Uber and Safaricom have partnered to ease payment of trips by riders across Kenya through Mpesa.

This follows an earlier deal between the telco and UberEats allowing consumers to pay for deliveries through Mpesa while riders also receive their earnings through the same platform.

The new partnership further seeks to enable drivers who lack bank accounts to receive weekly payments with ease.

According to data by Uber, 20 per cent of its drivers lack bank accounts and therefore are not able to fully leverage digital trips.

Speaking at the event at Michael Joseph Centre, Uber head of East Africa Imran Manji said that with the widespread footprint of Mpesa in the region, passengers and drivers can now enjoy services seamlessly through the app.

He added that drivers can choose to receive payments directly to their Mpesa instead of internet bank accounts.

“Many drivers use Mpesa as their main wallet for their everyday transactions,” he said.

“This saves them the cost and hustle of transferring the funds from a bank account into their mobile money account.”

Safaricom Chief Enterprise Business Officer Cynthia Kropac said that previously it took several days before payment was sent out to drivers.

By integrating Mpesa to the transportation service, she said, weekly payments to drivers are readily available once disbursed.

“For passengers, it is about enhancing the customer experience by providing a seamless way of making payments,” she said.

Kropac noted that plans are underway to onboard a bonga points payment option.

“Soon passengers will be able to gain bonga points when they use Uber and can equally use them to make payments,” she said.

According to Safaricom’s results for the last financial year, the telco processed 6.4 billion payments through Mpesa.

CBK data shows that the total number of card payments within the same period in the country stood at 70 million.