Safaricom has 50 million subscribers and KSh 4.5 billion in unredeemed loyalty points. A court just told them they cannot expire those points. Now what?

The programme is massive. The engagement is not.

Safaricom launched Bonga Points in 2007. Every prepaid and postpaid subscriber earns one point for every KSh 10 spent on the network. Points can be redeemed for airtime, SMS, data, merchandise, or shopping via Lipa na Bonga through M-Pesa-linked merchants. By 2022, the programme had accumulated KSh 4.5 billion in unredeemed points sitting as a liability on Safaricom's balance sheet.

That number tells a story. When the majority of earned rewards go unredeemed, the programme is not driving behaviour. It is creating accounting liability. Subscribers earn passively, forget they have points, and never change a single purchasing decision because of them. The programme exists on paper. In practice, it is invisible to most users.

In October 2022, Safaricom tried to solve the problem by announcing that all points older than three years would expire from January 2023. The backlash was immediate. A Nakuru-based surgeon, Dr Magare Gikenyi, challenged the decision in court, arguing it violated consumer rights. He won.

Safaricom sits on the most powerful reward delivery infrastructure in Africa: M-Pesa. Over 60 million customers use M-Pesa monthly. The ability to deliver a reward instantly, to a subscriber's phone, settled via mobile money, at the moment of a qualifying action, already exists. The gap is not infrastructure. It is programme design.

The M-Pesa opportunity nobody is using properly.

M-Pesa processed KSh 20.2 trillion in transactions in H1 FY2026. It contributes 45% of Safaricom Kenya's service revenue. Over 950,000 merchants and 600,000 agents are connected to the platform. Every one of those touchpoints is a potential reward delivery moment.

Today, Bonga Points can be used at Lipa na M-Pesa merchants through a programme called Lipa na Bonga. But the mechanic is still points-based. A subscriber accumulates, then remembers to check, then chooses to redeem. Each step loses people. The conversion rate from earning to spending is low because the friction is high.

Compare this to Dis-Chem's Better Rewards. No accumulation. No checking balances. No choosing to redeem. The discount applies automatically at the till, at the moment of purchase. Redemption rate: effectively 100%. The behaviour drives the reward drives the behaviour. No campaign manager needed.

Now imagine a version of this for Safaricom. A subscriber recharges with KSh 100. Instantly, a KSh 5 grocery voucher lands in their M-Pesa. Redeemable at any Lipa na M-Pesa merchant. No points. No balance to check. No expiry debate. The cost is shared between Safaricom and the merchant or FMCG brand. The subscriber feels value immediately and is more likely to recharge on Safaricom next time rather than switching to Airtel.

Three questions for telco loyalty teams.

What percentage of earned rewards are actually redeemed within 30 days?

If the answer is below 40%, your programme is creating liability, not loyalty. Safaricom's KSh 4.5 billion in unredeemed points is the extreme version of this problem. But every telco with a points-based programme has some version of it. The fix is not to expire points. The fix is to make the reward instant and automatic so there is nothing to redeem. Dis-Chem proved this. The concept applies directly to telco.

Does your reward work outside the network?

If your only rewards are airtime and data, you are discounting your own product. The subscriber does not feel a gift. They feel a price reduction. And the competitor can match it tomorrow. A lifestyle reward, fuel, groceries, transport, school fees, creates value the subscriber cannot get from the competitor's network. It makes switching cost real and personal. Safaricom has the M-Pesa merchant network to deliver this at scale. Most telcos in Africa have a mobile money platform that could do the same.

Who else is paying for the value you distribute?

Safaricom funds Bonga Points entirely from its own margin. Every point issued is a cost carried until redeemed or written off. Dis-Chem's model uses 140+ vendor brands and Capitec to co-fund discounts. The reward is richer, the cost is shared, and the partners benefit from foot traffic and data. A telco with 50 million subscribers has enormous co-funding leverage. FMCG brands, banks, fuel companies, and entertainment providers would pay to reach that audience with a guaranteed reward, if the telco built the infrastructure to make it work. The programme pays for itself.