M-Shwari services, which were launched many years in partnership with NCBA and operator Safaricom, were presented as a platform for people to save.
The product has since gained some popularity, mainly because it allows people to borrow.
In the last couple of days, M-Shwari has not been at its best thanks to system instabilities. Users reported that their savings were not being reflected correctly, for which the carrier responded that it would issue a patch.
The patch, to this end, will be sent over a two-period day, starting tomorrow (Friday 20) all the way to Sunday.
The communication was made by NCBA and specifically said the system enhancement exercise will start from 1159 PM on Friday 20, to 2:30 PM on Sunday 22.
During the maintenance period, key M-Shwari services will not be available.
On the whole, the M-PESA platform has been receiving frequent service interruptions over the last couple of months. In the last few weeks, though, the carrier appears to have addressed issues related to the mobile money product.
Safaricom is also trying to hone M-PESA, which has been one of its greatest revenue-generating assets besides voice and data.
In its HY 2021 FY results, the carrier reported losses from M-PESA, a first for the company. Part of its recovery journey includes focusing on the platform, including collaborations with e-commerce companies (at the expense of Masoko), and that hopefully, by the start of 2021, CBK will lift the zero-rating of transfers under KES 1000 that has hurt the company’s M-PESA earnings.
