South African designer wins Sh6m house in M-pesa promotion

South African designer Eric Lindenberg is the second winner of an apartment in Safaricom’s MaishaNiMpesatu promotion.

Lindenberg was leaving a work meeting on Friday morning when a call came that he had won.

“It was very surprising, at first I thought I was getting pranked, because who wins a house?” exclaimed Mr Lindenberg visibly exited.

However, the call was soon verified when music from the approaching caravan grew louder as comedian Chipukeezy led a bevy of dancers and a camera crew scanning the crowd for a still-perturbed Lindenberg.

Lindenberg is the second winner of a two bed-roomed apartment at the serene Richard Point Apartments off Kamiti Road.

This is following last week’s win by Mr James Njagi, a juakali artisan based in Nairobi’s Gikomba market.

Lindenberg has lived in Kenya for six years working as a designer and was introduced to M-Pesa after a friend made a transaction he found intriguing.

“I remember when I saw my friend withdraw money from an ATM without having an ATM card straight from his phone through M-Pesa,” he explains. “It was the first time I was seeing anyone do that and I found that to be very intriguing.”

Lindenberg said he uses M-Pesa frequently to manage his payroll and make payments to his employees.

He has a wife and two children and has not yet decided what he will do with the house.

Five more houses are up for grabs in the campaign that will run for the next five weeks. Safaricom will also reward M-Pesa customers with over Sh100 million.