How Airtel Money is Rewarding Everyday Payments

Ever found yourself stuck in a supermarket queue because someone ahead is waiting on someone from outside to complete the payment? Even worse, have you been that person holding up the line as you wait on the person outside to complete the payment? We have all been there. The unspoken tension and anxiety in the air from the glares is almost deafening. But in defence of the person making the payment from outside, maybe, just maybe, they are after enjoying Airtel Money ‘Rudishiwa.’

What is ‘Rudishiwa’? Rudishiwa, as the name suggests, is Airtel Money’s way of saying thank you by reimbursing transaction charges to customers in the form of airtime.

Picture this, you transfer money from your bank account to your mobile money account, automatically incurring a transaction fee. You then purchase electricity, groceries, pay your water bill, send money to friends and family, all these transactions incurring more and more charges. Essentially, transaction fees are certain in our everyday lives and there lies the need to save some money.

In a bid to help the everyday Kenyan to save more, we have been running a cashback program dubbed ‘Rudishiwa transaction fee,’ since 2023. The program started off by reimbursing withdrawal transaction costs as airtime. For any withdrawal at an Airtel Money agent, a customer received back the transaction cost as airtime; for instance, on withdrawing KES 1000, a customer received the KES 25 charged for the transaction as airtime.

In 2024, informed by the growing digital payments landscape in the country, we extended ‘Rudishiwa’ to paybill payments, offering back 50% of the transaction fee back as airtime. At this point, payments had taken a turn for the better, rewarding customers with more after making transactions. So, today on purchasing electricity tokens, you instantly receive the tokens and airtime on top of it. Talk of searching for diamonds and at the end you struck gold.

With the deepening convergence between traditional banks and mobile wallets, we launched ‘Smarta Bundles,’ a comprehensive data bundle package. The package incorporates data, voice minutes, SMS, and exclusive Airtel Money benefits. With the Smarta bundles packages of KES 1000 and KES 1500, customers transacting on Airtel Money now receive 100% reimbursement of their transaction costs as airtime when they withdraw at any Airtel Money agent, make payments through any paybill numbers and when they move money from their bank accounts to their own Airtel Money wallets. The benefits that come with the Smarta Bundles are exhaustively covered herein.

Last month, we rolled out Rudishiwa transaction fee on Bank to wallet transactions to all Airtel Money customers, reimbursing 50% of the transaction costs as airtime. However, the Smarta Bundles KES 1000 and KES 1500 subscribers continue to enjoy 100% cashback on their Bank to Wallet transactions.

To ensure more customers enjoy these benefits, we have introduced the weekly KES 300 and KES 500 Smarta bundles which enable you to enjoy the Smarta Bundles benefits at a lower cost. Beyond the 100% rudishiwa transaction fee across withdrawal, paybill and bank to wallet transactions, the weekly Smarta Bundles come with unmatched data and voice benefits.

Airtel’s innovative spirit is driven by Customer feedback; listening to our customers and responding to their needs drives every solution we develop. So, to those holding up the queues, enjoying these benefits solo – how about extending them and having those doing the shopping also enjoy? You’d help them save up on their airtime cost, and of course you would have also saved those waiting in supermarket queues.