Setting Up Airtel Money Payments

You need an Airtel Money merchant account and API credentials from the Airtel Africa Developer Portal. Register your business, complete KYC verification, and generate your client ID and secret. Airtel Money operates across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and several other African markets.

Go to POS > Settings > Payments > Add Payment Method. Select Airtel Money. Enter your client ID, client secret, and merchant PIN. Select your operating country. Test the connection. Once verified, Airtel Money appears at checkout. The process mirrors M-Pesa and MTN MoMo — select, enter the customer's Airtel number, and the payment prompt goes to their phone.

The customer receives a USSD prompt on their phone asking them to confirm the payment amount and enter their Airtel Money PIN. Confirmation takes 10-30 seconds depending on network conditions. The POS displays the result — success or failure — and completes the transaction accordingly. Failed payments do not affect your sales record.

Airtel settles to your registered bank account on a daily or weekly basis depending on your agreement. Transaction fees vary by market — typically 0.5-1.5% of the transaction value. AskBiz tracks gross and net payment amounts so you can see your effective payment processing cost across all mobile money providers.