M-Pesa’s toll-free cousin now causes waves in America

A screenshot of the Wave app page on iTunes.

What you need to know:

  • Platform will soon be available in Tanzania.
  • Created last year by an aid worker, the Wave app allows users to send money instantly to M-Pesa, MTN and Airtel.

PHILADELPHIA, PA

The phone call came as Julius Maina (last name changed to protect family privacy) was driving home late after a two-shift, 16-hour day.

He didn’t answer at first because he was too tired to bother and on the New Jersey Turnpike there is a “No Texting or Talking on the Phone While Driving” rule.

When the ringing persisted, he checked the caller’s ID in case it was an emergency call from home. At that time of the night, his wife and children should have been fast asleep.

When the number blinked 254 he immediately pulled to the roadside. He had earlier in the day received a text message from his younger brother from Kenya, saying his mother wasn’t feeling well.

“It turned out that my mom had been taken to hospital for treatment and, after a check-up, the doctor had said she needed an urgent operation. But the doctors couldn’t do the procedure until we made a downpayment of Sh40,000, about $500.”

Julius, a Kiambu-born resident of Salem in southern New Jersey, says his brother was calling him because the family was stranded. They couldn’t raise the Sh40,000 and were reaching out to him for help.

“I had the money, but being late in the night, I couldn’t access it as banks were closed,” he said.

It was then that he remembered having heard of an application called Wave that could enable somebody to transfer cash through M-Pesa, just the way it is done back in Kenya.

“A colleague had told me about this app and I had promised her that I’d check it out,” said Julius, adding that it took him about 15 minutes to download the Wave app, install it on his iPhone, transfer money from his Bank of America account using his ATM card, and send it to his brother’s M-Pesa account.

“My brother confirmed he had received the money by the time I was driving off. This Wave thing is real. I believe many Kenyans here in the US need to know about it,” he said.

The M-Pesa money transfer system that was developed jointly in Kenya by Vodafone and Safaricom has taken the world by storm.

It has been hailed as one of the most important 21st century innovations. But though it is widely used by Kenyans at home, the transfer system is less well known abroad, especially in the US and Canada, because of strict banking laws.

The most popular form of money transfer for the majority of Kenyans abroad has remained Western Union and Moneygram — entities that are associated with high transfer surcharges, rates and fees.

POPULARISING APP

According to Denzel Musumba, a Kenyan who is popularising the app in the diaspora, Wave works with iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets.

It allows users to send money instantly to M-Pesa in Kenya, and MTN and Airtel mobile money in Uganda. “We do not charge any fee to transfer funds even though the limit is $2,999 per day, and $12,000 a month. This is per rules and regulations established by the US government,” said Mr Musumba, a resident of Washington, DC.

He says the process is safe and secure.

Wave was created in May 2014 by Drew Durbin, an American who works with charitable organisations in East Africa, and co-founder Lincoln Quirk. Musumba, a radio personality who is also the founder of Border TV, says the firm is registered in the US and in Kenya as a money transmitter company. 

Though Wave is currently used to transfer money only to Kenya and Uganda, it will soon be available in Tanzania as it rolls out an East African network. Musumba says they will soon expand to Canada. 

According to Njeri Thomi Kariuki of Dallas, Texas, who is also the founder and CEO of Karisan Radio, Wave app creator Durbin came on the scene at the right time. She says that following an interview with him about the app, she receives a constant flow of calls from listeners inquiring about how and where they can download the app.

“It is getting popular by the minute. I am a user of Wave, which is undeniably the best way to send money to one’s family and friends via M-Pesa. The fact that there are no upfront fees incurred by the sender overshadows all reason to use any other service,” she says. 

Njeri says many people who have tried the app are impressed by the fact there are no upfront fees and one can send money at one’s own convenience. “No commute to a local store is required; it’s readily available from your mobile phone 24 hours seven days a week.”

As Mr Maina found out that Friday night, the Wave app is not only efficient but easy to use as well. The money is sent instantly.

“This app is critical. Most us here in the diaspora have relatives back home in Kenya who may be in urgent need of money for hospital bills, fuel and other necessities. I’ve been there. It’s not just enough to have money but to be able to access that money at the hour of need,” Mr Maina says.