“Uko na paybill ama till?” (Do you have an M-PESA paybill or till number?)
This is an everyday question among most Kenyans, owing to how much M-PESA has become embedded in their day-to-day lives.
When M-PESA was being launched, the initial concept was to create a service that would allow microfinance borrowers to conveniently receive and repay loans using the network of Safaricom airtime resellers. But the idea of developing the mobile money product can be traced back to 2003; a promising approach to sustainable development. The proposal by Nick Hughes, then the head of social enterprise at Vodafone, was to use mobile phones to deliver financial services.
Hughes leveraged partnerships from those he reached out to, including Susie Lonie, who has a background in mobile commerce. Two years later, in 2005, M-PESA was ready for a pilot. Safaricom, M-PESA’s parent company, then went on a recruiting spree and identified airtime dealers. In October 2005, eight agent stores, which later rose to 15, were given phones with an M-PESA menu.
On March 6, 2007, M-PESA was officially launched. A month later, it had 19,671 active users. Impressed with the figures, Safaricom decided to triple M-PESA’s year-one target – a feat it accomplished in eight months. 17 years later, M-PESA is the region’s largest fintech platform whose users can send and receive money globally, make payments, take insurance, pay bills, and buy airtime, among many other services.
As a disruptive innovation, the platform continues to evolve. Starting out, customers used SIM toolkit services, which evolved to the shortcode (USSD) *334# and due to the rise of smartphones, users can now enjoy convenience on the M-PESA Super App. The Super App has further simplified and digitised the M-PESA experience, whether you’re paying via till or paybill, person to person, or purchasing airtime – all these services, and more, are centralised on the app.
Further, the Super App has allowed Safaricom’s partners to showcase their various services on the platform, from fast food outlets to transport providers.
M-PESA is also driving financial inclusion in the country, having reached several milestones since its launch. With 61 per cent of the country’s total population using M-PESA, the platform handles 3,000 transactions per second. According to Esther Waititu, Chief Financial Services Officer at Safaricom PLC, when M-PESA was launched, financial inclusion in Kenya was at 23%. As of 2023, she says financial inclusion has increased to 84%.
“When M-PESA started in 2007, financial inclusion in this country was at 23%. Today, based on statistics, as of 2023, financial inclusion has actually increased to 84%. So the role that M-PESA wants to continue to play is that of enabling all these financial services on our platform,” she said.
For almost two decades, M-PESA has played a life-changing role in its customers’ lives by providing a convenient and accessible mobile money platform for users, including those in remote and underserved areas.
Listen to Esther Waititu on the podcast below, as she takes us through M-PESA’s 17-year journey.
