NSSF, Safaricom tie up M-PESA deal to shore up retirement savings
Millions of Kenyans can now funnel their retirement savings to the National Social Savings Fund (NSSF) via M-PESA Super App.
The move comes after telco giant Safaricom partnered with NSSF to enable customers to conveniently register for NSSF membership, monitor their contributions, savings top-up and make Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS) payments via NSSF Mini App on the M-PESA Super App.
As part of the launch, the first 1,000 NSSF members to make their savings contributions through the NSSF M-PESA Mini App will get an extra 10 percent free added onto their account.
“We continue to explore different ways to provide our customers with even more convenience and access to useful services by establishing key partnerships with organizations such as NSSF.
“The NSSF Mini App will go a long way in providing customers with an exceptional user experience while providing them with the freedom to access services on their smartphones at any time through the M-PESA Super App,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO – Safaricom.
Customers can access the NSSF Mini-App through the “Discover” option on the M-PESA Super App.
Dr Anthony Omerikwa, Managing Trustee – NSSF – said: “The demand for NSSF services and the need to save for pension has gone beyond formally employed people to entrepreneurs, especially those running medium and small businesses. It has therefore become necessary to partner with organisations such as Safaricom to extend the reach of our services, including through smartphones on the NSSF M-PESA Mini App.”
The NSSF M-PESA Mini App comes on the back of the November 2019 launch of Haba Haba, a savings plan for business people in Kenya’s jua kali sector.
Read also: M-PESA tops use by diaspora Kenyans
Haba Haba gives members a chance to save a minimum of Kes25 a day, with the option of withdrawing 50 percent of their contribution after consistently contributing for a minimum of five years.
In October last year, the NSSF, which currently holds about Kes284 billion in assets, signed an agreement with Kenya Diaspora Alliance (KDA) — an umbrella body representing groups of Kenyans living and working abroad as the fund eyes a piece of diaspora billionswith a tailored savings plan.
In the 12-month period ended December 2021, Kenyans abroad sent home record Kes421.9 billion ($3.718 billion) up from Kes351 billion ($3.094 billion) in a similar period in 2020 with Central Bank data showing two in every 10 Kenyans abroad use M-PESA app to channel cash to friends and relatives back home.
The M-PESA Super App provides customers with a range of Mini Apps that enables them to conveniently access a variety of products and services from a single app on their smartphones.
Some of the mini apps help in booking SGR tickets, airline tickets, bus tickets, shopping gift vouchers, insurance, gas delivery, and Pay TV services.
Other key features of the Super App include saving of frequent bills, downloadable M-PESA statements, use of fingerprint and face lock in place of the M-PESA PIN, Send to Many, among others.
More than 5 million customers have downloaded the Super App since its launch last year.
