Lipa na Bonga

Bonga is Safaricom's loyalty rewards scheme. This API lets merchants who accept Lipa na M-PESA (Pay Bill or Buy Goods) also accept payment in Bonga points, redeemed on the customer's behalf.

How it worksCopy Anchor Link

1. The customer selects "Lipa na Bonga" in the partner's channel (e.g. a website), enters the phone number to deduct points from and the number of points, and sees the conversion rate: KES 0.2 per Bonga point.
2. The deduction request goes through Daraja to the Bonga system.
3. If the phone number isn't eligible, the channel is told to retry or use a different number.
4. If eligible, an STK push asks the customer for their M-PESA PIN.
5. On successful PIN validation, the Bonga balance is checked against the points required.
6. If sufficient, points are deducted and the equivalent amount is transferred to the merchant's Pay Bill or Till.
7. A callback is posted to the URLs registered for C2B transactions, since Safaricom treats the resulting payment as a C2B transaction for notification purposes.

On success, the customer receives two SMS notifications: one confirming the points redemption and new Bonga balance, and one confirming the payment amount, merchant, and account reference.

PrerequisitesCopy Anchor Link

• Daraja account and sandbox app.
• A live Pay Bill/Till with Business Admin/Manager operators created, for Go Live.

Calculate PointsCopy Anchor Link

Converts a points value into its Kenyan Shilling equivalent.

RequestCopy Anchor Link

{ "points": "40" }

ResponseCopy Anchor Link

{
  "header": {
    "requestRefId": "55b2b8bd-0be4-4430-b0dc-792efccdc690",
    "responseCode": 200,
    "responseMessage": "Success",
    "customerMessage": "Request executed successfully.",
    "timestamp": "2025-02-24T12:29:05.484864516"
  },
  "body": {
    "amount": "8",
    "points": "40",
    "rate": "0.2"
  }
}

Redeem PointsCopy Anchor Link

RequestCopy Anchor Link

{
  "msisdn": "254720776155",
  "amount": 50,
  "bongaPoints": 20,
  "conversionRate": 0.2,
  "shortCode": "888880",
  "shortCodeType": "till",
  "receiverPartyName": "test",
  "callBackURL": "https://mydomain.com/path"
}

ResponseCopy Anchor Link

{
  "header": {
    "requestRefId": "a53a2939-7361-482f-ba1e-ccd51504acd3",
    "responseCode": 200,
    "responseMessage": "Operation Successfully.",
    "customerMessage": "Dear customer, your request was processed successfully",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-10T09:54:28.456847481"
  },
  "body": null
}

CallbackCopy Anchor Link

{
  "MerchantRequestID": "1133344577",
  "CheckoutRequestID": "ws_CO_13042026131325500742856607",
  "ResultCode": "0",
  "ResultDesc": "The service request is processed successfully.",
  "CallbackMetadata": [
    { "Name": "Amount", "Value": "100" },
    { "Name": "MpesaReceiptNumber", "Value": "UDD060N8CI" },
    { "Name": "PhoneNumber", "Value": "254742***607" }
  ]
}

Result codesCopy Anchor Link

Testing and Go LiveCopy Anchor Link

Daraja Simulator with the Lipa na Bonga product attached.

Postman: token from the sandbox OAuth endpoint, then call the Calculate Points or Redeem Points endpoint above.

Going live follows Organization Portal & Go Live: a short code, organization name, and M-PESA admin/manager username submitted via the portal's Go Live tab.

FAQsCopy Anchor Link

Who can earn Bonga points? Any Safaricom customer, 1 point per KES 10 spent on calls, SMS, or data, or 1 point per qualifying M-PESA transaction charge of KES 100 or more.

How can a customer access Bonga directly? *126#, *100# (prepaid), *200# (postpaid), *456#, the My Safaricom App, or Safaricom's Zuri virtual assistant.