m-pesa
M-Pesa Africa Appoints New Managing Director
Image sourced from Twitter Safaricom’s M-Pesa Africa has appointed Sitoyo Lopokoiyit as its new Managing Director. He is a “mobile financial services expert who has directly managed mobile money in two of the largest markets in the world – Kenya and Tanzania,” reveals MyBroadBand. Lopokoiyit joined Safaricom in 2011 as head of M-Pesa strategy and business development. He then went on to Vodacom Tanzania in 2016 where he worked as the director of m-commerce, before re-joining Safaricom in 2018. Kenyan Senators Call for Safaricom to Split Senators in Kenya believe that Safaricom should split into two firms – Mobile Services and M-PESA. According to The Star, a split would see the mobile telephony service is regulated by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) and the M-Pesa...
M-Pesa Becomes First African FinTech to Join United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce
M-Pesa has revealed that it is the first mobile money provider in Africa to join the Financial Taskforce established by United for Wildlife, a coalition of charities that works to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. The M-Pesa mobile money system has become Africa’s most popular financial services provider and the continent’s leading financial technology platform. M-Pesa is actively used by 41.5 million customers across seven African countries who make over 12.2 billion transactions per annum. The platform also enables individuals and businesses to pay bills, create savings and loan accounts and to access overdraft facilities, commercial services and healthcare. “The environment remains a critical, shared communal resource and has been under threat from the illegal trade of wildlife. The fu...
M-PESA is Close to a 99% Market Share in Kenya
Sourced from Tech Weez. As of 31 March 2020, the number of registered mobile money subscriptions in Kenya was 29.1 million. This space is dominated by Safaricom with M-PESA having a 98.8% market share. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) reports that Airtel Money comes in a far, far second at 1.1%, and third is T-Kash at a 0.05% share. Equitel, which is regarded more as a banking product than a mobile money service was not ranked by the CA. Launched in 2007, M-PESA has become a Kenyan stable, with Tech Weez writing that as of right now the service and its products are symbiotic with the country’s economy so far as to be impossible to run a business without it, or any other mobile money platform. M-PESA’s success has also firmly planted Kenya in the world map, the service is consider...
Central Bank of Kenya Lengthens its COVID-19 Emergency Mobile Money Measures
Sourced from Forbes. The Central Bank of Kenya announced that it will extend the measures placed on mobile money transactions put forth back in March. Charges for mobile money transactions of up to KES1000 ($9,39) and the withdrawal of money between bank accounts and mobile money wallets. These emergency measures were put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in Kenya. The initial announcement had the measures in place until 1 July 2020, but now the Central Bank is increasing the duration of the measures by 5 months until the end of the year, 31 December 2020. The Central Bank of Kenya says that in line with these measures: /* custom css */ .tdi_3_5fc.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_5fc.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } There will be no charge for mobi...
Safaricom Eyes an Opportunity to Expand into Ethiopia
Sourced from CGTN. Safaricom PLC is planning to extend its reach into Ethiopia, Kenya’s northern neighbour. Although not initially successful with its first few attempts, new changes within the Ethiopian government may prove beneficial for the mobile carrier to finally establish a presence within the country. Last month, the Ethiopian government said that it would be impossible for Safaricom’s M-PESA service to have any space in the market. The Ethiopian central bank about reiterated that no foreign financial institutions would be allowed to offer mobile money services in the country. Now, the good news for Safaricom is that the company was recently offered a window to buy into Ethio Telecom, the country’s mass-monopoly provider whose privatisation process is currently underway. This is on...
