#52WeekChallenge

There is a Challenge going around Local social circles (could be International) called the 52 Week Challenge. This challenge is a savings plan that seeks to motivate or encourage people to save a small amount each week, towards a final target at the end of the year. I have seen multiple variations of the challenge, and they all seem to provide a tidy sum to the ones who are able to hold out.

For those unfamiliar with the challenge, one of it’s versions goes along these lines:

  • Begin by choosing a starting amount which you are comfortable with e.g. Ksh. 50. This is what will be saved on the first week.
  • Choose an increment that will be added to the starting amount to get the amount to save for the second week. By default, the initial/starting amount is chosen.
  • For every successive week, the increment will be added to the total increments since the beginning of the plan, then added again to the previous week’s amount to get the current week’s amount to save. E.g. taking the initial amount as Ksh. 50, and taking increment = initial amount = Ksh. 50, we can get the following outline for the first month
    • Week 1: 0 + 0 + 50 = Ksh. 50 (previous total increments = 0, previous weekly amount = 0, current increment = 50)
    • Week 2: ((50 + 50) + 50) = Ksh. 150 (previous total increments = 50, previous weekly amount = 50, current increment = 50)
    • Week 3: ((100 + 50) + 150 ) = Ksh. 300 (previous total increments = 100, previous weekly amount = 150, current week’s increment = 50)
    • Week 4: ((150 + 50) + 300) = Ksh. 500 (previous total increments = 150, previous weekly amount = 300, current week’s increment = 50)
    • …and so on till the 52nd week where we shall have Ksh. 68900 as our final amount. Tidy sum, right? 😀

For those with the ability, you can change the initial value and the increment at your own volition to vary the amount you get at the end of the year. Of course the higher the better. 😉

Also, I really think its a good way to get some free cash to splash out on yourself/your friends at the end of the year. Who knows, you could use that cash for a trip anywhere you like (of course within your means).

Yes, we know, the economy is tough, so is life. So suck it up and get moving.

But I believe humans have quite a short lifespan, so they should spend some of it, if not most of it, enjoying the short time they have on this planet. Don’t argue with me…

So I decided to have some fun and create my own challenge calculator. I have modified mine to allow someone to change the incremental value added on each week e.g. if your initial amount was Ksh. 50, you can choose to decrease the increment for the second week by Ksh. 5 off the previous week’s increment, giving you Ksh. 45. We shall define the Ksh. 5 as the decrement. Add this to the first week’s amount of Ksh. 50 and you get Ksh. 145 to save for the second week. I have also allowed one to vary the time period they want to save for (in weeks). Using our previous example, for the first month, the savings plan, with a decrement of Ksh. 5 every week, will look something like this :

  • Week 1: (0 + 50) + 0 = Ksh. 50 (previous total increments = 0, previous amount = 0, current increment = 50
  • Week 2: ((50 + 45) + 50) = Ksh. 145 (previous total increments = 50, previous amount = 50, current increment = (50 – 5) = 45)
  • Week 3: ((95 + 40) + 145) = Ksh. 280 (previous total increments = (45 + 50), previous amount = 145, current week’s increment = (45 – 5) = 40)
  • Week 4: ((135 + 35) + 280) = Ksh. 450 (previous total increments = (50 + 45 + 40) = 135, previous amount = 280, current week’s increment = (40 – 5) = 35)

You can also choose to use the default decrement of 0 to use the default implementation of the plan.

NB: In some cases, while performing the calculations, there will be a time when the weekly increment will get to and go below 0 due to the subtractions on it when a decrement > 0 has been set. At that moment, we shall use the absolute value of the increment for your calculations to get the weekly deposit e.g. instead of -5, we shall use 5. You will not notice this without performing your own calculations, but this actually yields some interesting results. Play around with the calculator and see for yourself 😀


Results:

So, who’s up for a game of Savings? 😎

Changing Safaricom API C2B Validation and Confirmation URLs

For those who have integrated into Safaricom’s M-Pesa C2B APIs via both Daraja or Broker, you may need to change the URLs probably due to change/relocation of servers or location of your services. The steps involved are just a few as laid out below. You must be the owner of the actual Paybill receiving payments to be able to request the change of URLs.

  • Write a letter to APIfeedback@safaricom.co.ke using the business/company’s official letterhead requesting for a change in URLs
  • Include the Paybill number whose URLs are being replaced and new/replacement URLs, specifying which is the validation URL and which is the confirmation URL. If you are on Broker, also include the SPID used to register the URLs in the first place.
  • Send an email with the above letter scanned into PDF to APIfeedback@safaricom.co.ke.
  • They should respond to you after the request has been processed informing you to register your new URLs asap.

