Safaricom and Gulf African Bank Launch Shariah-Compliant Mobile Loan Product

Safaricom and Gulf African Bank have announced a partnership to a Shari’ah-compliant mobile financing product dubbed Halal Pesa riding on M-Pesa.

The two companies said Halal Pesa now becomes the first Shariah-compliant mobile loan solution in the country. M-pesa users accessing the loan product will have a repayment period of 30 days at a 5% commodity Murabaha margin. The limit can be increased based on a customer’s usage of Halal Pesa.     

Halal Pesa will empower M-PESA customers who have previously been locked out of access to financing due to barriers such as the lack of Shariah modelled mobile facilities.

“Gulf African Bank is a strategic partner that will enable us to deliver affordable and convenient M-PESA services such as Halal Pesa that are Shariah-compliant in accordance to the Islamic faith,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO -Safaricom.