Safaricom, Google Aim For More Partnerships

Safaricom says it’s working with Google to partner in more areas besides the Lipa Mdogo Mdogo Initiative.

Currently, Safaricom has an ongoing partnership with Google and Transsion, the company behind TECNO, Infinix, and itel, that enables Kenyans to access 4G devices under the Lipa Mdogo Mdogo financing plan. The initiative allows customers to make a down payment of $5 and then later pay $0.2 every day until they finish up paying for the device. While the customers are paying for the device, they are able to use the device.

Through a LinkedIn post, Safaricom CEO, Peter Ndegwa revealed he met with top Google officials last week where they discussed other probable areas for partnering.

“Following our meeting with Google at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we met with Senior Executives from Google, led by their Vice President of Product, Android Security & Privacy, Suzanne Frey, GM for Android, Ram Papatla and Director Android Partnerships Africa, Mariam Abdullahi at Safaricom PLC headquarters.

“The team spent time in Kenya in customer immersions where they gained insights on how the Kenyan consumer experiences Google solutions. We held a working session with the team with key discussions around, collaborating on product building to address market challenges, scaling digital access through Lipa Mdogo Mdogo, delivering superior customer experience through usage tools, creating more opportunities for SMEs to thrive and collaborating on M-PESA,” Ndegwa said.

Ndegwa added that they also discussed supporting the youth in Kenya by developing digital engineering certifications in partnership with Safaricom and institutions of higher learning.

“This is a huge transformative agenda, that will go a long way in tech capacity building and creating more job opportunities to support the youth. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Google, to deliver products and solutions that will continue to transform lives,” he said.

The Lipa Mdogo Mdogo initiative has so far benefitted over 500,000 Kenyans who would have otherwise not afforded to buy a smartphone at once.