others also noted that increased fraud cases where customers would reverse money immediately after sending forced them to adopt Pochi la Biashara for payments.

“Kuna watu wakora sana wanaibia mama kama mimi. Nawauzia mboga an nyanya alafu wakituma wanaenda wanarudisha tena napata hasara. Sasa kwa pochi hawawezi fanya ukora kama hio,” Mary, a grocery store operator remarked.

(There are some people who would steal from me. They would pay for vegetables through send money and then they would reverse the money which was causing me significant losses. With Pochi la Biashara they cannot do the reversals as they used to.)

Source: TUKO.co.ke