Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has licensed Safaricom Plc and Airtel Money Kenya Limited as Intermediary Service Platform Providers (ISPPs), while Capital.com’s local unit, CC Kenya Securities Ltd, received approval as a Dealing Online Foreign Exchange Broker, marking a push to digitize the country’s trading ecosystem.

The approvals position Kenya’s mobile money giants to expand their reach into regulated capital markets, potentially giving millions of mobile subscribers easier access to online investments. As ISPPs, Safaricom and Airtel Money will facilitate account onboarding, trading, and market access for retail investors.

Capital.com, meanwhile, is authorized to operate as a principal and market maker in online forex, providing trading platforms, market information, account management, and daily reporting in line with the Capital Markets (Online Foreign Exchange Trading) Regulations, 2017.

CMA has now licensed 13 non-dealing online forex brokers, two dealing brokers, and three money managers, reflecting growing institutional interest in Kenya’s regulated online forex market. The regulator says the move is part of a broader strategy to modernize and digitize the financial sector, improve transparency, and strengthen investor protection.

Equity Bank has secured $60 million African Development Bank (AfDB) Trade Finance Transaction Guarantee facility to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and driving intra-Africa trade.

The facility allows Equity Bank to provide guarantees of up to 100% to confirming banks for non-payment risks linked to Letters of Credit and similar trade finance instruments issued in Kenya. It is expected to meet the import trade finance needs of local businesses and support regional commerce under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework.

“Supporting trade in Africa is a key priority at the African Development Bank,” said Lamin Drammeh, AfDB Trade Finance Division Manager. “Trade finance facilitates domestic and international trade, drives economic growth, and promotes regional integration. We are delighted to work with Equity Bank, a strong partner with deep local knowledge and network, to advance this shared objective.”

Moses Nyabanda, Managing Director of Equity Bank (Kenya), said the facility comes at a critical time for Kenyan businesses, particularly SMEs that often face challenges accessing affordable trade finance. “The AfDB’s support strengthens Equity Bank’s capacity to unlock growth opportunities for local enterprises by enhancing their ability to trade confidently, manage risk, and sustain operations,” Nyabanda added.

With the guarantee in place, the bank will expand access to essential trade finance instruments, enabling importers to transact smoothly and securely.

PayPal Holdings Inc. is broadening its U.S. banking footprint and expanding digital payment access globally, including Africa, announcing plans to establish a Utah-chartered digital bank and launch a platform connecting major digital wallets worldwide.

The proposed PayPal Bank would allow the company to offer small business loans and savings accounts directly, reducing reliance on third-party banks. Since 2013, the payments firm has extended more than $30 billion in loans and working capital to over 420,000 businesses globally.

The firm has submitted applications to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for the bank, which would provide FDIC-insured deposits and seek direct membership with U.S. card networks. Mara McNeill, former CEO of Toyota Financial Savings Bank, has been named president.

“Securing capital remains a significant hurdle for small businesses striving to grow,” PayPal CEO Alex Chriss said. “Establishing PayPal Bank will strengthen our business and enable us to better support small business growth across the U.S.”

The firm has also unveiled PayPal World, a platform connecting major digital wallets including PayPal, Venmo, Mercado Pago, UPI (NPCI International Payments Limited) and Tenpay Global. The platform aims to simplify cross-border shopping and money transfers for nearly two billion users, including consumers and businesses in Africa, allowing them to pay international merchants using their domestic wallets and currencies.

As part of the rollout, PayPal and Venmo will become interoperable, enabling users to send money internationally and, from 2026, shop at millions of merchants worldwide that accept PayPal.

PayPal World is designed to support future wallet integrations, stablecoins, and AI-assisted commerce. The platform is expected to go live this fall, starting with PayPal and Venmo, with additional wallets joining over the coming months.

In September, the firm said it would invest $100 million throughout the Middle East and Africa, to fuel innovation, support entrepreneurs, and drive inclusive economic growth in the region.

The firm will do these through a mix of minority investments, acquisitions, ventures funding, people, and technology deployments to help local businesses scale, unlock new opportunities for innovators, and bring millions more consumers and communities into the digital economy.

