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Category: Diaspora News

Written by BMJ Muriithi

If you have sent some money to Kenya through Western Union in the recent past, you may have noticed that the teller now requires the recipient’s phone number.

This follows the signing of an agreement between Safaricom and Western Union which enables Kenyans living in 45 countries in the US, Asia, Europe and Africa to access the now world famous M-Pesa service. This means that you can send money directly to any recipient with a Safaricom phone line, regardless of their location. “As long as there is an MPesa payout location near you, the money is yours,” said a Clerk interviewed by KEN at a Publix Supermarket in Atlanta.

Although customers can only send up to Sh35,000 per transaction, limits per day, per month or per year will depend on the country the money is sent from, following the link-up that is likely to give the NSE listed firm a head start in the increasingly competitive mobile telephony market.

“Through this partnership, our customers and their friends and families will benefit from affordable, faster and more convenient international remittances,” said Safaricom chief executive officer, Bob Collymore in a recent interview with a Kenyan media house.

Mr David Yates, of Western Union, applauded the service as an impressive adoption of the mobile channel.

“Cash payout through M-Pesa is projected to go up from 23 per cent to 40 per cent, as the traditional cash payout will take the rest,” Mr Yates said.

The transaction is similar to a traditional cash-to-cash money transfer, except that the sender specifies the recipient’s mobile phone number at the time the funds are sent.

The new development comes amid a Central Bank of Kenya report indicating that remittances by Kenyans in the Diaspora have gone a notch higher in the recent past. According to the report, Kenyans in the Diaspora remitted USD642 million in 2010 — up from the USD609 million in 2009.

The news is likely to be received with excitement by Kenyans in the Diaspora who sometimes find it difficult to make remittances to their family members living in the rural areas – often far away from Western Union payout locations.