Digital startup launches product to help restaurant workers save tips

Shukran

Shukran Sacco team speaking to hotel workers during an activation in Nairobi.

Photo credit: Courtesy

What you need to know:

  • Shukran targets to capitalize on the productivity of Kenya’s service industry.
  • Company plans to hold its first Annual General Meeting on May 29, 2023.

Digital tipping platform, Shukran, has devised a way to encourage workers in the hospitality sector improve their savings culture, with a product to instantly turn tips into savings.

The new platform will see restaurant workers directly receive and save tips, get loans and earn dividends.  

Shukran says that through the newly formed Shukran Sacco, it targets to capitalize on the productivity of Kenya’s service industry, whose economic contribution continues to grow.

Financial development

“We want to empower service workers to earn a better living by giving them an opportunity to save and support their financial development. Through the sacco, we are creating a community of financially empowered individuals who have access to affordable financial services and can achieve their financial goals,” Mathenge Waweru, Shukran CEO, said.

He said the company launched the product out of a need across the restaurant industry for a unifying aacco, indicating that the goal is to bring all service workers in the restaurant and service industry at large, to save in the Sacco.

Receive tips directly

The company plans to hold its first Annual General Meeting on May 29, where service workers from the restaurant industry have been invited.

“Most of the time, after I've offered proper service to my clients, they would want to appreciate me, either with M-Pesa or cash. However, at the end of my shift, I would find it really hard to save my tips because of unexpected expenses that would come and I'm sure that this applies to the rest of my colleagues in the industry,” said Clarence, a service worker.

“Fortunately, I learnt about Shukran and I couldn't believe that I could receive tips directly to my phone and save them directly to my SACCO account,” he added.