Fintech, abbreviation for Financial Technology is the automation and innovation that focuses on competing and improving the traditional financial delivery methods. This is an industry where banking, borrowing, investing, trading and cryptocurrency is conducted through the use of smartphones. This technology has achieved the goal of making the general public access financial services with much ease.
Financial Technology in Kenya
For decades, financial institutions such as insurers and banks have constituently employed one static business model that is highly profitable to them. They have however today found themselves on all sides confronted by innovators intending to test their businesses. From mobile payments, crowdfunding, bitcoin, robotic process automation -it is clear the diversity is endless for the fintech innovators.
In Kenya, Financial Technology is fast expanding and has become more popular, disrupting the traditional financial methods in a big way. This innovation has promoted accessibility of financial services to the general Kenyan population who use it for mobile banking, pay bills, invest and even buy insurance. This has greatly been enhanced by the fact that you do not need to leave your house or have a bank account to make these transactions.
4 Top Fintech Companies in Kenya
1. Mpesa
Mpesa enables registered users access financial services through the use of mobile phone. It is Africa’s largest financing company with a presence in Africa, India and Southeastern Europe, making financial services available to the unbanked population and in the process reducing financial related crimes in the society. Users can receive, deposit and withdrawal their cash as well as make payments. It also offers an overdraft facility best known as Fuliza to its customers.
Mpesa has operational markets in Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Egypt, Lesotho, Mozambique and Ghana, over 37 million active subscribers and around 400,000 registered agents as of 2019.
This is a top Kenyan fintech company offering a platform for businesses to send and receive payments from all over the world. It however not limited to only businesses as individuals can as well access the platform when paying for services and buying goods at local stores.
They also sell point-of-sale business solution to the local stores. This is aimed at helping the stores in simplifying how they handle their revenue by making electronic and digital form of payments possible. Report generation and account reconciliation has also been made simple by the point-of-sale system.
3. Eastpesa
This is a mobile money platform that allows sending and receiving of cash by any number in East Africa. Registered users are able to send and make instant withdrawals. Eastpesa has a feature designed at allowing its users schedule payments. Individuals are able to set when they want to make their payments, such as daily, weekly or even monthly automatically. To make it safe, the feature sends a notification to the user to confirm or cancel the transaction.
Eastpesa also allows users to purchase airtime in Kenya as well as offer small business with tailor-made payment solutions.
4. Bitpesa
Bitpesa is one of the best cryptocurrency trading platforms in Kenya. It is also one of the first of its kind to be introduced, came at a time when majority of Kenyan cryptocurrency traders were facing real challenges and had to use international platforms. The company mainly deals with large transactions of crypto-asset, offering competitive pricing to wholesale traders not only in Kenya but all over Africa.
Bitpesa is well known for its excellent facilitation of fast and affordable transactions across its area of operation through the use of blockchain settlement. Normally, transaction settlement takes a maximum of two hours a practice that prevents individuals from incurring losses in volatility.
It is clear that this more than just disruption. How it plays out remains to be seen. Fintech technology will without doubt be of benefit to the consumers, its innovators forcing the traditional financial service providers to change or even out of business. Some of the incumbents have however realized that working with the fintech innovators will help them face the industry with a new point of view, understand their strategic advantage better as well as externalize their research and growth aspects. This helps these businesses meet their client’s needs, avoiding the risk of losing the customers to another business offering full-service financial services.
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