Safaricom unveils Fuliza ya Pochi: How to qualify, opt-in and activate

Safaricom has officially launched Fuliza Ya Pochi, a landmark overdraft facility engineered to empower micro-businesses and small-scale traders utilizing the Pochi La Biashara platform.

Unveiled during a high-profile launch event in Thika, the product addresses a long-standing liquidity bottleneck for traders.

By allowing merchants to bridge cash flow gaps when their business wallets have insufficient funds, the service ensures that routine business operations, supplier payments, and utility settlements face zero disruptions.

Operating in partnership with Sidian Bank as the underlying financial provider, the rollout immediately opens credit access to more than one million qualifying merchants out of a broader base of 3.3 million active Pochi accounts.

The introduction of Fuliza Ya Pochi marks a significant evolution in Kenya’s mobile financial landscape. Traditionally, Pochi La Biashara was created to allow small-scale entrepreneurs—such as kiosk owners, mama mbogas, and informal vendors—to separate personal funds from business transactions. However, like any retail business, these traders frequently encounter moments where incoming payments lag behind immediate purchasing obligations.

With Fuliza Ya Pochi, Safaricom bridges this exact gap. When a merchant runs low on funds while attempting to pay a supplier or settle a business bill, the overdraft facility triggers automatically, allowing the transaction to go through seamlessly.

This integration relies heavily on transaction consistency, anchoring borrowing privileges directly to a merchant's actual business activities on the platform rather than demanding traditional, cumbersome bank collateral.

Not every account is automatically eligible on day one. To qualify for the Fuliza Ya Pochi overdraft facility, merchants must meet specific activity benchmarks established by Safaricom and its financial partners:

Active Account History: A merchant must have maintained an active Pochi La Biashara account for a minimum duration of six months.

Consistent Transaction Volume: Eligibility and initial credit limits are determined by the frequency and volume of business transactions flowing through the Pochi wallet over time.

Good Credit Standing: Merchants must maintain a clean repayment record free from unresolved defaults on other mobile credit products to ensure smooth approval.

Activating and opting into Fuliza Ya Pochi is designed to be fast and user-friendly. Merchants can complete the onboarding process directly from their mobile phones using two primary methods:

Dial *334# from your registered Pochi wallet phone number.

Select Option 8 for Pochi la Biashara.

Select Option 1 to Join Pochi Fuliza.

Carefully read and accept the Terms and Conditions.

Enter your M-PESA PIN to authenticate and confirm your subscription.

Open My OneApp on your smartphone.

Navigate to the Pochi Mini App section.

Locate the prompt for Fuliza Ya Pochi and select opt-in.

Review the terms and authorize the request using your secure credentials.

Once successfully opted in, the service runs quietly in the background, ready to deploy funds the moment a transaction exceeds your available balance.

Repaying the overdraft is automated to ensure convenience. Any money subsequently received into the Pochi La Biashara wallet goes toward automatically clearing the outstanding Fuliza balance. Merchants are expected to settle their balances within standard credit windows (typically up to 30 days).

Safaricom urges traders to maintain steady repayment habits. Timely settlement not only restores full credit limits instantly but also creates room for limit reviews, allowing successful small businesses to scale their borrowing power as their enterprise grows.

Conversely, failure to service the overdraft beyond 91 days risks suspension of the service and potential escalation to Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB), making disciplined cash flow management vital for every participating merchant.