M-Pesa service was launched in 2007 as a way for customers to instantly send money
The service has since evolved to include services such pay bills, make and receive international money transfers, save and access credit
Apart from Kenya, M-Pesa is available in Tanzania, Mozambique, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana and Egypt
M-Pesa, the flagship product of Safaricom and Vodafone, has reached 50 million monthly active customers, 14 years after its launch. M-Pesa has reached 50 million monthly users Data from the Safaricom indicates that the service has largely contributed to the growth of formal financial inclusion across the continent, which has gone up by up to 55%. “M-Pesa is a two-sided network that provides a wide variety of financial services to both businesses and individual customers,” the company said in a press release Tuesday, September 8. The Kenyan-made and grown mobile money wallet has since evolved from a basic SIM card-based money transfer application into a fully-fledged financial service.
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M-Pesa also offers loans and savings platforms by partnering with banks. Other services available on the platform include merchant payment services.
Separate data by FSD-Kenya, Central Bank of Kenya and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics found that formal financial inclusion stood at 82.9 percent in 2019, up from 26.7 percent in 2006.
Commenting on the finding, Kenya Association of Bankers CEO Habil Olaka noted that growth of financial inclusion had been driven by the growth of mobile money including M-Pesa. “A key driver for our country’s tremendous improvement in financial inclusion has been collaboration between banks, mobile network operators and fintechs,” he said. Growing businesses
M-Pesa also focuses on businesses by expanding its ecosystem to deliver innovative solutions across micro businesses, SMEs and large businesses.
According to Safaricom, the solutions include an open API in use by more than 45,000 developers and 200,000 business es and the M-Pesa for Business Super App.
It also includes the Transacting Till that enables businesses to go beyond receiving payments to making business payments, and Pochi La Biashara that enables small businesses to separate their personal and business funds.Collectively, more than 500,000 businesses transact more than $7 billion (KSh 770 billion) every month on M-Pesa. “Into the future, the service has been investing in new technologies and partnerships as it seeks to deepen financial health […]