By Mkala Mwaghesha
When mobile money transfer services were launched in the country and then spread to the rest of the world in 2007, thanks to Safaricom’s M-Pesa service, no one thought that there could possibly be a product that could match it.
Competitors in the telecom sector threw themselves into a frenzy trying to match M-Pesa’s success. First up was Orange Money, which was launched in November 2008. It was followed by Zap in February 2009 (later named Airtel Money in August 2011). Finally, yuCash was launched in December 2009. All these products were hinged on the mother telecom companies, with their mail purpose being to ensure customers do not shift to the competition to access the services.
But Oscar Ikinu, Mobile Pay Limited co-founder and Managing Director, decided to take a different tack when his company launched Tangaza Pesa in January last year. And in just 11 months since being launched, Tangaza pesa surpassed yuCash, Airtel money and Orange money, and is now hot on the heels of M-Pesa. So what is it the secret?
“The security offered by our product has been our bedrock. We are at 100 per cent on safety currently. We have never received a reported cause of fraud on Tangaza, ” says Acting Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager, Gichane Muraguri.
Tangaza uses Biometric technology during registration and consecutive transactions to ensure their stellar record remains perfect. “We use a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) during registration and transactions. The ID produced during registration is checked immediately from government databases for verification. Even commercial banks do not have that on-the-spot privilege,” he explains.
