Airtel Money Kenya launches Bizna Wallet to boost merchant payments
Airtel Money Kenya launched Bizna Wallet on Monday, a digital wallet aimed at small businesses that lets merchants keep business income separate from personal spending without opening a new account. The product targets Kenya’s informal economy, where many traders still use personal mobile money wallets for customer payments, making bookkeeping difficult. Airtel said there are no fees for moving money into a Bizna Wallet, a pricing move meant to encourage adoption among small firms.
The launch comes as Airtel’s share of Kenya’s mobile money market rose to 10.9% and merchant payments emerge as the fastest‑growing segment. Safaricom’s Pochi la Biashara now serves 2.1 million merchants, whose revenue jumped 86% to KES 4 billion ($31 million) in the year to March. Airtel Money itself serves more than six million customers through a network of 270,000 agents and over two million outlets.
Airtel’s recent upgrade of its core payments platform enables faster product rollout and deeper integrations with banks, retailers and government agencies; Bizna Wallet is one of the first products built on that upgraded system. The company also replaced airtime rewards in its loyalty programme with a 50% cashback paid directly into Airtel Money wallets for eligible transactions such as person‑to‑person transfers, merchant payments and bill payments.
With micro, small and medium enterprises employing 14.9 million people and contributing 30-34% of Kenya’s GDP, the question for traders is: Will you move your business earnings into Bizna Wallet to keep finances separate and earn cashback, or stay with your current mobile money wallet?