KDN starts e-payment system

With Kenya connected to the broadband superhighway after the landing of the undersea fibre optic cables and internet costs slowly coming down, an explosion of innovations are now emerging.

The latest launch, expected to spur the way business is conducted, is Kenya Data Network’s Mobipay, an internet payment gateway that will turn mobile phones into a platform for secure electronic transactions and remote payment services.

This will bypass the inherent risks that have crippled the growth of online payment systems in Africa.

Purchase

Mobipay will allow consumers and businessmen to purchase or pay for products and services depending on their needs through the internet to multiple internet merchants and government agencies globally.

At the launch on Wednesday evening, Dr Bitange Ndemo, the permanent secretary ministry of Information and Communications said: “Many people ask me, 'what next with all this infrastructure?’ The answer is here, those who will survive in this industry are those who are innovative.”

Mr Kai Wulff, KDN’s chief executive officer, says the internet has evolved into a comprehensive network for growing, developing and enhancing global business opportunities.

“The market today demands a secure, scalable and proficient e-payment transaction processor, which also acts as a single entry provider in bringing the banks, businesses, credit card networks, consumers and governments together,” Mr Wulff said.

Mobipay can be customised for different kinds of payment services and to suit different business processes autonomously by being seamlessly added to existing payment schemes such as Mpesa and Zap.

This launch comes a few weeks after I&M Bank’s e-commerce being offered through strategic partnerships with VISA International and payment gateway service provider Iveri of South Africa.

With Mobipay, users can carry out proximity transactions such as personal payments, ATM withdrawals, retail transactions at point of sale and remote transactions like money transfers via the web.

The service will work across all telecom operators as it is not handset dependent and works well with all financial instruments — credit, debit, or prepaid cards.

Unbanked

“The growth in mobile telephony in Africa, coupled with a highly unbanked population, presents a unique platform for business that requires different approaches towards the actualisation of economic growth that will drive trade and commerce as has been seen in other continents,” says Mr Wulff.

Prior to Mobipay and I&M’s payment systems, merchants in Kenya who wanted to sell online needed to set-up subsidiary companies outside Kenya where they could then register for merchant bank accounts and payment processing services in other countries such as the UK or the US.

This meant the payments would need to be processed via international services before being remitted to Kenya, leading to higher costs and lower margins.