Businesses operating in Kenya can now track their M-Pesa transactions in real time, thanks to a new application called Lipisha.
The new app is currently getting ready to service up to 80 businesses that have shown interest in the service.
“We help small businesses and medium enterprises to be able to automatically process mobile payments,” Lipisha co-founder Martin Kasomo told HumanIPO. “The biggest problem with small businesses, especially the ones without access to Internet, is that mobile payment comes in form of an SMS.”
Kasomo’s product helps businesses keep track of different mobile money accounts, with a merchant able to keep an eye on transactions remotely. The system can work offline, by connecting the device that receives mobile payment, and automatically registers every confirmation SMS received during transaction.
Lipisha’s developers believe the app could gain a lot of traction due to the demand for being able to track mobile payments by business people.
Kasomo said that they have secured a partnership with Safaricom to try and allocate business numbers to the clients coming on board. They have also partnered with I&M Bank to help the businesses open accounts and allow their payments to go directly to their accounts.
The business solution made sense to most customers who are not tech savvy but know they need to track their MPesa transactions. The service can also be used by M-Pesa agents, giving that end to end service.
A similar service is mPayer, which is a cloud-based software that enables businesses to manage mobile and cash payments, while enabling business owners to monitor their businesses even from a remote area.
mPayer also offers analytics on the sales of various shops, putting research in the hands of the merchant as he or she continues to do business.
