Kenya’s listed Telco Safaricom (NSE:SCOM) has partnered with AliExpress, the business-to-consumer e-commerce marketplace of Alibaba, to allow Kenyans shop on its platform and pay with M-Pesa.
The partnership targets micro-traders in the country who source for goods and other supplies from manufacturers in China and signifies Safaricom’s continued push to position M-Pesa as a global mobile money transfer and payments platform.
Kenya's listed Telco @SafaricomPLC (NSE:SCOM) has partnered with AliExpress, the business-to-consumer ecommerce marketplace of Alibaba, to allow Kenyans shop on its platform and pay with M-Pesa. pic.twitter.com/Q2Oq2qlEjg
— Khusoko (@khusoko) March 12, 2019
“Our more than 21 million customers can now enjoy the safety, reliability, and convenience of M-PESA when shopping on AliExpress, a leading, global e-commerce marketplace. This partnership seeks to connect Kenyans to even more business opportunities by enabling them to seamlessly source, purchase and import goods from the world’s leading manufacturer,” said Sylvia Mulinge – Chief Customer Officer, Safaricom.
Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba that runs the portal’s payment services, will offer M-Pesa as one of the payment options with transactions denominated in Kenyan currency “Saving customers the complexity of currency conversions,” said Mulinge.