M-PESA’s newest characteristic is shared entry to your pockets

Kenya’s main telecoms operator, Safaricom, is testing a refined change in how cash strikes throughout the nation’s most dominant monetary product, M-PESA.

In January 2026, the telco added Shiriki Pay, a brand new mini-app throughout the M-PESA tremendous app. Shiriki Pay permits a consumer so as to add as much as two beneficiaries who pays retailers utilizing the sponsor’s pockets steadiness, topic to a preset month-to-month cap. 

It’s an experiment designed to check delegated spending with out transferring possession of the funds. For a platform constructed on the concept of non-public wallets, that represents a significant shift.

The mechanics of delegated spending

M-PESA’s tremendous app serves as a hub for a number of monetary companies, together with funds and financial savings, in addition to loans and investments. 

Inside it, Safaricom has been constructing mini-apps, that are light-weight companies that run inside the primary app slightly than as standalone merchandise. Shiriki Pay is one such module.

Customers can entry Shiriki Pay via the Monetary Providers tab within the M-PESA app. The mini-app seems alongside different modules, similar to financial savings and standing orders. 

Throughout setup, customers should settle for the phrases and situations earlier than authenticating with their M-PESA PIN or fingerprint. 

The interface is stripped again, that includes a dashboard with two main buttons–“Add beneficiary” and “Pay”–alongside a easy checklist view exhibiting present beneficiaries and their month-to-month caps. There isn’t a seen breakdown of utilization analytics past transaction confirmations.

A sponsor can add as much as two beneficiaries by getting into their Safaricom numbers and setting a month-to-month spending restrict, say, KES 1,000 ($7.75). The beneficiary receives an SMS notification confirming the association.

From there, the beneficiary can provoke funds to retailers utilizing three M-PESA rails. Purchase Items refers to funds made to a until quantity, usually utilized by retail retailers and bodily companies. Paybill is the channel utilized by establishments similar to faculties, utilities, and corporates, the place customers enter a enterprise quantity and an account reference. Pochi la Biashara is a simplified enterprise pockets for casual merchants who need to separate enterprise collections from private funds with out establishing a full service provider until.

The beneficiary selects the service, enters the quantity, and chooses the sponsor because the cost supply. The funds are deducted instantly from the sponsor’s pockets, not from the beneficiary’s steadiness. The sponsor’s preset restrict caps complete month-to-month utilization—limits reset on the finish of every month slightly than rolling over.

Whereas testing the companies, I observed that beneficiaries can’t withdraw money, however can provoke peer-to-peer transfers, which Shiriki Pay doesn’t disclose throughout set-up. This implies the service just isn’t restricted to service provider funds.

Technically, Shiriki Pay seems to perform as a permissions layer on high of an present pockets slightly than as a separate pooled account. No sub-wallet is created, and no funds are ring-fenced upfront. Transactions are executed in opposition to the sponsor’s steadiness in actual time, retaining liquidity centralised and avoiding float fragmentation throughout a number of accounts.

The chance additionally stays centralised since any misuse in the end hits the sponsor’s pockets.

Spending energy with out possession 

M-PESA already operates one other mini app referred to as Ratiba, which handles standing orders. A standing order is a hard and fast, recurring instruction—for instance, KES 15,000 ($115) to a landlord on the fifth of each month. Ratiba executes routinely on an outlined schedule.

Shiriki Pay does one thing completely different. Ratiba removes human discretion after setup, however Shiriki Pay depends upon it.

With Shiriki Pay, the beneficiary decides when to provoke cost. The sponsor solely defines the restrict. Ratiba creates predictability for recurring obligations, whereas Shiriki Pay redistributes spending authority inside a managed boundary.

That distinction is necessary as a result of it displays two completely different product philosophies. Ratiba is about automation and reliability. Shiriki Pay is about belief, supervision, and versatile family budgeting.

Why Safaricom is testing this now

Some Kenyan households typically function round a central pockets holder—a mother or father, a partner, or a enterprise proprietor—who receives revenue and redistributes it. The usual technique has been to ship funds to a different pockets, successfully relinquishing management as soon as the switch is full.

Shiriki Pay removes that switch step. As a substitute of sending KES 5,000 ($39) upfront, a sponsor can grant a KES 1,000 ($7.75) month-to-month service provider allowance. The beneficiary features entry to spending however not money autonomy.

In an atmosphere the place incomes are below stress and budgeting self-discipline is tighter, managed delegation might attraction to households managing college charges, meals buying, or shared payments.

The design has a industrial logic. It’s limiting utilization to Purchase Items, Paybill, Pochi la Biashara, and peer-to-peer transfers to channel extra transactions via service provider rails, that are central to M-PESA’s income combine. It additionally retains worth anchored in a main pockets slightly than dispersing it throughout a number of consumer balances.

Shared monetary preparations embedded inside a single ecosystem can increase switching prices, significantly when complete households coordinate spending inside a single pockets.

How far can shared cash go? 

Shiriki Pay permits a most of two beneficiaries, limits expire month-to-month, and there’s no analytics layer seen to the sponsor past transaction notifications.

That raises questions on scale: is Shiriki Pay meant as a light-weight family budgeting device, or is it an early step towards extra complicated shared-wallet performance?

Safaricom may increase beneficiary limits, introduce spending insights, or join delegated spending to credit score and financial savings merchandise if adoption grows. If utilization stays marginal, it could stay a distinct segment module inside an more and more crowded tremendous app that has over 60 mini apps.