Safaricom customers to use M-Pesa for Ali Express Purchases

Alibaba's Ali Express customers in Kenya can now pay for goods using M-Pesa following a partnership deal with Safaricom and Ant Financial, the world's largest fintech service provider.

The partnership between the two platforms comes five months later after Safaricom announced its M-Pesa global initiative. Shoppers will also have the option of using their post office box numbers as the delivery location for their items, according to the telco.

Sylvia Mulinge, chief customer officer at Safaricom, said, “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.”

“We believe that the mobile phone has the ability to pull down some barriers to trade by enabling global e-commerce, and this partnership with Ant Financial Services marks yet another important milestone not just in Safaricom’s efforts to take M-Pesa beyond Kenya, but to Kenya’s participation in the international e-commerce marketplace.”

Once a customer selects M-Pesa as a payment option, they will share their mobile phone number and receive communication to key in their pin number to finalise the payment.

Source: NexTVAfrica.com.