Safaricom, Kodris Africa launch M-PESA Go for teens aged 10-17 years
The country’s telco giant Safaricom PLC has today launched M-pesa Go, a new financial product for teens and preteens aged 10 to 17 years aimed to empower parents and guardians to raise a financially healthy generation who are prepared for a cashless word.
During the launch today, Safaricom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa announced a historic partnership deal with EdTech firm Kodris Africa on coding for schools.
According to Ndegwa, the product will give juniors the ability to transact on M-PESA while giving Parents or guardians visibility and parental control tools to guide and protect their juniors.
The product will give juniors the ability to transact on M-PESA while giving Parents or guardians visibility and parental control tools to guide and protect their juniors.
“With the new regulations on child online protection and our efforts to ensure we provide connection to all for a better future, we are introducing M-PESA Go, an innovative M-PESA product for Juniors that will drive digital financial inclusion, financial literacy, and ultimately financial health amongst the younger generation,” said Ndegwa.
“As M-PESA we are committed to empowering and transforming the lives of everyone, and in M-PESA Go, we are providing a revolutionary product designed for youngsters, but with oversight by parents or guardians. Leveraging the M-PESA Super App, we plan to introduce a financial literacy platform that will equip children with tools for managing money,” he added.
Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and the Digital Economy, Eliud Owalo who was present during the launch, said that the new product was a new, safe and secure financial product that will drive financial health among the younger generation.
“Safaricom’s purpose of transforming lives includes access to formal financial services and M-PESA has played a big role in Kenya’s achievement of over 83 per cent financial inclusion, the 3rdHighest in Africa. Over the years, the focus has mainly been on the adult population, and today, we are extending financial inclusion to the generation below the age of 18 years. This is a generation that has been born into technology, the internet and a cashless world.” The CS said.
“Today, millions of children have access to phones and M-PESA accounts under their parents. As parents and guardians, we naturally worry about what our children are doing online, what they are paying for and most importantly how they are spending their money,” he added.
According to Owalo, the Super App is a digital lifestyle platform that provides enhanced M-PESA functionalities and a host of mini-apps.
The M-PESA Super App is also the gateway through which parents and guardians can guide their children’s financial journey as it contains monitoring and tracking features, and parental control features such as setting transaction limits.
To further safeguard users, M-PESA Go restricts services such as withdrawing money, access to digital loans, and payments to betting or forex companies.
The services on M-PESA Go at launch will be:
- Send and receive money.
- LNM – Buy Goods and Paybill.
- Buy airtime or data.
Sign up process:
- Self-sign-up portal for parents/guardians to onboard their juniors
- Registration at Safaricom Retail shops with original ID/Passport of parent and clear copy of junior’s birth certificate.
Channels to be used to access M-PESA Go at launch:
- M-PESA Go App
- STK
- USSD *334# for parents for setting parental controls and management
