VCL launches new Mpesa App
NEO SENOKO
MASERU – Roughly a month after going independent, VCL Financial Services has launched the new “My Mpesa App” that will allow customers to transact easily as the company moves along with new technological developments. Vodacom Lesotho revealed in July that its Mpesa division would now operate under a newly established independent company known as VCL Financial Services.
Authorised by the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL), the entity is now a licensed financial services provider, fully owned by Vodacom Lesotho. The new Mpesa App was launched on Wednesday this week and will allow only registered Mpesa clients to transact with ease as compared to the normal USSD offering.
At the moment, only Android users will be eligible to use the App while iPhone users, on the other hand, will be catered for at a later stage. Currently, users will be able to send and receive money, pay bills as well as buy with the new Mpesa App. VCL Financial Services Managing Director, Palesa Mphunyetsane, said during the launch on Wednesday that the new App is aimed at improving service delivery in a world where technology keeps on evolving.
She said the App is only available to Android users because many of the company’s more than 800 000 clients use it. “More than 800 000 clients use smart phones; while around 524 000 use our Mpesa service. And around 99 percent of these clients use Android phones while only 1 percent is on iPhones. That is why we focused on Android users, but we will move to other users in the near future,” Mphunyetsane said.
Due to its convenience, she said the new App will help clients to avoid challenges that include sending money to a wrong person, a process that takes a long time to recover the money through the use of the USSD service. “The USSD service will still be available for our clients while we keep on developing the App going forward. It is further important to take this moment to appreciate all our Mpesa users and business partners who continuously keep helping us achieve our goals,” she said.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Malatola Phothane, Manager Mpesa Commercial at VCL Financial Services, that smartphone users who have accounts on Google play store should go to search “My Mpesa App” and download the Lesotho version. “Users will find a list of other Apps, but should focus only on the Mpesa App Lesotho. Very soon the App will have all the services offered by our normal USSD service, but for now, we decided to focus on the most important offerings,” Phothane said.