Safaricom extends Fuliza overdraft to over 1 million Pochi La Biashara traders in Kenya

Safaricom launched Fuliza Ya Pochi on 22 October 2026 at Makongeni Market in Thika, extending its Fuliza overdraft to traders who take payments through Pochi La Biashara. Safaricom said in its launch announcement that more than 1 million qualifying Pochi La Biashara merchants can use the facility.

Pochi La Biashara is a business wallet that sits on a trader's existing M-Pesa line, so customer payments are kept apart from personal money. Safaricom says Pochi La Biashara serves more than two million micro-merchants.

The overdraft lets a merchant complete a payment even when the business wallet does not hold enough money. The amount is repaid automatically from later payments received into the merchant's Pochi wallet. Merchants can use it to pay suppliers, make Lipa na M-Pesa Buy Goods payments, send money and settle utility bills.

Each merchant's limit is set by business activity. Safaricom did not publish the overdraft limits or the borrowing charges.

The service is open to merchants who have actively used Pochi La Biashara for more than six months. They can sign up through the Pochi Mini App on My OneApp or by dialling *334#.

“Across Kenya, thousands of micro-businesses face daily cash flow gaps that can mean missed sales, delayed stock purchases, or postponed supplier payments,” Peter Ndegwa, Group CEO of Safaricom PLC, said in the announcement. “Fuliza Ya Pochi helps merchants overcome these short-term challenges while continuing to build their businesses.”

He added: “As merchants transact and grow on M-PESA, they create a pathway to greater financial opportunities.”

Ndegwa said Fuliza serves 17 million customers on the individual side, as quoted by Citizen Digital on 22 October. Grace Wambui, a trader, said: “I will now be able to borrow through the service and restock my business,” as quoted by the same site.

Fuliza started in 2019 and was later extended to businesses through Fuliza ya Biashara, an overdraft for qualifying Lipa na M-Pesa merchants.

Safaricom earned KSh 6 billion from Fuliza in the financial year ended March 2026, 46 per cent more than a year earlier, and M-Pesa revenue reached KSh 182.7 billion in the same year, The Star reported on 23 October. Safaricom has 71.6 million customers in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Safaricom said the launch follows its recent fee measures for Pochi payments: for three months, customer payments of up to KSh 200 are free and the charge on any payment is capped at KSh 50.

Those measures date from August. Safaricom's tariff notice sets the reduced Pochi charges from 1 August to 31 October 2026, the Kenyan tech site Tech-ish reported on 1 August; before that, only payments of up to KSh 100 were free. The charge is paid by the customer sending the money, not the trader.

Under the reduced table, a customer pays KSh 7 on a payment of KSh 201 to 500, KSh 13 on KSh 501 to 1,000, KSh 23 on KSh 1,001 to 1,500, KSh 33 on KSh 1,501 to 2,500 and KSh 50 on KSh 2,501 to 250,000. A KSh 10,000 payment that cost KSh 90 before the cut costs KSh 50.

The notice does not set the charges that will apply from 1 November.