Safaricom upgrades Mpesa service platform into social network

Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile operators has turned its globally celebrated Mpesa mobile service into a social network granting its average 30 million subscribers the opportunity to directly interact on a singular free platform.

The platform to be popularised as Bonga positions the operator as a social networking site that will help its growing subscribers have enhanced commercial experience. The users will in this regard have a unique Mpesa button that will grant the the chance to transact business.

The effort to transform Mpesa mobile money platform into a social network that will integrate payments and conversations hinges on enhancing customer experience said Kamal Bhattacharya, Safaricom’s chief innovation officer who noted that the idea was guided with the fact that there’s intrinsic relationship between conversations and transactions.

Bonga is the first product of Safaricom’s Alpha innovation incubator that was created last year. It is part of the company’s strategy to move towards becoming a more platform-based business.

Late last year, Safaricom launched Masoko, an e-commerce platform, which the company boldly described as “an unmatched online shopping experience” during the launch.

“We looked at how people are engaging through Mpesa and designed the tool to make life easier. The integration of Mpesa into a chat service underscores how technological innovation has become a central feature of the success of mobile money story that continues to enhance how financial services industry (FSI) is lined for a dramatic change in the country.”

Kamal Bhattacharya, CIO Safaricom

The company is so far upbeat in rapid expansion of its internet fibre operations besides  exploring how to monetise the massive amounts of customer data it has accumulated from its telecom and mobile money operations.  The three main ways the 23.4m Mpesa users — some 80 per cent of the adult Kenyan population — will be able to use Bonga are user-to-user, user-to-business and fundraising within social groups.

“We looked at how people are engaging through Mpesa and designed the tool to make life easier,” Mr Bhattacharya said adding: “The integration of Mpesa into a chat service underscores how technological innovation has become a central feature of the success of mobile money story that continues to enhance how financial services industry (FSI) is lined for a dramatic change in the country.

When Mpesa was established in 2007, it initiated revolutionised mobile money transaction beyond Kenya’s borders, leading to its adoption in 10 countries across Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Safaricom, in which the Kenyan government and South Africa’s Vodacom each own 35 per cent, enjoys 69 per cent of the Kenyan market in terms of mobile subscriptions, according to the latest data from the Communications Authority of Kenya, the regulator.

At the moment, Mpesa accounts for 80 per cent of mobile money transactions by value.  Diversification of Safaricom’s business model was highlighted by its results for the first half of the financial year, announced in November. Outgoing voice and SMS revenue accounted for less than 50 per cent of its Ksh 109.7bn ($1.05bn) service revenue for the first time as earnings from Mpesa and mobile data accelerated.

It is due to announce its full-year results next week.  Mr Bhattacharya said Bonga was currently in internal testing and would be rolled out to customers “in the next few months”.