PesaLink based mobile payment application for person to business payments

Abstract

High transaction costs have continued to be of great concern for mobile payment users. The current setup of mobile payment is the provision of a wallet that can be topped up by either exchanging cash for electronic equivalent through an agent or by moving funds from a bank account into the wallet via a mobile banking application or internet banking. There is a cost incurred when moving money to a mobile wallet from a bank account to facilitate paying for utilities, goods and services. There is also a transaction fee charged by the Mobile Money Operator, this along with the bank transfer fees and taxation increases the cost of Mobile money payment transactions. The objective of this study was to research the current payment systems that are being used to make payments for goods, services and utilities along with their deficiencies, and propose an alternative solution using real-time bank-to-bank transfers through PesaLink. The focus was on enabling low-cost person-to-business payments without relying on mobile wallets, though the approach can be extended to person-to-person transactions as well. A prototype mobile payment application, developed using Agile methodology, demonstrated the feasibility of using PesaLink to eliminate the need for wallet-based transfers. Testing with sandbox bank accounts confirmed successful real-time fund transfers, reduced transaction steps, and cost-saving potential. The iterative Agile process allowed flexibility in development, accommodating changes in requirements during the project lifecycle.

Keywords: Mobile payments, real-time payments, person-to-business payments, low-cost, no wallet, Agile methodology