Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) has launched Fuliza Ya Pochi, extending its Fuliza credit ecosystem to qualifying Pochi La Biashara merchants and giving more than one million micro-businesses access to an overdraft facility.
The facility allows merchants to complete payments for suppliers, Buy Goods purchases, money transfers and utility bills when their Pochi wallet balance is insufficient.
Peter Ndegwa, Group CEO of Safaricom PLC, said that thousands of micro-businesses face daily cash-flow gaps that can lead to missed sales or delayed stock purchases and that Fuliza Ya Pochi helps them overcome these short-term challenges while building their businesses.
Eligibility is limited to merchants who have actively used Pochi La Biashara for more than six months and who can enrol through the Pochi Mini App on My OneApp or by dialing *334#.
Upon enrolment, each merchant receives a credit limit determined by their business activity and repayments are automatically deducted from future payments into the merchant’s Pochi wallet.
Safaricom notes that Pochi La Biashara currently serves over two million micro-merchants, though the new overdraft will be available only to qualifying users.
Fuliza, first introduced in 2019 for customers, was later extended to businesses through Fuliza ya Biashara for qualifying Lipa na M-PESA merchants, and Fuliza Ya Pochi represents the next evolution of the service.
The launch follows recent Safaricom measures that zero-rate all customer payments up to KSh200 and cut charges by 50 per cent for payments above KSh200, capped at KSh50, for a three-month period.
Safaricom has not disclosed specific overdraft limits or the borrowing charges associated with Fuliza Ya Pochi.