For all M-Pesa APIs consultation, contact Peter via https://consult.peternjeru.co.ke/ or through the number (+254)705-740 384

M-Pesa Portal Certificates

This article is no longer valid as certificates are now no longer needed to access the portal. One now needs to only have the nominated phone to receive OTP.

Safaricom’s M-Pesa portal, located at https://org.ke.m-pesa.com, requires you to have a pre-installed certificate that identifies you as a “valid” entity. If you have tried accessing this site and getting something similar to the below error or another access error/failure, it means the portal has refused your connection request due to absence of the SSL Certificate identifying you.

Fig. 1: M-Pesa portal error

To acquire this certificate, these are the steps to follow:

  • Send a blank email to M-PESACertpassword@safaricom.co.ke
  • You will receive an email in response after a short while (3-10 minutes) from the same email with a username and password like the one shown below (Fig. 2):
Fig. 2: M-Pesa automated reply
  • Go to the site https://vmtke.ca.vodafone.com/certsrv using Internet Explorer browser. Using any other browser will shout out a warning similar to “You are not using Internet Explorer. This application will not work correctly” or worse, fail (or keep loading forever) with an error along the lines of “This page has not finished loading yet” as the site still uses VB on the back-end, which is not supported by any other browser (imagine that 👿 ). The browser will ask you for a username and password. Use the details received in the email above. The password is changed every week as specified in the email. If by any chance you cancelled the first username/password request, and subsequent requests automatically cancel, clear cookies and restart your IE browser, then try again.
  • Fill in the details as requested by the site, then press on Submit.
  • If you face any issues on submission e.g. the page shows the loading error below (Fig. 3), it means the browser is not yet compatible or has blocked some elements of the site. Try the steps shown after this to try and fix the problem
    • Go to Tools -> Compatibility View Settings
    • Add the site vodafone.com to the Compatibility View list
    • Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced
    • Under the Settings section, look for the options Use SSL 3.0, Use TLS 1.0,  Use TLS 1.1 and Use TLS 1.2 and check them all.
    • Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Security
    • Click on Trusted Sites zone, then click on Sites under it
    • Add the site https://vmtke.ca.vodafone.com to the zone list, then click on OK
    • On the same tab, under Trusted Sites, click on Default Level to reset the security level defaults and show the levels slider, then set the Security level to Low on the slider
    • Restart/reopen your IE browser
Fig. 3: IE Site Loading error
  • Try submitting again. If the page submits successfully, the site might show you the message shown below (Fig. 4). If so, click on Yes. The resulting page then displays some info including a Request ID which can be used to track the request later on (Fig. 5).
  • Then you shall wait for between 2 – 10 days for them to process the application.
  • Once in a while, go back to the same site and click on the View the status of a pending certificate request link to view pending requests. If your request is processed, you shall get a download/install link for your certificate which you can use to download the certificate to install elsewhere, or simply install into IE if you prefer to use that browser for logging into your portal.
Fig 4. Site Confirmation Prompt

To install the certificate:

  • IE allows you to install the certificate automatically, but for other users, they need to download the certificate to their machines and perform the installation manually. Google for how to install custom certificates for your respective browser. The team has also provided documents on how to import and install the certificate (attached below)
  • Try loading the site https://org.ke.m-pesa.com/ again. It will ask you whether to use the newly installed certificate to identify you. Accept the prompt and you are good to go!
Fig. 5: Request ID received

This certificate can be installed and used on multiple machines within the same organization, thus eliminating the need to apply for a certificate for each machine BUT requires the private key associated with the certificate to be also exported. This is tricky, and requires some technical know-how. The site https://org.ke.m-pesa.com can also be run on any site able to execute JSP code and accepts custom certificates.

In the meantime, after solving your issues with the certificates, head over to ProxyAPI and begin integrating your Paybill or Till number into M-Pesa using the faster, easier way of integration. Or, if you got an online store using WooCommerce, head over to WordPress and check out the WooCommerce plugin powered by ProxyAPI.

If you want to make Lipa na M-Pesa API requests from anywhere on the Internet, we also got you. Check out Pay via ProxyAPI, which enables you to make LnM payments and receive both C2B and LnM callbacks via ProxyAPI, thus minimizing missing callbacks issues on Lipa na M-Pesa API.


For all M-Pesa APIs consultation, contact Peter via consult@peternjeru.co.ke