Are you a Kenyan working in the UK, Europe, USA, Middle East or anywhere else and need to send money home? Well, sending money to Kenya from UK or Europe has never been easier. In addition to several other remittance options, you can now send money to Kenya via Mpesa online. You don’t need to visit an Mpesa agent in your country. This has been made possible by the International payments provider Skrill (formerly Moneybookers).
Skrill is a global e-commerce company that facilitates online payments much the same way that PayPal does. The major advantage over PayPal is its wide range of international withdrawal and payment methods that includes Kenya’s groundbreaking M-Pesa.
Instructions: Skrill to Mpesa Online
- Create an account on the Skrill website.
- Enter your account details and complete the sign-up process.
- You will receive an email asking you to verify the account. Click on the account verification link provided.
- Next thing you need to do is to add a credit/debit card and/or bank account to your Skrill account. This will serve as your source of funds anytime you want to remit money to Kenya or make online payments.
- To send money to Kenya via M-Pesa, look for the Skrill IT logo in your account as shown in the screen capture below.
- In the next window, scroll down and look the link, “send money directly to an M-PESA mobile wallet in Kenya.“
- Click on “Send money to Kenya now”.
- Select your country of residence from the drop down menu and enter the amount you want to send to Kenya. Select Kenya from the “recipient will receive” menu. Take note of the amount the amount the recipient will receive. Skrill converts the currency to Kenya shillings at the wholesale exchange rate they offer plus a fee of 3.99% for remittances to Kenya involving conversion of USD, GBP, EUR, CAD and PLN currencies.
- Click on Mpesa to enter the recipients name. In the next window, enter the recipients name and mobile phone number.
- At this point the rest is really quite straightforward, you will be given the option of logging into your account if you haven’t already logged in. Select the payment method which will be the credit/debit card or bank account you used during registration.
- Review and confirm the details and click send.
- The recipient in Kenya receives the funds instantly! You also get a web and email confirmation.
- Call your recipient to confirm they have the cash in their M-Pesa account.
- Leave a comment below thanking me for providing you with this useful information 🙂
Tips & Warnings
- When you compute the total fee, that is, the exchange rate offered, exchange rate risk fee (3.99%) and the transfer fee (sending money costs 1% of the amount sent but is capped at a maximum of €10), Skrill is considerably cheaper than using an M-Pesa agent but with the added convenience of not having to physically visit the agent.
Resources
Skrill Online Payment and Money Transfer Service
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