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INNOVATOR UNVEILS “OKOA MIA†TO CREATE FINANCIAL
EXCLUSIVITY FOR POOR KENYANS
Innovator: Samson Wachira, months after Safaricom charges financial need which may not be
the brains behind "Okoa Mia." changed on withdrawals of Kshs 100. necessary the airtime. Maybe the
For someone to access their platform, person is stuck somewhere and
When Safaricom introduced one has to Ussd number *269*100# doesn’t have transport and wants
Okoa Jahazi some years After dialing the above number, one to use the credit to call someone
back, one of the reasons agrees to the conditions and then and borrow the KShs100. Maybe
must have been to help those in receives the money in the Mpesa one doesn’t have breakfast and the
need to access credit on debt in account. The beauty about it is that money will be able to buy you a
advance to seek assistance for someone may withdraw the whole peace of loaf and milk. It might be
emergency financial needs. amount at no fee since Safaricom as well that the house help has no
The contradiction of a person no longer charges commission on money to buy vegetable for lunch.
borrowing airtime amounting to a withdrawals under Kshs 100. With “Okoa Miaâ€, such needs will be
hundred shillings to make a call and The product is already attracting catered for on the spot, with the
borrow the same amount with makes sizeable Mpesa holders who can requirement to repay in 5 daysâ€, says
it even expensive and beats the now borrow directly from the telco Wachira.
purpose in the first place. instead of their friends and relatives. And encase the borrower exceeds
Help is here. A local innovator has Wachira says the numbers are rising the 5 days deadline of repayment,
introduced “Okoa Mia,†a product day by day and currently, they have Kshs 3 is surcharged per day on the
which enables Kenyans registered on a clientele network over 10000 borrower. Once the debt is settled,
Mpesa to borrow directly from their customers. the borrower is eligible to request for
platform, carter for their emergencies Wachira says that he identified a gap another loan from the lender.
and repay with a small interest of 16 when he observed that while both Some of the advantages is that no
shillings at the end of the week. Safaricom and Airtel were lending money is deducted from your Mpesa
According to Samson Wachira, a local their customers money in terms of even in case of a delay in repayment.
entrepreneur, such money can be airtime, yet according to him, most However, if the customer defaults
used for mundane things like buying of the people who borrow airtime and exceeds one month from the
breakfast, sorting out the house help use that airtime to borrow the same date of borrowing, the borrowers
from a phone call away, or as bus fare amount from relatives and friends. name shall be forwarded to Credit
when stranded. So he felt he could provide a solution Referral Bureau (CRB) for listing which
This innovation just comes few to that. will then penalize Kshs 2,000 for
And so how does it work before a clearance.
borrower receives the cash in his or “We are hopeful that Safaricom will
her Mpesa account? soon reduce the charges of doing
The borrower sends Kshs 16 to the business which will enable us to pass
Ussd number mentioned earlier in the benefits to our clients hence
this article for eligibility in registration creating more financial exclusivity
in the platform and accepts adhering among Kenyans regardless their
to “Okoa mia†terms and conditions. status in the society,†says Wachira.
Kshs 10 is the amount charged by the Wachira also hopes that soon
systems for operations, the remaining Safaricom may consider enlisting
kshs 6 is shared 50-50 by both “Okoa Mia†on their Toolkit sim Card
Safaricom with Paddy investments to make it easier for borrowers to
which owns Okoa Mia product. access funds just like it has done to
Wachira says that he created the other financial institutions which are
“Okoa Mia†to provide alternative to lending money on phone through
local borrowers and especially those Mpesa.
living under a dollar a day. “We anticipate to hit 10 million
“Initially people were using more to subscribers locally using our product
withdraw such amounts from Mpesa. while our next frontier would be
However, with introduction of Okoa Ethiopia and Nigeria because the two
Mia, with less than that, one can have better mobile money systems
get his or her problem of Kshs 100 compared to other many countries
solved,†he says. including our neighborsâ€, says the
“When someone borrows airtime, it ambitious entrepreneur.
means such a person has an urgent
Commerce & Industry January / February Issue 2018 Opinion
