Little, Ola Energy sign deal to save customers from transaction costs

Kenya’s merchant payment solution Little SuperApp and oil marketer Ola have signed a deal that will allow customers to use a convenient payment service.

They will use the payment service called Little Pay to buy various oil products and other goods and services from the oil firm.

The deal targets to cut down transaction costs for motorists and other clients. The move will also boost the fight against the spread of Covid-19 through promotion of cashless payments.

 “Many of our drivers earn revenue from cashless and corporate trips. The money sits in the Little Driver account within their Little Driver App. For the driver to transact at various merchant locations, they would need to move the money to their mobile money wallet,” said Little CEO Kamal Budhabhatti.

“With Little Pay, drivers don’t need to move money out of their Little App to pay for services, the new partnership will see many of our drivers and customers save from transaction costs linked to electronic cash transfers,” he added.

Mr Budhabhatti said that they are in the process of extending Fuliza Fuel service based on the data from their drivers. This will allow their over 100,000 drivers to get fuel on credit.

He noted that customers will also be able to pay directly from their bank accounts to the merchant accounts using their Little Wallet or by linking Visa/Mastercard to the Little App.

Kenyans moved Sh5.21 trillion through their phones last year, an equivalent of half of the country’s estimated GDP, spurred by relief measures on mobile phone payments to help curb the spread of coronavirus.

Data by the Central Bank of Kenya shows the total transactions rose by 20 per cent from Sh4.34 trillion the previous year.

This means that an average of Sh14.27 billion was transacted on mobile phones daily between January and December 2020 — some Sh2.81 billion higher than the Sh11.91 billion daily average in 2019.