Do not start by assuming your existing card stack can simply switch M-PESA on
A foreign SaaS or digital-service company may already have subscriptions, cards and global billing. Entering Kenya introduces a separate merchant-onboarding question: which provider can onboard your business for the Kenyan payment methods you want to offer?
Question 1: can your existing legal entity be onboarded?
There is no safe universal answer. Merchant eligibility is provider-specific.
For example, Paystack's Kenya compliance requirements ask for Kenyan business documents, such as a Business Registration Service (BRS) certificate, a CR-12 and a KRA PIN. That means a US, UK or EU company should not assume its foreign entity alone can open that particular Kenya account.
Another PSP may have a different model. Ask directly whether it can onboard your foreign entity, whether a Kenyan entity is required and what KYC/KYB documents apply.
Question 2: what settlement account is required?
Settlement depends on the provider and currency.
Paystack's current Kenya materials say local transactions are generally settled on a T+2 schedule and that Kenya-based businesses can receive USD settlement into a USD account domiciled in a Kenyan bank when they are eligible for USD payments.
Do not generalize those terms to other PSPs. Confirm bank-country, account-name, currency and beneficiary requirements before building the integration.
Question 3: will you price in KES or another currency?
KES pricing makes the customer-facing amount explicit and aligns naturally with local-wallet collection. A foreign-currency plan may still work for cards, but the product team should understand what happens when the customer switches to a local wallet.
Keep pricing strategy separate from settlement strategy. A merchant can price a plan one way and settle differently depending on provider support.
Question 4: which local methods are actually enabled?
A provider website may advertise M-PESA or Airtel Money. Merchant-specific production access still depends on onboarding, country, product and account configuration.
Get written confirmation of the exact methods enabled for your account before publishing them in checkout.
Question 5: what happens to your existing subscription engine?
Usually, keep it.
The foreign merchant should continue to own plans, trials, invoices, upgrades and account state. The Kenya payment integration should attach local payment attempts to those invoices.
That avoids a separate “Kenya subscription system.”
Question 6: who handles FX?
Do not let the billing layer imply that it performs foreign exchange unless it is actually structured and authorized to do so. Confirm whether the PSP, bank, card network or another regulated party handles currency conversion.
A pre-integration onboarding checklist
- Eligible merchant legal entity.
- Required Kenyan registration or presence, if any.
- KYC/KYB document list.
- KES and/or USD pricing support.
- Settlement currency and bank-account requirements.
- M-PESA and Airtel Money production eligibility.
- Refund/reversal process.
- Local tax/invoicing responsibilities to validate with qualified advisers.
- Settlement timing and fees.
Resolve those questions before product engineering commits to a provider-specific design.
Sources
- Paystack compliance requirements for Kenya: https://support.paystack.com/en/articles/2123906
- Paystack international payments and Kenya KES/USD support: https://support.paystack.com/en/articles/2130690
- Paystack Kenya pricing and settlement FAQ: https://paystack.com/ke/pricing
- Safaricom Lipa na M-PESA KYC requirements: https://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Resources_Downloads/Paybill_Requirements.pdf
