M-PESA Now Available Via *334# USSD Short Code
Grab your cup of coffee and stay close to me as I take you through this short journey, of how progressively our mobile money transfer service in Kenya(‘M-PESA’), is rapidly on the front line to accelerate the transformation of our economy by introducing faster and efficient methods of money transfer across the globe, e.g. from Clients to Business (C2B), Business to Clients (B2C) and much more.
Today I’ll be talking about the new short code introduced by Safaricom, to ease the existing processes used to access M-PESA menu, but before that, let’s introduce M-PESA to our global community✍️.️
So, What is M-Pesa & How Does It Work?
M-Pesa is a mobile phone-based money transfer service, payments and micro-financing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone Group plc and Safaricom, the largest mobile network operator in Kenya. It has since expanded to Tanzania, Mozambique, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana, Egypt, Afghanistan and South Africa. It allows users to deposit, withdraw, transfer money, pay for goods and services (Lipa na M-Pesa => which means ‘Pay with M-Pesa’), access credit and savings, all with a mobile device. Learn more about it here: M-Pesa.
Which New USSD Short Code Was Introduced?
On 10 September 2020, Safaricom rolled out all its M-PESA services on the *334# menu.
Some of It’s Advantages:
- Consolidates all M-PESA services in a single, easy to use menu with more flexibility than is possible on the current SIM toolkit menu.
- No internet or data connection is needed, just dial *334# and you’re good to go.
- Easy to use, or you have to know is the short code compared to when searching the sim toolkit so that you access M-PESA services.
- Highly effective for non-smartphone users. etc
How Do I Access M-Pesa Using The New USSD?
To use M-Pesa service using the short code, all you have to do is, dial *334# upon which you’ll be presented with a choice of the different M-PESA services including:
- Send Money
- Withdraw Cash
- Buy Airtime
- Loans and Savings
- Financial Services
- Lipa na M-PESA
- My Account
Now, if you need e.g Lipa na M-PESA , Just as with other USSD menus, you’ll key in the number selecting the service such as “5” for our choice, Lipa Na M-PESA.
M-PESA on *334# brings together all services that have previously been offered through different USSDs saving customers from having to remember the different numbers.
Within the Lipa Na M-PESA menu, you can directly select PayBill and Till Numbers for Banks, Government and County Government Services, and Transport services including the SGR and long-distance buses. Once a customer selects any of the options, they will be presented with a list of services they can then pay through Lipa Na M-PESA.
Customers can also use the Lipa Na M-PESA option to pay to personal numbers for select businesses.
Other options now available on M-PESA on *334# include M-PESA Global
which empowers customers to send and receive money across the world. You can send funds to East Africa: Rwanda, Tanzania & Uganda, Globally: To millions of Bank accounts and over 500,000 Western Union locations globally and Paypal by accessing funds quickly and shopping around the world with PayPal mobile money service with M-PESA. They’ve also partnered with Western Union, Skrill, mHits, Transfer Galaxy, XendPay, SkyForex, Post Finance, WorldRemit, Vodacom Tanzania, MTN Uganda, MTN Rwanda, Azimo, Dahabshiil and MoneyGram to ensure that it will not cost you a cent to receive money from the above mentioned locations.
