Now in early access · Nairobi, Kenya

Payroll & HR software
that actually fits
your business

PawaHR gives Kenyan SMEs one platform for payroll, leave, compliance, and M-Pesa salary disbursement. Built for the way you work, not borrowed from somewhere else.

[Screenshot: PawaHR dashboard — employee stats, leave balances, upcoming reviews]
Built in
KRA PAYE compliant
M-Pesa integrated
SHIF & NSSF ready
Role-based access
What's included

Everything your team needs

One platform covering the full employee lifecycle — from onboarding to payroll — built around how Kenyan businesses actually operate.

M-Pesa salary disbursement
Kenya-first
Skip the bank transfer queue. PawaHR connects directly to M-Pesa Daraja — run payroll and every employee gets paid to their phone, instantly.
Leave management
Core HR
Apply, approve, and track statutory leave types — annual, sick, maternity, paternity, and more — with real-time balances and document verification built in.
Payslip & payroll
Payroll
Generate and distribute payslips on every payroll run. Employees access theirs directly from their dashboard.
KRA PAYE, SHIF, NSSF & AHL
Compliance
Statutory deductions — PAYE, SHIF, NSSF, and Affordable Housing Levy (AHL) — calculated automatically on every run. Stay compliant without touching a spreadsheet.
Role-based access control
Security
Admin, HR, Manager, and Employee roles — each with the right access and nothing more. Audit-logged and secure.
Announcements & notifications
Communication
Push company-wide or targeted updates. Employees are notified in-app the moment something changes.
Why PawaHR

Built for Kenya, not bolted on

Generic HR tools force you to work around them. PawaHR is designed around Kenyan payroll, compliance, and the way your team already works.

Kenya-first compliance

KRA PAYE, SHIF, NSSF, and AHL are built directly into the payroll engine — no plugins, no manual rate lookups.

M-Pesa native

Pay salaries straight to employee phones with Daraja B2C — built and running against Safaricom's sandbox, with live disbursement switching on once production credentials are approved. Bank file export is available today.

Compliance you can prove

Generate P9A certificates and SHIF/NSSF remittance exports ready for submission. Every action is audit-logged.

Product tour

See PawaHR in action

A quick look at the core workflows your team will use every day.

[Screenshot: Payroll run with M-Pesa disbursement]
[Screenshot: Leave calendar and approvals]
[Screenshot: Employee self-service dashboard]
Pricing

Simple, predictable pricing

Pay by employee band — not per feature. Core HR tools are available from the free Starter plan, and advanced payroll and compliance capabilities unlock as your team grows.

Early adopter offer: First 20 paying clients get dedicated onboarding and direct input on the roadmap.
Starter
1 – 10 employees
Free
forever
  • Leave management
  • Attendance & clock in/out
  • Employee profiles
  • Notifications
Get started free
Growth
11 – 25 employees
KES 7,999 /mo
≈ KES 320 – 727 per employee
  • All Starter features, plus
  • Payroll engine + KRA P9A
  • M-Pesa B2C disbursement
  • Payslip PDF generation
  • Basic reports & exports
Request early access
51+ employees? PawaHR scales with you — Business, Scale, and Enterprise tiers available. Floor price from KES 90K/month for 201+ employees. All prices exclude VAT. PawaHR is not currently VAT-registered; VAT will apply from the date of registration.
Let's talk →
Compliance

Built around Kenyan law

Every payroll run is fully compliant by default. No manual calculations, no KRA surprises, no missed remittances.

KRA PAYE & AHL
Auto-calculated on every payroll run using current Finance Act bands. Affordable Housing Levy is calculated alongside it and declared under sheet M of the same PAYE return. No spreadsheets, no manual lookups.
  • Current KRA PAYE bands built in
  • Personal relief auto-applied
  • P9A certificate generation
SHIF & NSSF
SHIF and NSSF computed on every run. Remittance exports generated and ready to submit.
  • Current SHIF rates
  • NSSF Tier I & II
  • Affordable Housing Levy (1.5% employee/employer)
  • Remittance export ready
M-Pesa Daraja
Direct B2C integration with Safaricom. Salaries land on employee phones the moment payroll runs.
  • Daraja B2C API
  • Real-time transaction status
  • Retry & reconciliation built in
Security & Data Protection

Your employee data is protected

PawaHR is built to keep sensitive HR and payroll data safe — from encryption to access control and auditability.

Encrypted everywhere

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Payslips, documents, and employee profiles are never exposed publicly.

Role-based access control

Admin, HR, Manager, and Employee roles see only what they need. Sensitive actions are limited by role and logged.

Audit logs

Every sensitive action is tracked and immutable. You can see who changed what, when, and why.

Built to Kenya's Data Protection Act

Employee data is handled under the DPA 2019 — lawful basis recorded, access controlled by role, every change audit-logged and retained. Access and erasure requests are supported.

Secure document handling

Payslips, leave documents, and employee files are served through authenticated access only. No public links.

M-Pesa integration security

Salary disbursement uses Safaricom's Daraja API with token-gated callbacks and reconciliation built in.

PawaHR does not currently hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certifications. We focus on baseline security practices aligned with Kenyan data protection requirements.

Demo

See PawaHR for yourself

Book a personalised walkthrough with our team. We’ll show you how PawaHR fits your team size, industry, and payroll setup.

Book a Demo
FAQ

Questions, answered

The things SME owners and HR managers ask us most.

Yes. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest, access is controlled through role-based permissions — Admin, HR, Manager, and Employee each see only what they should — and every sensitive action is audit-logged.

You simply move to the next tier — no penalties, no surprise charges, no disruption. Our bands are deliberately wide so most companies aren't constantly hitting tier boundaries.

No. PawaHR is built for business owners and team leads, not specialists. PAYE, SHIF, and NSSF calculations happen automatically on every payroll run — you review and approve, the system does the math. If you can use M-Pesa, you can use PawaHR.

PawaHR connects directly to Safaricom's M-Pesa Daraja API. When you run payroll, salaries are sent straight to each employee's M-Pesa — no bank file uploads, no queueing at the branch. You see real-time transaction status for every payment. The Daraja integration is built and running against Safaricom's sandbox; live disbursement switches on once Safaricom approves our production credentials, which is in progress.

The core platform — leave, payroll, M-Pesa disbursement, statutory compliance — is built and working. Early access means we're onboarding a limited first cohort so every company gets dedicated setup support. In return, early adopters get direct input on what we build next.

Yes. Your data is yours — employee records, payroll history, and reports can be exported at any time. No lock-in, no hostage data. We'd rather keep you with a good product than a closed door.

Early access

Be among the first

Join the waitlist and get early access to PawaHR before public launch.

  • Early access before public launch
  • Dedicated onboarding support
  • Direct input on features
Request early access
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