Hard truths. Bold Insights. Real talk.
The latest data released by Safaricom shows the amount borrowed through the facility grew by 49.3 per cent from Sh981.6 billion recorded the previous year, underlining the growing dependence on short-term credit by households and businesses facing financial pressure.
Most families have found themselves in situations where they do not know what steps to take in order to access money left in M-Pesa wallets of their kin after death.
Scheduled system upgrades allow operators to patch vulnerabilities, improve processing speed, and implement backend improvements that support future enhancements and better scalability. Safaricom emphasised that customers’ understanding is valued as the upgrade is carried out.
Introduced in 2019, Fuliza allows M-Pesa customers to complete transactions even when their wallet balance is insufficient, as long as they stay within a credit limit set based on their transaction history. The service operates in partnership with NCBA and KCB Bank, who underwrite the loans, ensuring that users can cover shortfalls when sending money, withdrawing cash at M-Pesa agents, paying bills, or buying airtime.
The survey reveals that by May 2025, none of the sampled farmers indicated borrowing from the Hustler Fund or microfinance institutions, despite 11 percent and 13 percent respectively having used these sources just two months earlier in March.
According to data from Safaricom, the total number of active Fuliza users reached 7.9 million.