Frequently asked
questions.

Asante is a cashless tipping platform built for Kenya's service economy. It lets customers tip service workers — waiters, drivers, hotel staff, delivery riders, and more — instantly via M-Pesa, without needing to carry cash. Staff receive tips directly in their M-Pesa wallets. Businesses access a dashboard to monitor team tipping trends.

No. Customers simply scan the staff member's QR code with their phone camera — this opens a web page in their browser. No app, no account, no password required. For feature phones without a camera, a USSD code (*456#) is available as a fallback.

Asante works on any Android or iPhone with a camera and a browser — for QR-based tipping. The USSD option works on any Safaricom SIM, including basic feature phones. M-Pesa is required for payment; tipping is not currently supported on Airtel Money or other networks, though we plan to expand.

Our current pilot is focused on Nairobi, but Asante works anywhere in Kenya with Safaricom M-Pesa coverage. We're actively onboarding businesses in Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru. Contact us if you're outside Nairobi — we'd love to hear from you.

When a customer confirms a tip, Asante triggers a Safaricom STK Push — the familiar M-Pesa payment prompt that appears on your phone screen. You enter your PIN directly on your own phone, authorising the payment. The money moves from your M-Pesa wallet to the staff member's wallet through Safaricom's own infrastructure. Asante receives only the transaction confirmation.

Typically within 2–5 seconds of the customer confirming payment. Asante does not hold or batch payments — funds are pushed to the staff member's M-Pesa the moment Safaricom processes the transaction. Staff receive an SMS from Safaricom and an in-app notification simultaneously.

If a payment fails — due to insufficient balance, wrong PIN, or a network issue — the customer is shown a clear error message with the reason. No money is deducted on a failed payment. The customer can try again immediately. If funds were deducted but the tip wasn't received, contact our support team within 48 hours and we'll investigate with Safaricom directly.

Standard Safaricom M-Pesa person-to-business charges apply on the customer's side. These are Safaricom's own fees — Asante does not add to them and does not receive any portion of them. For example, sending KES 200 via M-Pesa currently costs approximately KES 7. The staff member receives 100% of the tip amount with no deduction.

Yes, completely and permanently. Asante's business model charges a monthly subscription to the businesses that deploy the platform. Service staff — the people receiving tips — pay nothing. Not for registration, not for their QR card, not per tip, not ever. Every shilling of a tip goes to the staff member.

Business plans start at KES 2,000/month for the Starter plan (up to 10 staff). The Business plan is KES 6,500/month (up to 50 staff). Enterprise plans are custom-priced based on staff count and features required. Annual billing saves 20% on any plan. Full details are on the Pricing page.

No setup fees and no long-term contracts. Monthly plans can be cancelled at any time with 30 days' notice. Annual plans are non-refundable after the 30-day trial period but can be paused or transferred. There are no penalties for cancellation on monthly plans.

The most common route is through your employer — ask your manager to add you to the business dashboard. If your employer isn't on Asante yet, you can register independently at asante.co.ke/staff and we'll reach out to verify and activate your account. All you need is your name, role, and M-Pesa number.

Yes. Independent workers — freelance event staff, private drivers, self-employed traders — can create individual Asante profiles. You'll appear as an independent worker rather than part of a business. Contact us through the sign-up form to get started.

No. Your employer's business dashboard shows team-level totals and trends — not individual staff breakdowns, and not your personal tip amounts. Your exact earnings are private. Only you can see your full transaction history in your personal dashboard.

Your Asante profile and tip history stay with you. You can be transferred to a new employer's account, or converted to an independent worker profile while you're between jobs. Your earnings history is always accessible to you regardless of employment status.

Business verification takes up to one business day after you submit your details. Adding staff and generating QR cards takes around 10 minutes. We recommend requesting your QR card print files a day before launch — any standard Nairobi print shop can produce them from our PDF files.

No. Tips flow directly from the customer's M-Pesa to each individual staff member's M-Pesa wallet, bypassing the business entirely. You don't need a Paybill or Till number for basic tipping to work. Enterprise plans offer optional consolidated reporting for businesses that want to manage tip pooling themselves.

Business admins can deactivate any staff member's QR code instantly from the dashboard. The code stops accepting tips within minutes. The staff member's historical earnings remain accessible to them on their personal account, but they're no longer visible on your team dashboard.

Completely. Your PIN is entered on the Safaricom STK Push screen — a system-level prompt on your device that communicates directly with Safaricom's servers. Asante never sees, receives, or stores your PIN at any point. We have no technical access to it. This is the same security model as every other M-Pesa transaction you make.

All staff are verified through their registered employer before their QR code is activated. We cross-reference their national ID number and M-Pesa number to confirm identity. Independent workers undergo the same ID and phone verification process. A verified badge appears on all active staff profiles.

If you tip without creating an account, we store only the transaction record — the amount, timestamp, and the staff member you tipped — for receipt and dispute purposes. We do not store your phone number or M-Pesa details. If you create a customer account, we store only what you provide. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.