Online Collections for a Service Company in Nairobi: Card and Transfer Options

The verdict in three sentences

A B2B service company that collects its maintenance contracts by cheque is in effect financing its clients for 60 days, with courier runs and cheques to deposit at the bank. A payment link built into every invoice, offering card, mobile money and bank transfer, with automatic reconciliation in the accounts, costs a 2026 order of magnitude of 3,500 to 7,000 USD in Nairobi and deploys in 6 weeks. The most visible effect is financial: DSO falls from 60 to 25 days, freeing a large share of working capital.

Card, M-Pesa or transfer: what each channel costs

B2B clients of a Nairobi service company do not all pay the same way. Large companies and group subsidiaries use bank transfer or RTGS, SMEs happily pay through M-Pesa Paybill for amounts under a few thousand dollars, and international clients prefer card. Offering all three on the same payment page removes the "I couldn't pay" excuse. In Kenya, the two main aggregators compared are Flutterwave and Pesapal.

For an average invoice of 550 USD, a 1.5% mobile fee is about 8 USD, less than a courier round trip across Nairobi to pick up a cheque.

What a 3,500 to 7,000 USD project includes

The basic version, around 3,500 USD, suits a company invoicing from simple software. The full version, near 7,000 USD, makes sense once the ERP is the system of record and the finance team matches more than 400 payments a month.

Automatic reconciliation, the real saving

Without reconciliation, every mobile payment has to be found by hand in the merchant statement, then matched to the right invoice. With a unique reference per invoice passed to the aggregator, the payment comes back with its invoice number and matches itself in 95% of cases. The accountant only handles exceptions: partial payments, grouped invoices, wrong amounts.

Mini case study

Grace, finance director of an air-conditioning and generator maintenance company in Nairobi, manages 450 clients under contract. Monthly revenue is 160,000 USD, collected by cheque with a 60-day DSO, or about 320,000 USD outstanding. With a payment link and automatic reconciliation at 5,500 USD, DSO drops to 25 days: outstanding falls to about 133,000 USD, freeing 187,000 USD of cash. If 40% of volume goes through M-Pesa at 2% on average and 10% by card at 3.5%, fees come to about 1,840 USD a month, compared with interest on a 187,000 USD overdraft at 14% a year, about 2,180 USD a month avoided. The project is profitable from the first quarter, before counting the 2 courier days a week removed.

FAQ

Will large companies pay through a link?

Yes, as long as transfer with a clear reference is offered on the same page. In observed rollouts, 60 to 70% of key accounts keep paying by transfer, but pay 15 to 20 days earlier thanks to automatic reminders.

What documents are needed to open a merchant account?

Allow a certificate of incorporation, KRA PIN, director IDs and bank details. Onboarding takes 5 to 15 working days depending on the aggregator.

Can payment fees be passed on to the client?

Contractually yes, but it is not advised in B2B: a 2 to 4% surcharge pushes clients back to cheques. Better to build the cost into the contract price.

How are partial or grouped payments handled?

The client portal lets clients pay several invoices in one transaction. Partial payments remain exceptions, handled by the accountant in 2 to 3 minutes each.

Does the setup work for clients in Uganda or Tanzania?

Yes, Flutterwave covers several East African currencies and mobile money networks. You only need to activate local operators, with little extra development.

Let's scope your project. Tell us your client count, invoicing software and current DSO: we will price an online collections setup between 3,500 and 7,000 USD, live in 6 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.