M-PESA is now 15 years old, since its launch in Kenya in March 2007 by Safaricom. The peer-to-peer money transfer and payments service has also recorded over 51 million customers, 465,000 businesses, 600,000 agents and 42,000 developers across Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ghana and Egypt.
M-PESA also reportedly processes more than 61 million transactions a day making it Africa’s largest fintech provider even as it gears to become Africa’s biggest Super App.
According to Peter Ndegwa, CEO – Safaricom, “We launched M-PESA back in 2007 in a bid to deepen financial inclusion for our customers by connecting them to useful and affordable financial services. In 15 years, we have seen population access to formal financial services grow to as high as 83% as we introduced additional services and reached more customers. Going into the future, we continue to build on our purpose to transform lives by providing our customers with a wide variety of digital solutions that empower them in an increasingly digital world. ”
With more people across the continent shifting to smartphones, 3G and 4G broadband, M-PESA is today evolving to become a digital financial services provider. In 2021, M-PESA Africa launched the M-PESA Super App and an M-PESA Business Super App which enable any business on the service to run a virtual store front providing their services virtually through M-PESA Mini Apps.
The M-PESA Super App is designed to be a customer’s lifestyle companion connecting them to services they need in a typical day including shopping, restaurants and food delivery, transport services, government services and much more. More than 9 million customers and 320,000 businesses have downloaded the M-PESA Super App since its launch.
“In the last 15 years, M-PESA has transformed the lives of millions of customers empowering them with useful and affordable financial services. With increasing smartphone usage across the continent, we are transitioning to be a digital financial services provider connecting customers and businesses in a digital world,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, MD – M-PESA Africa.
