Kenya has in the recent past created a reputation for having one of the most progressive mobile money ecosystems in the world. According to the Central Bank of Kenya, the ecosystem has grown from having 10 Million users and 597 Billion in transaction value in 2010 to 26.5 Million customers and 2.5 Trillion in transaction value in 2015.
To tap into this growth, iPay Kenya launched a mobile wallet in Nairobi earlier today with a view to organizing the payments industry in Kenya. Largely, the mobile money ecosystem has focused on peer to peer transfers with little focus laid on mobile payments. iPay’s solution are in the form of two mobile applications called eLipa Wallet and eLipa Agent. The eLipa wallet is a client-facing solution while the eLipa agent targets merchants.
eLipa Wallet is a consumer-facing platform that aggregates various bills that a customer may be required to make, into an application. By aggregating the bills into the platform, it gives users more convenience while at the same time eliminating the cost from the consumers. “This solution allows us to collapse everything onto a platform from airtime, pay TV payments, water and even power bills and users can conveniently pay for them from within it”, says Steve Nyumba, iPay Co-Founder.
Upon downloading the App, the user signs up to the service and tops up their wallet via card, mobile money or even card. The top-up process is charged owing to costs related to the bank and even mobile money service providers. Once the money is in your eLipa wallet, you can now begin to make payments, which upon my interaction with the App is a flawless one tap experience. Other activities include making donations to select organizations from within the App. An important aspect of the payment process is the fact that a user of the App can save all their billers within the App, making the process more seamless. The App also allows the users to get a history of their transactions.
The eLipa Agent on the other hand allows merchants and businesses to become agents in the completion of payments from within the App. Upon downloading this App, an agent can purchase in bulk airtime, power token and in turn sell these to the end user, completing the transaction. “With eLipa Agent, we want businesses from barbers to kiosks to become vendors of these services and in turn, they earn a commission on each sale that they make”, he added. eLipa is hoping to lock in 5,000 agents by the end of the year, who will in turn serve as evangelists for the eLipa going forward.
