M-Pesa hits 30 million active monthly users

Safaricom’s mobile money platform M-Pesa now has 30 million active monthly users in Kenya.

This is up from 28.7 million monthly active subscribers at the end of September 2021 to represent a 4.5 per cent growth rate in usage over the last five months.

The growth in usage represents not just the popularity of the payments platform but also underlines the growth of mobile money solutions in the country.

Across the region, M-Pesa has in excess of 20 million other customers in markets including Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Lesotho, Ghana and Egypt.

According to the telco operator, growth in M-Pesa customer usage has been driven by innovations including new financial services such as M-Shwari, KCB M-Pesa and Fuliza.

“M-Pesa’s success has been achieved on the back of consistent focus on the needs of our customers by ensuring that we are constantly delivering innovations that add value to their lives,” said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.

“As the country goes digital with growing smartphone usage, we are committing to continue exploring and delivering life-changing innovations in a digital world."

Safaricom and its parent Vodacom have indicated that they’re focusing on growing the service in other markets with the goal of appraising its offer to the same level as that in Kenya.

In April 2020, the pair unveiled M-Pesa Africa which brings together the platform's resources, strategy and roadmap.

In six months to September 2021, the value of M-Pesa transactions stood at Ksh.13.7 trillion with each of the monthly active customers having at least 18 chargeable transactions per month.

During the period, M-Pesa revenues were up by 45.8 per cent at Ksh.52.3 billion following the return on transaction fees for person to person transfers of up to Ksh.1,000.

M-Pesa is Safaricom’s cash-cow contributing to nearly 38 per cent of all its service revenues.

On Monday, the platform marked its 15-year anniversary.