This is a healthcare service provided by Safaricom that allows customers to store and use the money saved on their mobile phones for medical services.
The majority of Kenyan households are on the edge of going bankrupt or living in poverty due to sickness.
In other words, if a member of your family becomes ill, you’re likely to spend all of your money on their treatment.
Furthermore, many Kenyans lack health insurance. As a result of these factors, Safaricom decided to offer M-TIBA, a medical service.
Since its inception in 2016, hundreds of thousands of people have signed up for M-TIBA. The goal of this mobile phone-based medical service from the start was to ease the financial burden of paying for basic healthcare, particularly for low-income people.
People can use M-TIBA to save, borrow, and share money for healthcare at very low costs.
Additionally, donors and insurers can use M-TIBA to deliver healthcare financing solutions like vouchers, managed funds, and low-cost health insurance to certain segments of the Kenyan population.
Therefore, all stakeholders, from the patient to the government can witness the transparency and accountability of M-TIBA.
The Technology Used
Safaricom and CarePay collaborated on the creation of M-TIBA, a digital platform that uses mobile technology to assist Kenyans in obtaining necessary health care.
M-TIBA, a three-way platform launched in July 2016, can be used by patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare payers (governments, insurance companies, donors, and solidarity payers).
The platform exchanges money and data between these three parties, allowing both patients and healthcare providers to be financially supported.
M-TIBA also provides a free mobile health wallet, which enables customers to save, borrow, and share money for non-catastrophic healthcare costs using a basic mobile phone.
Users’ money can be accessed by family members, employers, or individuals in other countries who want to donate directly to healthcare costs. It is now possible to send funds to those in need with the assurance that they will be used to cover medical expenses.
M-TIBA funds may only be spent on treatment and medication at M-TIBA-affiliated clinics and hospitals, or on contributions to the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
Product Offered
You can join up for a mobile health wallet and add friends and family members to your wallet as long as you have a cell phone. The M-TIBA platform enables customers to save money on health care and insurance by paying using their mobile phones. M-TIBA allows users to access clinics linked to the platform at any time and from any location depending with their healthcare needs ( funds on M-TIBA can only be used to pay for healthcare at M-TIBA providers)
Access
Anyone over the age of 18 who is a Safaricom customer is eligible to sign up for M-TIBA.
It does not cost anything for you to access it, and there is a huge variety of medical professionals for you to choose from.
Charging Model
Registration for M-TIBA is absolutely free. It is also entirely free to use M-TIBA PESA to store your money.
However, when sending money to someone else’s M-TIBA, the regular M-PESA Pay Bill transaction fees apply.
Founders
Michiel Slootweg (CEO & Founder)
He has extensive commercial experience in mobile money, health care, private equity, insurance, banking, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and value management.
He is also dedicated to the expansion of private-sector enterprises.
Additionally, he is capable of growing a business since he has the ability to implement the necessary processes to facilitate long-term wealth growth in businesses.
He is skilled at building and modifying corporate structures in addition to developing people.
Investors & Funding History
M-Tiba has received $1.5 million from the French Development Agency (AFD) to accommodate its growing population and healthcare personnel.
Money from Safaricom-backed healthcare software will enable it to better target the rural poor and others who cannot use the internet. A total of 500 additional healthcare providers are scheduled to join the platform.
Currently, the app has over 3 million users, 315,000 visits, and Ksh 636 million in medical services paid out in collaboration with CarePay and PharmAccess.
Market Size and Competitors
The leading competitors of M-TIBA include:
- Lifestores – It is making primary healthcare more accessible to everyone by transforming pharmacies and chemists located in Lagos, Nigeria.
- Medsaf – This is a medication marketplace that serves the needs of African health care facilities and pharmacies. Its headquarters are also in Lagos, Nigeria.
- VIEBEG Technologies – This is a leading supplier of medical supplies and health technology equipment located in Kigali, Rwanda.