Kenyan operator Safaricom and the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has launched the HELB-M-Pesa Wallet, a financial product for university students.
HELB-M-Pesa Wallet aims to improve digital money management among students by achieving convenience and ubiquity for the disbursement of student payments.
The HELB Mini App will empower beneficiaries to access their HELB upkeep, withdraw funds, repay loans, apply for subsequent loans, view their loan status and access their statements all from an Android and iPhone app.
“We seek to provide our customers with payment solutions.” We are also open about banking solutions that enhance the customer experience for the beneficiaries with more convenience and enhance their options when accessing funds and services,” said Charles Ringera, CEO HELB.
HELB-M-Pesa Wallet Acces Procedure
All HELB beneficiaries can now access all our services through the HELB Mini App or by dialling *642#.
All M-PESA customers can access the HELB Mini App under the “Services” section on the M-PESA Super App. Beneficiaries who have already registered their mobile phone numbers with HELB will then key in their phone number upon which they will receive a code to activate the Mini App and set a PIN for subsequent access.
Beneficiaries yet to register their mobile number with HELB will need to key in a phone number registered to the same National ID linked to their HELB account to connect their numbers and activate the Mini App.
The launch was announced at the Higher Education Loan Board 2023 Universities Consultative Forum held in Naivasha.Universities
The forum which is held every two years to discuss ways to sustainably fund higher education in Kenya themed “Sustaining quality university education amidst sector reforms and funding constraints.”
According to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) since its inception up until the end of January 2023, it has disbursed Ksh 143.71 billion to 1,314,359 loanees.
“Currently, a total of 318,308 loan accounts worth Ksh 49.17 billion are in repayment while 129,825 accounts holding Ksh 16.81 billion are in default.”
In addition, 600,920 loanees holding Ksh 50.26 billion have not matured.
The board emphasized that “Despite putting measures in place to recover the loans advanced, these funds are not sufficient to cater for the high demand. The loan book is performing at 72 per cent with a target to grow that to 76 per cent by June 2023.”
“We have a current funding gap estimated at Ksh 5.7 billion,” said Charles Ringera, CEO of HELB.
Ringera noted that they have embarked on institutionalizing external resource organizations to aggressively mobilize funds to supplement the extra funding.”
