KCB and Safaricom Sign Agreement to Loan M-Pesa Agents

Safaricom is in the season of signing agreements. The company has today signed a partnership deal with KCB Group  to provide loads to M-PESA agents.

M-PESA agents will benefit from bank overdrafts and loans from KCB to expand their existing businesses at very favourable rates. The financial facility is dubbed, M-PESA AGENT MKOPO na KCB.

These are some of the products included in the agreement:

1.    KCB M-PESA Account; A customised business account for the agents to manage their transactions both for their agency business and complementary businesses. This account is eligible for MPESA Agents only.

2.    M-PESA Float Overdraft;  This is an overdraft to MPESA agents to enhance their working capital requirements.

3.    M-PESA Agent Loans; A specially designed short term loan product to finance them with working capital for applicants who plan to expand their agency business or other business improvements.

The agents will be evaluated by KCB on basis of the strength of their business cash flows.

“These overdrafts and loan facilities will support business expansion and ensure sufficient float availability given KCB’s strong financial muscle and wide branch network of 217 outlets spread across the East African region,” KCB Group Chief Executive Dr. Martin Oduor-Otieno said.

KCB, in 2010,  raised Kshs12.5 billion additional capital through a rights issue giving it extra muscle to lend more and more.

Dr. Oduor-Otieno said the M-PESA AGENT MKOPO na KCB deal has immense capacity to grow and yield the right level of returns to investors adding that M-PESA agents and dealers will access loans from Kshs2 million to Kshs5 million with Safaricom holding collateral.

“To leverage and grow M-PESA, the business has actively been exploring innovative means to improve the efficiency of our partners in order to deliver a better experience for our customers. This partnership with KCB offers us a opportunity to reach all parts of the country given their branch footprint and offer these partners the financing they need to move to the next level,” said Mr. Collymore.

M-PESA currently has over 22,000 agents spread across the country servicing over 13.2 million customers.