A free application that is compatible with Kenya’s M-pesa, Airtel and Orange Money has been launched by a mobile application company Mobile Matrix.
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PesaCalc by Mobile Matrix.
Credit: Google Play
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The new app, PesaCalc, is designed to boost all the three mobile money services in the East African country.
The 1.32mb size PesaCalc is a free Android app that helps Kenyan mobile money users judiciously save money when using mobile money services
How PesaCalc works
According to the developer of the new app, mobile matrix
According to the developer of the new app, mobile matrix
1. The app helps mobile money users in Kenya prepare accurately the right amount to send with the option of sending to registered and unregistered users, including the withdrawal fee.
2. Users receive notification whenever tariff rates change with the interface of tap which enables automatic update of the users database.
3. The app helps users to send money to the right recipient by drawing contacts from their entire phonebook and not just SIM card.
4. It is also designed to draw contacts from the entire phonebook, and SIM card.
5. It cuts across three mobile money services in Kenya. That is M-PESA, Airtel, and Orange money users can use it.
6. The app required android is 4.0 and above, and Mobile Matrix called it smart money transfer.
Some of the reviews of PesaCalc from Google Play
Already, PesaCalc App is receiving commendable reviews on Google Play store.
Already, PesaCalc App is receiving commendable reviews on Google Play store.
Here are some of the reviews from some of those that have already downloaded it and used it:
“You mean no more switching tabs to copy paste the contacts? Cooolll stuff.” Johnson Juma.
“Makes me feel like Mr. Mbesha, love it” Hempstone
“Beautiful design…simplistic and easy to use.”Julius Kiano
MBW’s Take:
Some users were still facing challenges using the app, but the good thing is that the developer promptly responded to users challenges in order to fix the problem.
The app is coming to the Kenyan market at a time mobile money in that country has been a reference point for other countries that have been trying to adopt mobile money services.
Since the 2007 launch of M-Pesa (the M is for “mobile”; pesa is Swahili for “money” ) mobile money has grown rapidly and embraced by Kenyans as a way to sending money from the cities back to their loved ones at the villages.
The method means a father working at any of the urban cities can send money to his kid schooling at another town just with a couple of taps on his mobile phone, with so much ease.
However, the new Pesacalc Needs Awareness Campaigns.
In a recent survey, PunchTab report said mobile payment apps require awareness campaigns for the prospective users to fully explore the services imbedded in such mobile wallet.
Success of Kenya’s Mobile Money: A Case Study of M-PESA
Mobile Matrixs PesaCalc can tap from these successes of m-money in Kenya.
Kenya has no slogan of being the most populous black nation, nor the giant of Africa, but its mobile money platform M-Pesa is setting the pace for other African countries, and a reference point for the rest of the world.
If you think you MUST run to a nearby branch of a banking institution before you could send money to someone else, then spending your holiday in Kenya wouldnt be a bad idea to experience what it is to transact safely on your mobile phone.
It is not a dream; it started in 2007, which has become the worlds market leader in mobile money.
“M-PESA now has a reported 18.2 million subscribers, which would give it 73 percent of total mobile money subscribers in Kenya.” mobiThinking.
And mobiletransaction said one quarter of the 44 billion dollar economy in Kenya runs through M-PESA.
Has any country achieved that in Africa, or even elsewhere?
Today, Kenya has more cell-phone subscriptions with 83 percent (over 26 million users) according to mobiThinking.
Statistics by Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) released in April, 2014 shows that:
Total mobile phone subscribers in Kenya was 30.43 million in December 2012 with 21.41 mobile money users and 62,300 were registered agents of the mobile money service.
But that changed significantly a year after by rising to 31.31 million mobile subscriptions in December 2013 with 26.02million as mobile money subscribers and 93,689 as registered agents.
Many are complaining about poor service by some operators, but the pioneer of mobile money in Kenya, Safaricom has launched its 4G. That will improve connectivity and services.
What Kenyans Use Mobile Money for
The workability of mobile money (m-money) services is;
1. The ability to transfer funds from one handset to another,
2. to deposit cash via a network of local agents, and
3. To make withdrawal via a network of local agents.
But its mobile money services in Kenya has grown beyond that and its been used in more innovative ways:
4. Paying utility bills
5. Paying school fees
6. Phone recharge (top-ups)
7. Making in-store purchase
8. Withdrawing cash from ATMs
9. Mobile ticketing (m-ticketing)
10. Paying wages and stock dividends
Lets hope that Mobile Matrix’s PesaCalc will consolidate on the successes recorded by mobile money services in Kenya.
References
1. https://play/google/com/store/apps/
2. How Kenya became a world leader for mobile money written by Wolfgang Fengler: blogs.worldbank.org/africana/how-kenya-became-a-world-leader-for-mobile-money