Online learning platforms Coursera Inc. and Udemy Inc. said on Wednesday they will merge in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $2.5 billion, aiming to create a global AI-powered workforce development platform.

Under the agreement, Udemy shareholders will receive 0.800 shares of Coursera for each Udemy share held, representing a 26% premium over the 30-day average closing prices before the announcement. Post-merger, Coursera shareholders are expected to own 59% of the combined company, with Udemy shareholders holding 41%, on a fully diluted basis.

The deal, unanimously approved by both companies’ boards, is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Coursera Chief Executive Greg Hart said the combination will strengthen the company’s ability to meet growing demand for AI and technology skills across industries.

“By combining Coursera’s university-backed credentials with Udemy’s marketplace of AI-enhanced learning tools, we will accelerate innovation and deliver expanded value to millions of learners worldwide,” Hart said.

Udemy CEO Hugo Sarrazin said the merger will expand global reach and enhance enterprise offerings, while unlocking cost efficiencies and long-term shareholder value.

The combined platform is expected to generate pro forma annual revenue exceeding $1.5 billion, with anticipated annual run-rate cost synergies of $115 million within 24 months. Coursera also plans a sizable share repurchase program following the transaction.

The merger unites Udemy’s dynamic marketplace of independent instructors with Coursera’s partnerships with top universities and industry leaders, creating a comprehensive ecosystem for short-term skills training, professional certifications, and academic learning.

Key shareholders, including Insight Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and Coursera Board Chairman Andrew Ng, have committed to support the merger.

Analysts said the deal signals continued consolidation in the online education sector, which faces slowing consumer enrollment but growing enterprise demand for scalable workforce upskilling in artificial intelligence, data science, and software development.

When Safaricom was incubating what would later become M-PESA, the idea of partnering with fuel stations seemed improbable until Sitoyo Lopokoiyit got the call. At the time, Sitoyo was Business Advisor and Merchandising Manager at Caltex, under Chevron Kenya Limited.

“A lady named Susie Lonie reached out to use Caltex service stations as cash-in cash-out points for M-PESA agents,” Sitoyo recalls. “They assumed we owned and ran the stations, but in reality, we franchised them to dealers. That conversation sparked the aggregator model that M-PESA now uses globally.”

It was 2005, two years before M-PESA’s official launch, and Sitoyo was among the first to interact with the service, testing it at Caltex stations in Nairobi. He remembers walking with Michael Joseph, then CEO of Safaricom, to a fuel station to observe the first live transaction, an unassuming moment that would later redefine financial services across Africa.

From Fuel Stations to Financial Inclusion

“I like to compare M-PESA to breathing,” Sitoyo says. “When it works, you don’t notice it; when it doesn’t, everyone sees it. If M-PESA goes down for five minutes, regulators, media, even the president must know.”

Sitoyo’s early involvement gave him a front row seat to the challenges and opportunities of financial technology in Kenya. “I first interacted with M-PESA a year and a half before launch,” he recalls. “The people behind it, Michael Joseph, Nick Hughes, Paulin Vau, Susie Lonie, they had passion, commitment, and a focus on financial inclusion. That DNA is still alive today.”

He remembers the first big decision: creating M-PESA for All, including a Braille enabled watch for visually impaired users. “In Kenya, six million people are visually impaired. They had been excluded from financial services for too long. That innovation changed lives.”

Similarly, the platform enabled elderly Kenyans to receive government disbursements directly on their phones, eliminating months of waiting and costly travel to collect payments. “Small steps, massive impact,” Sitoyo notes.

Scaling Lipa na M-PESA

One of the pivotal moments in M PESA’s growth was the repositioning of Lipa na M-PESA. Originally a limited, cumbersome product operating on a dongle in select stores, it was nearly retired in 2012. Sitoyo, along with colleagues Boniface and Betty Mangi, then GM of Financial Services, argued to integrate it into the next generation M PESA platform.

They set an ambitious target: 100,000 merchants in six months. The team achieved it in just four. “It set up Lipa na M-PESA to become what it is today, a platform powering payments for millions of businesses in Kenya,” Sitoyo says.

