Airtel Tanzania, in partnership with I&M Bank Tanzania, has launched an overdraft mobile money service that will enable customers to complete their transactions seamlessly without sufficient funds in their Airtel Money wallets, subject to terms and conditions.
Dubbed Kamilisha, the overdraft service will be facilitated by I&M Bank Tanzania who reassures customers that their transactions won’t be denied due to lack of funds. Once registered, Airtel Money customers will be able to access the overdraft service and make repayments through the Airtel Money Menu from their mobile phones.
The transactions that customers will complete using Kamilisha include Person-to-Person (P2P) transfer, purchase of airtime and data bundles and bill payment to Luku, Dawasa which has full interoperability with My Airtel app.
Isaac Nchunda, the Director of Airtel Money services at Airtel Tanzania, said that Airtel Money has always been looking for innovative ways to fulfil customers’ day to day needs, especially the convenience of financial transactions.
“Airtel Money users can access Kamilisha through Airtel Money main menu *150*60#, select 0 Fund my wallet, then 1, Kamilisha and opt-in to the service. We are committed to finding new solutions that are transforming the lives of customers and providing financial empowerment.”
“Through our analysis, our customers’ transactional hurdles are often caused by shortage of funds in their wallets. Through Kamilisha, users will be able to complete transactions that would have otherwise failed or postponed due to shortage of funds,” added Nchunda.
Baseer Mohammed, the CEO, I&M Bank, Tanzania emphasized that the strategic partnership with Airtel has been one of the key Digital innovations to provide access of financial solutions to a large section of the banking community.
“This partnership therefore marks a major milestone in our digital transformation journey and affirms our commitment to provide access of banking solutions to even more of the customers,” Baseer added.
Kamilisha is powered by Yabx, a fintech venture offering credit products across 12 countries in Africa. Yabx’s Director for Africa Business – Eunice RG, said: “We, at Yabx, are excited to work with Airtel Tanzania and I&M Bank Tanzania to deliver Kamilisha. Using Yabx’s technology, the partnership seeks to enable the Airtel wallet base to shop now and pay later.
Dr. Bernard Y. Kibesse, the Deputy Governor, Department of Financial Stability and Deepening, at the Bank of Tanzania, said that BOT has always focused on encouraging such partnerships in the financial sector to provide access to credit, thereby promoting the key objectives of financial inclusion in the country. Kamilisha is one of several initiatives that I&M has undertaken to promote financial inclusion and deliver value for their customers.
Yabx aims to simplify financial access to over two billion unbanked customers and MSMEs in the emerging markets of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and Latin America. Yabx offers a platform to enable digital lending, merchant and MSME financing, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products, where they help banks and financial services organizations underwrite the customers using alternate data.
The company leverages technology and analytics to reduce the cost of delivering financial services, thereby bringing banking services to the unbanked. This is achieved through strategic partnerships with leading banks, microfinance institutions, credit bureaus, mobile financial services providers, mobile network operators and handset manufacturers.
Incubated by Comviva, Yabx is led by a team of experts and entrepreneurs and currently operates from the Hague, New Delhi, Bogota and Nairobi.
