When you travel to Kenya, you’re likely to see something about M-Pesa. What exactly is M-Pesa? And how do you pay with it in Kenya? This has everything to do with the sim card you need in Kenya: Safaricom. Read everything you need to know about M-Pesa and SIM cards in Kenya here.
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Which sim card for Kenya?
The best sim card in Kenya is Safaricom. With this sim card you have coverage almost everywhere, even in some national parks we had internet to share directly the beautiful pictures of the lions. It is best to buy a safaricom sim card in Kenya directly at the Jomo Kenyatta international airport in Nairobi. Here you can also have M-Pesa installed directly.
What is M-Pesa?
M-Pesa is a kind of digital bank account that you can open with your Safaricom SIM card. From your own bank account, you can deposit money into your M-Pesa account, which allows you to easily transfer money to Kenyans or businesses in Kenya. This is linked to your Kenyan phone number. So you actually transfer money from your phone number, to another phone number.
Why install M-Pesa?
Everyone in Kenya uses M-Pesa. You can pay for everything with M-Pesa: pay for groceries, pay for your accommodation, book train tickets online, pay your cab driver, etc.
It is super convenient that everything is conveniently arranged in one app and that you can transfer money directly to anyone. You can also pay a lot with your debit or credit card in Kenya, but at some smaller accommodations or in cabs this is not possible. So you then have to carry around a lot more cash, which is not convenient or nice. That’s why M-Pesa is a lot easier.
How does M-Pesa work?
At the international airport in Nairobi, buy a Safaricom sim card. The employee will install the sim card on your phone. As soon as it is installed, you will get your phone back. Now ask the employee directly if they can also install M-Pesa for you. This needs some codes and your new Kenyan phone number.
Next, you can install the M-Pesa App. Again, you’ll need some verification codes for this, and of course your new Kenyan phone number. Finally, you’re logged in, so you’re now on your new digital banking environment.
Putting money on M-Pesa
We have a Wise bank account. With this Wise bank account you can easily transfer money in different currencies and always get the best exchange rate. With a Wise account you can also very easily put money into your M-Pesa account.
- First, you transfer money through your Wise account to your Kenyan account on Wise. You do this by clicking on your Euro account (or your other main currency). Then select exchange. Here you select how many Euros you want to convert to Kenyan Shillings. You will see transparently what the exchange rate is and how much fee you will pay (on average 0.5% of the total amount).
- Then click check and continue. You have now converted your Euros to Kenyan Shillings.
- Next, click send. Choose add recipient. Now you have to choose the currency. Click on Kenyan Shilling.
- On this screen, you will already see M-Pesa. Click on M-Pesa, indicate that you are the recipient yourself and enter the details. Double check that you have the correct phone number and confirm.
- You should now immediately receive an SMS on your Kenyan phone number that money has been deposited to your M-Pesa. In the M-Pesa app, you will see after a maximum of 10 minutes that the money has been credited.
It sounds like a lot of steps, but in the end it’s not too bad. If you already have a Wise account, it takes no time at all. If you don’t have a Wise account, we recommend
Transferring money with M-Pesa
There is now money in your M-Pesa bank account so you can also transfer money to others. You do this via the M-Pesa App. Choose ‘send money’ and enter the phone number of the recipient. After this you see his/her name and click on agree. The money will be in the recipient’s account within 10 minutes.
When you buy something, such as products in a supermarket, sometimes you have to choose “pay bill. We actually always asked the recipient how they wanted us to pay: via send money or pay bill. The difference is not entirely clear to us but it is no trouble for either.
Booking tickets online must be done with M-Pesa
When you want to book tickets online for an Easy Coach bus or train ride in Kenya, you must pay with M-Pesa. You cannot choose a credit card payment. This is partly why it’s just really best to install M-Pesa on your phone.
If you don’t have M-Pesa you can possibly ask your accommodation if they will reserve the tickets for you, so you can transfer the money to them. We also always transfer the money to foreign accounts using Wise and so far (3+ years traveling the world) it has always gone well, also highly recommended.
Still have questions about M-Pesa, its use or Wise? Let us know in the comments below or send an email to [email protected] and we’ll try to help you as soon as possible.
