Uber Africa Launches New Payment With Flutterwave Technology

In a recent announcement by Uber, the ride-hailing company has informed its clientele’ of the introduction of Uber Cash to the African market, including Kenya.

Dubbed Uber Cash, the payment innovation allows clients to prepay for upcoming trips. In Kenya specifically, raiders use M-Pesa and EFT to pre-pay for rides.

Alon Lits, Uber’s General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa noted that the service will go live differently in the course of the week, at different times in different countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Tanzania.

The arrangement will allow riders to top up Uber wallets using the dozens of remittance partners active on Flutterwave’s Pan-African network. Flutterwave operates as a B2B payment gateway network that allows clients to tap its APIs and customize payments applications.

Uber aims to increase the ride traffic in Africa by boosting the volume of funds sent to digital wallets and making payments more convenient. Uber will still accept cash but this digital wallet move helps them make more strides on financial inclusion through mobile money.

• Open the Uber app menu and tap Payment
• Tap Add Funds and select an amount to add to your Uber Cash balance
• Select your payment method, then tap Purchase

From here, you can add either KES 500, 1000, or 2000 to your Uber Cash wallet which is sourced from either your card or MPESA. Uber Cash will be applied automatically to your next ride or Uber Eats order unless you’re using a business profile. To turn off Uber Cash, tap your payment method after entering your destination.

Uber cash comes as a way to ease payments in Kenya to Uber drivers as it easily deducts the trip amount from your wallet hassle-free. At the moment not everyone seems to have it but you will soon see it integrated into your app.

This is all in light of all the Coronavirus that’s affecting many African countries. The company also has some measures in place to try and fix this.