Vodafone director of mobile money Michael Joseph. PHOTO | FILE
By LILIAN OCHIENG', laochieng@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
M-Pesa has hit over 25 million active customers
globally, marking another year of accelerated growth for the innovative
mobile money transfer service.
The platform has experienced a surge in usage across Africa,
Asia and Europe, with active customers increasing by 27.1 per cent to
25.3 million in the year ended 31 March 2016.
British telecom firm Vodafone, which owns a 40 per cent stake in Safaricom, attributed the growth to new market launches in Albania and Ghana.
The telco said that the growth was also supported by a network of more than 261,000 agents in 11 M-Pesa countries.
“Since 2007, M-Pesa has enhanced the lives and
livelihoods of people without bank accounts, giving them access to
essential financial services through their mobile phones,” Vodafone
Group Director of Mobile Money, Michael Joseph, said.
“I am delighted and proud that M-Pesa has reached
the 25 million active customers milestone. M-Pesa continues to expand,
evolving beyond traditional money transfers to encompass savings and
loans, payment of salaries and benefits, settlement of utility bills and
school fees and to enable vital health and agricultural solutions,” he
added.
Vodafone's partnerships in its countries of
operations have enabled it to leverage the platform to make payments
easier. For instance, the Ministry of Social Development in Lesotho pays
welfare grants using M-Pesa while Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture also
pays fertilizer subsidies using the mobile money transfer service.
In India, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission
uses M-Pesa to enable financial inclusion for women’s groups and the
National Rural Health Mission is using the service to disburse prenatal
health benefits.
Meanwhile, in Mozambique, some development agencies
use the platform to pay employee salaries and allowances while some
service providers use it to collect payments.
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