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Kenya’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are set to benefit from faster, high-value transactions following a new partnership between Pesalink and Nairobi-based fintech TendePay. The collaboration enables businesses to move up to KES 999,999 ($7,700) instantly across all banks, addressing one of the most persistent pain points for SMEs—delays in supplier, payroll, and utility payments.
Pesalink, operated by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), links local banks, mobile money operators, and fintechs. TendePay, which started as a petty cash tool, has grown into a comprehensive spend management platform. Through this partnership, organisations can now handle payroll, supplier settlements, utility bills, and customer collections seamlessly on a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)-regulated platform, with automatic reconciliation for efficiency.
“This partnership reflects our evolution into a full spend management platform,” said Abel Masai, CEO of TendePay. “By leveraging Pesalink’s trusted infrastructure, we are giving businesses a reliable, secure, and affordable tool to manage every payment, whether large or small, at any time.”
The launch comes as the CBK explores a new fast payment system (FPS) aimed at making transfers cheaper and interoperable. Announced in 2024, the FPS would mark the country’s most significant upgrade to its money transfer infrastructure, though timelines remain uncertain. In the meantime, private sector providers like Pesalink, M-PESA, and Airtel Money have stepped up investment and partnerships to meet the growing demand for real-time, high-value digital payments.
“At Pesalink, we believe collaboration is the key to helping businesses move differently,” said Ken Lisudza, Pesalink’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Pesalink was built on the principle of interoperability to simplify payments by delivering instant and affordable transfers across Kenya’s financial ecosystem.”
Pesalink has increasingly become the preferred rails for sector players, with industry leaders including Safaricom and the KBA cautioning that building a new FPS could cost up to $200 million and take four years. They instead argue that upgrading existing systems would be more efficient.
Meanwhile, Safaricom has expanded M-PESA’s integration with bank transfers. In September, it doubled the per-transaction limit to KES 500,000 ($3,900) via a Pesalink mini app, creating more room for SMEs and corporates to process high-value transactions.
Together, these developments underscore a payments ecosystem in transition, as industry players and regulators race to balance innovation, interoperability, and cost efficiency in Kenya’s fast-growing digital economy.
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