Hundreds of small-scale traders in Nairobi were left stranded for much of Saturday after their Lipa Mdogo Mdogo mobile phones suddenly stopped working — even for those who had made their daily payments to the on-phone application.
Many traders reported losing business as customers were unable to reach them.
The disruption occurred on Saturday, December 13, 2025, affecting customers who had purchased phones through a “Lipa Mdogo Mdogo” (buy now, pay later) program offered by a company called Onfon.
The phones, fitted with software that automatically locks the device if payments are missed, became inoperable even for users who had made their regular payments.
The incident caused chaos as affected traders, who rely heavily on their phones for daily business, stormed the company’s offices in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD), demanding answers.
Company response
The managing director of the Onfon Group, Andrew Buuya, confirmed that the outage was caused by technical challenges in the system.
In response to the protests and technical error, the company temporarily unlocked all affected phones for 48 hours, allowing users access while their payments are reconciled and the issue is resolved.
“We have been able to, first of all, to address the concerns of the customers. We are giving customers a 48-hour open cycle where whether they had paid or not we will have all their phones unlocked for 48 hours. Until that time, we shall reconcile every single payment that the customers have made,” Buuya explained.
Technical glitches are common
Industry observers note that technical glitches are normal in the digital world.
Even global tech companies and local firms like telecommunications giant Safaricom occasionally experience system outages from time to time.
According to Onfon, this is the very first time the company has experienced a system outage lasting a whole day or two.
While outages can sometimes be unavoidable, the unprecedented duration of this disruption highlights the critical need for robust consumer safeguards.
Onfon has acknowledged this and is taking decisive steps to ensure such an incident does not happen again, reaffirming its commitment to delivering the highest standard of service to its customers.
