M-Pesa is an incredibly popular and successful mobile phone-based payment service founded in 2007 by the Vodafone Group and Safaricom, the mobile network operator in Kenya. The service allows mobile phone subscribers to deposit and withdraw money from a wide network of over half a million agents. They can also pay for goods and services, access credit and savings accounts and make and receive international money transfers. The fees charged for the service are very small and that has helped millions in the developing world to move away from a cash-based society and to be able to manage their own financial affairs for a minimal cost. It has had a remarkable effect on individuals, businesses, and national and regional economies. M-Pesa has spread and is now also available in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania. It was also available in Afghanistan but how long that might continue to be the case remains to be seen. By giving so many people access to official, structured, and regulated banking and financial systems M-Pesa’s digital ecosystem has also greatly reduced the incidence of muggings, robberies and violent crime that were a constant feature of daily existence when almost all transactions were conducted in cash.
M-Pesa’s popularity meant it very spread quickly. There were some 17 million active users in Kenya by 2012 and in 2016 there were 7 million active users in Tanzania where the service was run by Vodacom. Now, as the South African news website eminetra.co.za has revealed, the number of active M-Pesa customers has doubled in the past five years, a feat that was achieved just a year and a half following the launch of Safaricom’s and Vodacom’s “M-Pesa Africa” joint venture. The goal of the jv is to accelerate growth of the service across Africa and if today’s figures are anything to go by, that goal is being met. M-Pesa transaction volumes grew 44 per cent year-on-year between this April and June, QI of Vodacom’s current financial year. The number of M-Pesa transactions hit 4.5 billion in that quarter and total transaction value was 1 trillion rand (UK£50 billion plus). M-Pesa is still taking “preliminary steps”. If so, they are impressively big ones of the ‘seven league boots’ variety. M-Pesa has also been a financial lifeline for millions of people during the Covid-19 pandemic.