USSD
4 min read
Every fintech pitch deck opens with a slick app screenshot. But check what actually moves money in Kenya — M-Pesa, bank balance checks, most SACCO activity — and it's USSD, not an app. Here's why that hasn't changed. Not every customer has a smartphone. Not every smartphone has data. USSD works on any phone, no app, no download, no data bundle — just network coverage. For a fintech chasing reach, that's not a nice-to-have. It's the difference between serving half the market and serving all of it. Where it shows up: loan applications and repayments. Disbursements straight to mobile money. Micro-insurance premiums and claims. SACCO balance checks. Agent banking in areas where data is unreliable but network bars aren't. The best fintechs don't pick USSD or an app. They run both. The app is for smartphone users who want more. USSD is for everyone else — and "everyone else" is often the bigger number. Building it right means three things. Keep menus short — sessions time out and nobody wants to navigate five layers deep. Connect it to live backend data, not a stale copy. And test on Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom separately — they don't behave the same. If your fintech only reaches people through an app, USSD is the fastest way to reach the rest. Want USSD built into your product? Talk to Briliotech.
