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Good practice Imported

Voice-Guided M-Pesa Balance Checks — An IVR Accessibility Feature for Blind and Low-Vision Customers

Kenya · Nairobi · See the Kenya profile · See the Nairobi profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 86% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

In December 2017 Safaricom added an Interactive Voice Response option to M-Pesa, Kenya's dominant mobile-money service, so blind and low-vision customers could hear their PIN-entry steps and balance read aloud — reducing reliance on sighted intermediaries and exposure to fraud.

Voice-Guided M-Pesa Balance Checks — An IVR Accessibility Feature for Blind and Low-Vision Customers

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Safaricom PLC, with Kenya Union of the Blind
Period
2017–present
Keywords
mobile money, fintech, telecom, disability inclusion

Context

M-Pesa is Kenya's dominant mobile-money service, used by tens of millions of Safaricom subscribers to send money, pay bills and check balances via a USSD menu on ordinary phones. Before December 2017, blind and low-vision customers who could not read the on-screen menu had to rely on other people to complete transactions or check their balance.

Activities

Safaricom launched an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) option, reachable by dialling 234, that reads the M-Pesa menu aloud and prompts users through entering their PIN before reading back their balance. The launch was timed around the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities and announced jointly with the Kenya Union of the Blind.

Results

At launch the IVR service covered balance inquiries only, with Safaricom saying it planned to extend the same voice-guided approach to other M-Pesa transactions over time.

Conclusions

No independent evaluation or usage figures were found confirming how many blind or low-vision customers use the IVR feature, or whether Safaricom's promised expansion beyond balance checks was delivered.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Cost not disclosed; an IVR add-on to an existing USSD service.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Launched December 2017, unchanged in scope as of this review.
Staffing & skills
Safaricom product team, Kenya Union of the Blind advisory input

Conditions for success

  • reuse of an existing, widely known access code (234) rather than a new app
  • protecting customers' PIN privacy and independence as the explicit design goal

Common failure modes

  • no usage figures or independent evaluation published
  • unclear whether the promised expansion beyond balance checks was ever delivered

Where it fits

Governance type
private telecom operator
Scale
national
Income level
lower-middle income

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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