Paying people one by one is slow and error-prone. Ten suppliers mean ten separate transfers, ten chances to type the wrong number and ten confirmations to check. For staff salaries, the stakes are even higher.
Paysasa offers two tools to make this easier: Bulk Payments for sending many payouts at once, and Payroll for managing employees and pay runs. This guide covers both.
Before you start
- You need a verified business on Paysasa with KYC complete.
- Make sure the business wallet you will pay from has enough balance for the batch, including any fees.
- Remember that recent top-ups may be held before withdrawal or M-Pesa send, so fund your wallet ahead of payday.
Part 1: Bulk payments
Use bulk payments for suppliers, agents, commission payouts, casual workers or refunds.
Step 1: Prepare your recipient list
Collect, for each recipient:
- Name
- Destination, such as an M-Pesa number (or bank details where enabled)
- Amount
- A short reference or description
Double-check phone numbers. A spreadsheet is a good way to prepare and review the list.
Step 2: Open Bulk payments
Sign in and open Bulk payments from your dashboard (app.paysasa.com/dashboard/bulk-payments). Select the business and wallet to pay from.
Step 3: Create the batch
Add recipients individually or upload your list using the batch upload option. Review the summary: total amount, number of recipients and fees.
Step 4: Authorise
Submit the batch and authorise it. Payouts are protected by your PIN and, where required, two-factor authentication.
Step 5: Monitor each recipient
After submission, Paysasa shows the status of every recipient. Most will complete; some may fail — for example because of an incorrect number.
Step 6: Retry failures only
Fix the details for the failed payments and retry only those. There is no need to resend the whole batch, which avoids paying anyone twice.
Part 2: Payroll
Payroll on Paysasa is built for Kenya-ready flows: employee records, pay runs and payroll exports from the business dashboard. The module can be enabled per business.
Step 1: Enable payroll
Open your business settings and enable Payroll for the business if it is not already on. Then open Payroll from your dashboard.
Step 2: Add employees
Create a record for each employee with their details and pay information, such as basic salary and payment method — for example, wallet, M-Pesa or bank. Add contact details so employees can be notified when they are paid.
Step 3: Create a pay run
Create a new pay run for the period, such as March. Paysasa calculates the run based on employee records.
Step 4: Review and approve
Check totals and individual amounts carefully before approving. This is the moment to catch errors.
Step 5: Disburse and export
Approve the run to pay employees, then use payroll exports and reports for your records and statutory filings. Check employee portals where they are enabled, so staff can see their own information.
Note: Statutory rules change from time to time. Always confirm deductions and filings with a qualified payroll or tax professional.
An illustrative example
Imagine a small distribution business in Nakuru with eight delivery agents paid weekly and five office staff paid monthly. Every Friday, the operations lead uploads the agents' commissions as a bulk payment batch, reviews the total and authorises it; one payment fails because of a mistyped number, so she corrects it and retries just that one. At month end, the owner reviews and approves the payroll run for office staff and downloads the export for the accountant.
Tips for smooth payouts
- Choose fixed payment days for suppliers and staff to keep cash flow predictable.
- Fund early to allow for any holds on recent top-ups.
- Use the least access needed. Give payout permissions only to the people who need them.
- Keep records. Download reports after each batch or pay run.
- Communicate. Let recipients know when to expect payment.
For developers
Payroll can be managed through the Paysasa API with a business API key — creating employees, pay runs and reports. Withdrawals and payouts support idempotency keys, which prevent duplicate payments on retries. See the Paysasa API docs.
Fees
Bulk payout and other fees are listed on the Paysasa pricing page.
Conclusion
Bulk payments and payroll turn hours of manual transfers into a few reviewed, authorised batches. You see every recipient's status, retry only what failed and keep records for every run.
Ready to simplify your payouts? Learn more about Bulk Payments and Payroll, or sign in to Paysasa to create your first batch.
