Anywhere in Kenya today, a shop with a green door or window with the M-PESA logo is a sure sign that you can get M-PESA services there.

M-PESA has made it possible to operate without coins and notes, whether you want to send money, pay bills, or do bank transactions, M-PESA is there for you.

Although the team that introduced M-PESA pitched it as a way of sending money home, says Pauline Vaughn, who was in that team at Safaricom, they quickly realised there was much more potential for the service, thus created the right structures for it to grow.

“Starting with a simple message was one of the critical success factors,” said Pauline in an interview three years ago when M-PESA turned 15.

The simple message was “Send money home”.

Kenyans also found the process of getting on to the service seamless, as the only requirement was to have an identity card to register and the cost for the new SIM card would be borne by Safaricom.

The company used its extensive network of dealers to market the platform and to get users to enrol.

Even as they worked to meet the targets for the enrolment of users, the team at Safaricom was also thinking big, working with the knowledge that the platform was capable of a lot more than sending and receiving money.

M-PESA would soon grow to allow Kenyans to use the platform to pay their bills, save money, and access mobile money loans, among other uses that have transformed millions of lives.

Watch the video to hear more from Pauline on why M-PESA succeeded.