Safaricom Launches Tap-to-Pay M-PESA with Pesapal Partnership

Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications company and operator of M-PESA, has partnered with Pesapal, a Kenyan payments company, to introduce tap-to-pay functionality in physical shops. This service allows customers with near field communication (NFC)-enabled Android or iPhone devices to pay by tapping their phones on compatible Pesapal terminals, eliminating the need to manually enter the merchant’s Till Number.

For customers without NFC capability, payments can be made by scanning a QR code. The partnership enables Safaricom to integrate M-PESA into thousands of existing checkout terminals without the need to develop its own point-of-sale (POS) network.

The rollout will begin with 30,000 Pesapal terminals, primarily located in restaurants, hotels, and selected supermarkets. Agosta Liko, founder of Pesapal, stated that the service has been tested for six months and is now available to all merchants with compatible terminals.

Customers will incur no additional charges when using this service, and the existing M-PESA Till Number will remain the account for receiving payments.