Safeboda was always the app that we used to book/order rides —just open the app, search for a ride near you, and within a couple of minutes you’re on your way to your destination, as simple as that. But during the course of the years since its inception in 2014, the company made continuous improvements to the app to provide to its users more than just booking rides.
SafeBoda is now accelerating its status to the Super App that will help Ugandans move forward with a one-stop-shop for all their daily needs. The app version 4.1.4 now allows users to Order Rides, Pay Bills & Utilities, Order Food & Groceries, Send Parcels, Buy Airtime, Send & Receive Money, Earn annual interests to mention a few. With the help of investment secured from Google last year, SafeBoda continues to make “a one-stop-shop” for all your daily needs.
One could say that SafeBoda could be turning into a finance app. If you closely look at the app and compare it to the app we saw 6 years ago, more than 80% is now dedicated to financial services. And we don’t know how far the company is going with this. But what caught our attention is the 1 Shilling charge on transactions made on UMEME, NWSC, and TV. The company said for this month, users paying for utilities such as water, power, and TV bills through their app will incur 1 Shilling charge. “Effective March 1st, for the next 30 days, pay your bills using the SafeBoda app and only get charged 1 Shilling,” Shafiq Manafa, Head of Payments at SafeBoda, confirmed during an interview with Radio City.
Usually, for such transactions, you incur roughly UGX1,000 or more —thus 1 Shilling is interesting and I have to admit it’s a good offer. To claim this offer, you need to have an updated SafeBoda app which is now available on your respective app stores (Google and iOS).
To our knowledge, this could be a strategy for SafeBoda to have more people use their app. With more offers like this from the company, they could get more people using their app. Notably, the company also introduced a mobile money-like service where users can deposit and withdraw money from their wallets. The withdrawal charges are less compared to charges on MTN and Airtel mobile money.
Even though the app is becoming a bit congested, the tabs are clearly seen —including the “Pay Bills” where you go to pay your utilities and get charged 1 Shilling. The Pay Bill option appears in the “Our Service” second from Order Ride. To make payment for any of the bills, you need to have money on your wallet similar to having money on your mobile money account. In case you don’t have money on your wallet, you can deposit using a SafeBoda Agent, SafeBoda Driver, or Mobile Money. Once you have money on your wallet, open the “Pay Bills” tab;
- There are three utility options to select from i.e. Water, Electricity, or TV.
- Paying the Water Bill — enter your area and meter number.
- Paying the Electricity Bill — choose to pay yaka or umeme postpaid >> then enter your meter number.
- Paying the TV Bill — select your service provider i.e. GOTV, DSTV, StarTimes, or Azam >> then enter your smart card number >> select the package to pay for.
- Once you have selected the bill to pay, you’re directed to the payment option. You can select from default prices or choose ‘others’ to manually put the price you need to pay (this only applies to the Water and Electricity Bill).
- Enter your wallet PIN to proceed with the transaction.
- You are presented with a payment summary to confirm all the details are right before making the payment.
- Once you confirm everything is fine, press ‘continue’ to make the payment. SafeBoda will charge you 1 Shilling for the transaction (this offer is only valid for this month).
Once you have made a payment for any utility, you instantly get an instant 5% cashback.
Notably, SafeBoda’s “Super App” also allows you to automatically earn 10% annual interest on your wallet. All you need is to have a balance of at least UGX5,000 on your wallet to automatically earn the annual interest. The option is similar to a saving app, so, you can gain daily. The other interesting update is SafeBoda working with Posta Uganda to expand logistics in Uganda. You can now use the super app to deliver your packages. The packages are now insured unlike before when SafeBoda said it wouldn’t be held accountable if the packages were damaged prior to reaching the destination.
Wrapping Up.
SafeBoda is one of the safest ways to travel whether day or night. The company is regulated by the Bank of Uganda to operate its payments and financial services and they guarantee that your money [and transcations] is safe on the app. All parcel deliveries are insured, and you can shop right from home or office without having to step into a restaurant, market, or supermarket.
ALSO READ: 10 THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH THE SAFEBODA APP RIGHT NOW
