Safaricom has handed over the fifth apartment in the ongoing Maisha Ni M-PESA TU Promotion.
45-year-old Mzee Juma Saidi, an electrical engineer from Mombasa County is the new owner of the fifth M-PESA TU apartment worth KES 7.8 Million located in Nairobi’s Kahawa West estate.
Mzee Saidi, who works as a maintenance manager at a Cement Company in Kampala, is a regular user of M-PESA services who frequently sends money back home to fend for his family.
“Working far away from my family isn’t easy, but mobile money transfer has made it a little easier to manage things back home. I constantly use M-PESA to pay utility bills and pay contractors for the ongoing construction of my house based in Mombasa. M-PESA has honestly played a big role for me and my family and even when I am away, I feel comfortable that I can still take care of my family,” said Mzee Saidi.
The father of three says he travels back home at least once every three months, and through M-PESA he is able to pay school fees, household bills and sort a majority of his family’s financial needs even when out of the country.
“Sending and receiving cash through M-PESA across borders has greatly made things easier for Kenyans living abroad and we are glad to be part of the transformation in their lives. Over time, M-PESA has enabled Kenya to contribute to Africa’s Digital transformation, and this is just one of the many ways in which we would like to thank our customers for being with us for the last 11 years,” said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom.
Previous winners of Maisha ni M-PESA TU apartments include, Jeniffer Kathure, a single mother of three from Muthara, Meru County, James Njagi, a metal artisan at Gikomba market, Eric Lindenberg, a South African designer residing in Nairobi and Benson Kilonzi, a small-scale farmer and jua kali artisan from Ithumula, Kitui County.
In addition to the two remaining apartments, more than 400,000 M-PESA customers and 1,900 agents have won instant prizes including cash and float amounts of KES 2,000, KES, 5,000 and KES 10,000.
The promotion, which begun eight weeks ago, seeks to reward M-PESA’s more than 28.6 million customers and 150,000 agents with KES 300 million in cash prizes and 100M in airtime, data and SMS rewards. Seven lucky customers and eight lucky agents stand to win an apartment and KES 1 million in float respectively.
