Coronavirus Business Solutions in Kenya: The Kenyan economy has not been spared from the impact of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) that is devastating cities and causing an economic meltdown across the world. Since the first case of the viral scourge was confirmed by the National Influenza Centre laboratory at the National Public Health Laboratories of the Ministry of Health on March 12, businesses across the country have taken a major hit.
From shrinking revenues to difficulties in facilitating transactions, and reduced ability to honour monthly loan repayments. Most of these difficulties have been compounded by measures from the Ministry of Health that are aimed at preventing the spread of the virus. Some of these measures include social distancing and a discouragement against use of cash money when making business transactions.
With more Kenyans going cashless and keeping social distance, businesses that are offering cashless solutions such as e-commerce capabilities now have the upper hand. But small, medium and even large businesses in Kenya now have a reason to smile. This is because despite the upsurge of the current entrepreneurship hurdles, entrepreneur-friendly solutions are now emerging.
The most advanced among these solutions is the e-commerce solution that is being provided by the Co-operative Bank. This solution is tailor made to ensure that businesses can receive card-payment online. “With the outbreak of the Coronavirus, customers are going cashless. The business owners who are at an advantage are those with cashless solutions. We have invested heavily in e-commerce solutions to guarantee merchants and their customers safety and quick flow of payments from their customers end into the merchants bank account,” says Co-op Bank in a statement.
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According to Co-op Bank, businesses will not only get this sort of convenience, but will also enjoy the subsequent increase in sales, with customers able to transact at any time from any location in the world. “We are guaranteeing outstanding real-time processing speed with average authorization response time of below 2 seconds, real time reporting, scalability and security,” says the bank in a statement.
This is echoed by the urgency with which businesses want convenience and efficiency. “We are operating business at a time when an entrepreneur’s most coveted asset is convenience. We want the sort of convenience that does not evoke memories of the turbulence that the economy has caused,” says Erica Akoth, who runs a home delivery green grocers business in Lower Kabete, Nairobi.
Additionally, customers can transact using multiple currencies such as Kes, US Dollar, Euro and the Great Britain Pound, with a variety of payment cards including the international VISA credit and debit cards.
To further enhance her coronavirus business solutions in Kenya, the bank also has an innovative product that enabled merchants to receive payments done through Lipa Na M-Pesa directly into their bank accounts. “This is a free service. Merchants will no longer have to retain the money received as payments on their phones since it will be instantly deposited into their Co-op Bank account,” said Co-op in a statement.
To enjoy this free service from Co-op Bank, you will need to simply SMS the words ‘Lipa Na M-Pesa’ together with location of their business to 16111.
After sending these two details, Co-op Bank will send one of their representatives to you to facilitate the linking of your Co-op Bank account with your M-Pesa Till Number.
This service will also be provided to you at no extra cost. If you don’t have a ‘Lipa Na M-Pesa’ Till Number, you can still follow the same procedure. Once the bank representative visits your shop, he or she will help you to register and get a Till Number that you will use to link your payments t your account.