Airtel Pushes Deeper Into Small Business Payments as the Fight for Merchant Transactions Intensifies. What Bizna WalletLaunch Means for Traders.

Airtel Money has launched Bizna Wallet as it seeks to move beyond attracting mobile money users and become a bigger part of how small businesses receive payments and manage their daily finances. The wallet is aimed at kiosk owners, market traders, boda boda riders, matatu operators, salons and other small businesses that often use personal mobile money accounts for commercial transactions. Existing Airtel Money customers can activate the service from their phones without completing a separate registration process or acquiring additional equipment.

Separating business and personal money
Many small traders receive customer payments through the same wallets they use for household spending. This can make it difficult to determine how much the business has earned, monitor daily expenses or maintain clear transaction records. Bizna Wallet gives traders a separate place to receive and manage business income. Users can monitor daily sales, access mini-statements, receive payments from different mobile money networks and transfer funds between wallets and bank accounts. Airtel also says payments held in the wallet will be protected from unauthorised reversals, reducing the risk of money being withdrawn after a completed transaction.
The company will not charge customers for moving money into Bizna Wallet, a measure that could appeal to businesses processing frequent, low value payments. The wallet is part of Airtel’s effort to increase how often customers use its platform rather than only relying on it for occasional transfers.

Cashback to encourage regular use
Airtel has supported the launch with changes to its Rudishiwa rewards programme. Registered Airtel Money customers who complete qualifying transactions of at least Sh101 will receive 50% of the transaction charge back as cash instead of airtime.
The cashback will be credited instantly into a separate rewards wallet and can then be transferred to the customer’s main Airtel Money account. Eligible transactions include PayBill payments, transfers to other mobile money networks and movements between mobile wallets and bank accounts. By offering cash rewards, Airtel is giving customers an incentive to retain money on the platform and continue transacting. This could also make the service more attractive to traders whose businesses depend on numerous small payments throughout the day.

A tougher fight for merchant payments
Airtel’s push comes as merchant services become a more important source of growth in Kenya’s mobile money market. Airtel Money now has more than six million customers, while its market share has risen to about 10.9% from below 2% several years ago.
The wider market is also expanding. Kenya had 53.37 million mobile money subscriptions by the end of March 2026, while registered agents had increased to 602,470.
Airtel will, however, have to overcome Safaricom’s much larger payment network. Pochi la Biashara had reached 2.1 million merchants by March, while revenue from the service rose to Sh4 billion. Bizna Wallet may strengthen Airtel’s position, but its impact will depend on whether traders and their customers adopt it for regular business payments.