Safaricom, PayPal and TransferTo have announced a collaboration on a new service that will allow movement of funds between M-PESA and PayPal accounts, a move meant bring about convenience for PayPal account holders who are MPESA subscribers.
Qualifying M-PESA customers in Kenya can link their PayPal accounts to their M-PESA wallets while M-PESA customers can also receive and withdraw money from more than 140,000 agents across the country.
(TOP: Screenshot of the PayPal to MPESA demo video. Photo: YouTube).
“M-PESA’s collaboration with PayPal will open up global market places and the global economy to millions of Kenyans and Kenyan-based businesses. Beyond money transfers, this development ushers in a new era of speed and convenience beyond borders, as we work towards innovating robust platforms through which more entrepreneurs and consumers can benefit from the growing eCommerce industry”, said Joseph Ogutu, Director – Strategy, Safaricom.
To make online purchases, customers will be required to set up PayPal accounts, which they can top up in real-time using their M-PESA balances. Customers can then withdraw funds within a timespan of few hours to three days, depending on the transaction amount.
“PayPal’s collaboration with M-PESA is part of the company’s long-term strategy to enable e-commerce and democratise financial services on the African continent,” says Efi Dahan, PayPal GM for Middle East, Africa, and Russia.
“We are excıted to brıng the M-PESA mobile wallet and PayPal joint services to the Kenyan market, which makes it more convenient and secure to withdraw and add money to their accounts while participating in the global digital economy.”
“We are proud to have been chosen by these two world-class payments providers to bridge the gap between the services offered in developed countries with those available in emerging markets – which is the cornerstone of TransferTo’s mission,” said Peter De Caluwe, CEO at TransferTo.
“This service is a major milestone in the evolution of cross-border mobile payments, in that TransferTo’s technology is creating a fundamental link between M-PESA users in Kenya and PayPal’s global network, and seamlessly connecting Kenyan shoppers and businesses to the global eCommerce world.”
Apart from Safaricom, Equity Bank also offers PayPal services.
However, the only platforms currently offering instant and real-time PayPal withdrawals in Kenya are DollarPesa and Premierpesa.
Previously, Chura used to offer PayPal withdrawal services but the service has since been discontinued.
Be the first to comment