Safaricom - 2020 Sustainable Business Report

SAFARICOM 2020 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 84 INTRODUCTION OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR STAKEHOLDERS CONCLUDING REMARKS M-Jeki Twenty dealers joined the M-Jeki platform during the year, bringing the total to 80 dealers. The platform allows dealers and agents to access additional working capital financing (unsecured short-term loans) to purchase airtime and devices, based on their trading history with Safaricom. Agents Our network of agents sell airtime, data and M-PESA products and devices. The significant increase in the number of active agents can be attributed to the automation of the agent onboarding process, which has made it far easier and quicker, a change in the parameters used to allocate tills to agents, which has led to an increased number of agents qualifying for additional tills, more active management of agents through regional teams and agent ‘champions’, and a concerted effort to reactivate dormant tills by our regional teams. Stawisha Biashara Our loyalty programme for agents, Stawisha Biashara continued to gain traction during the year and KSh 142.7 million has been redeemed since October 2018. The programme awards agents a point for every 1 000 transactions and points can be redeemed as float in their tills. Delivering value to our agents In spite of the COVID-19 restrictions introduced towards the end of the year, we were able to hold 11 biannual agent forums in all six regions across the country. We held an Agent Awards event in each of the regions and awarded KSh 20 450 000 in prizes to 118 agent stores and 9 agent head offices. The principal concerns of our agents remain the ability to buy float directly to obtain line allocation and earn commissions, fraud trends and sanctions, security, and logbook availability (the elimination of transaction registers). In response, we have increased the availability of financing to agent head offices and now have 1 600 agent head offices rotating funds of KSh 1 billion. We also increased the amount of weekend capital financing from KSh 500 million to KSh 800 million. We adjusted the parameters of automated float financing to 50:50, which allows agent head offices that have maintained a float level of KSh 20 000 in 30 per cent of their tills to apply for more tills. As part of our ongoing efforts to assist agents with their security, we distributed 607 sets of CCTV cameras to 218 agents. To help combat fraud, we distributed 42 500 UV lights to agents to help them detect counterfeit currency. Engagement with our agents FY20 FY19 No. of biannual principal forums 11 28 Agent attendance 2 200 1 980 • We will continue to digitise and streamline dealer processes. • We will continue to support our business partners as they navigate through the challenges brought about by COVID-19. Looking ahead M-PESA agents FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 130 000+ 156 000 167 083 173 259