Safaricom to launch E-Commerce site next month

According to Techweez, Kenyan telecoms giant Safaricom (Stock; SCOM) is to launch its “Masoko” E-commerce portal in the weeks ahead to take on dominant players like Jumia and Kilimall.

The development is among the meaningful ventures by the company which earns a big chunk of its revenues from mobile money services and through operating mobile network services in the country.

In May during the company’s full year 2017 results release, Safaricom had announced it would leverage on its M-Pesa mobile money platform to make this project a reality.

“Masoko is meant to be an avenue for local merchants, including supermarkets, and customers to interact and trade in a bid for Safaricom to boost its M-Pesa payments platform. Masoko is said to stock various items from tech products to fashion products and even food products. Techweez reported.

The launch will be in cooperation with Sendy, a logistics firm that uses a mobile technology to connect drivers to customers. Its worth noting that Sendy is financially backed by Safaricom.

Though it remains unclear when exactly the e-commerce site will make its debut, a launch is expected to take place before the month of August comes to a close.