Other innovations under his leadership include Fuliza, a service enabling overdraft lending, and Pochi la Biashara, allowing small businesses to separate personal and business funds. Each started as a modest internal project and has since become a household name.

The M-Shwari Revolution

M-Shwari, the mobile lending product launched on January 5, 2019, stands as one of M-PESA’s most successful innovations. “We didn’t launch it as a commercial product initially. Within two days, we had four million customers; in ten days, KSh 6 billion in lending had been processed. It was unprecedented.”

The product’s rapid adoption highlights a core principle of Sitoyo’s approach: understanding the real life financial challenges of everyday people and creating solutions that fit seamlessly into their lives.

M PESA Today: Scale, Revenue, and Innovation

Today, M-PESA serves 34 million Kenyans, has lifted financial inclusion from 26.7 percent in 2006 to 83.7 percent of adults, and generated KSh 161 billion, 1.25 billion dollars in revenue in the year to March 2025. It accounts for a significant portion of Safaricom’s total revenue of KSh 388 billion.

Safaricom is now overhauling the M-PESA platform in its largest upgrade in a decade. The Fintech 2.0 core is cloud native, AI powered, and designed to process up to 12,000 transactions per second, up from 4,500 today. The system includes real time fraud detection and self healing tools, improving uptime and enabling faster product rollout.

“This upgrade is a bold investment in the future of M-PESA,” Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said. “The platform not only scales to meet today’s demands but also anticipates tomorrow’s opportunities.”

Going Beyond Kenya

While M-PESA’s success is often associated with Kenya, its impact spans the continent. Over 60 million customers and 5 million businesses across eight African countries now use M PESA monthly, transacting over a million dollars daily.

Not every expansion was smooth. M PESA struggled in India, Romania, and South Africa, eventually pulling out. But markets like Tanzania, Mozambique, DRC, and Ethiopia exceeded expectations, sometimes even outpacing Kenya in adoption and innovation.

Regulators have also played a key role. Sitoyo praises the Central Bank of Kenya and governors like Dr. Patrick Jog for creating an environment where fintech innovation can flourish. “Dr. Jog was a governor by day, fintech enthusiast by night,” he recalls, highlighting the importance of supportive leadership in scaling disruptive financial solutions.

Financial and Social Impact

Globally, over 200 countries have adopted mobile money, drawing inspiration from Kenya’s pioneering platform. Yet for Sitoyo, the real measure of success is human impact. From visually impaired users accessing money independently to elderly citizens receiving government payments digitally, M PESA has transformed the way ordinary people interact with financial services.

Looking Forward

Today, Sitoyo leads M-PESA Africa, coordinating product development, synchronizing operations across markets, and fostering innovation. Reflecting on the journey, he admits with a hint of awe: “We honestly didn’t know M PESA would become this successful. From a simple conversation at a fuel station to a pan African digital payments powerhouse, it has surpassed every expectation. And we’re just getting started.”

Kenya has signed a 40.4 billion shilling ($311 million) public-private partnership (PPP) agreement to expand and strengthen its electricity transmission network, the government said on Tuesday.

The agreement was signed by state-owned Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO), infrastructure investor Africa50, and India’s PowerGrid Corporation. Under the deal, the private partners will finance, build, operate and maintain two high-voltage transmission lines and related substations.

Treasury officials said the project would improve grid reliability, reduce technical losses and load shedding, and support the integration of renewable energy into the national system.

“This investment strengthens the transmission backbone required for economic growth and reliable power supply,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said in remarks delivered at the signing ceremony.

The project includes a 400-kilovolt Lessos–Loosuk line in the Rift Valley and a 220-kilovolt Kibos–Kakamega–Musaga line serving western Kenya. It is expected to enable the integration of about 300 megawatts of geothermal power and improve electricity supply across the North Rift and Western regions.

Kenya is using public-private partnerships to accelerate infrastructure development while limiting pressure on public finances, as demand for power rises alongside industrial and commercial growth.

The project will also include compensation for affected communities and measures to support local contractors and skills transfer, officials said.