Mobile healthcare wallet has disbursed about Sh205.12 million in medical payouts since it was launched in the country two years ago.
The health wallet developed by CarePay, PharmAccess and Safaricom allows users to send, receive, save and pay for medical services using their mobile phones.
In a statement released yesterday, the firm said it now has close to one million lives registered to the platform with more than 155,000 visits.
The firm revealed that 60 per cent of subscribers are men saving at a higher rate than women and that the highest volumes of savings transactions are from the 25-34 age bracket.
“Conventional wisdom tells us that women save comparably more of their income than men. We have been really interested to see that 60 per cent of customers saving on multiple occasions on M-TIBA are actually men,” M-tiba director of product implementation Steve Maina said. “We know that they are definitely attracted to the immediacy and ease of mobile saving.”
With average savings ranging between Sh80-Sh1,000 per transaction, M-tiba said the average amount saved was less among the youth compared to older age groups.
“Young M-tiba customers are comfortable using mobile technology for their occupation, fun and finances,” Maina said. “We are clearly seeing that the young have the discipline, even if their saving transaction sizes are a bit smaller than their older peers.”
He added that most service providers assume the younger generation lacks both discipline and financial muscle to save on a regular basis.
Data collated by the firm showed Saturday was the day with the highest savings levels by users across all age groups.
“Saturday saving is indicative of a consistent behaviour being displayed by lots of Kenyans. This tells us that Kenya’s savings culture is evolving and growing though there is still much to be done,” he said.
