A small group at Safaricom was on tenterhooks on the morning of June 23, 2021 as the company launched the M-PESA app.

While M-PESA has grown in popularity and use since it was unveiled in March 2007, the app was a bold new step for the revolutionary payment solution now used by more than 51 million users across Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt.

The app goes further from just offering payment services and serves as an anchor app that hosts multiple mini-apps that work towards servicing the day to day needs of the customer.

The team behind the M-PESA app planned for it to become the one-stop-shop for all its customer does, from the moment they start their commute to work, have lunch, read the newspaper and book that flight or train ride.

Statistics from Safaricom’s latest half-year results indicate there have been 224.9 million transactions via the app, valued at KSH 603.8 billion, with 38.9 transactions per month per active customer.

The app has more than one million active revenue-generating customers, with the numbers attributed to the fact that Safaricom is continually introducing new features within the app to meet customer needs.

The M-PESA app was created using Agile, a new way of working introduced at Safaricom in early 2020. In the Agile way of working, organizations focus on how individuals interact with products and services and work towards meeting the needs of their customers.

In the Agile way of working, progress is driven by Tribes of 60 – 100 employees and small teams called Squads of between 8 – 10 employees.

We had the chance to sit down with the M-PESA app Squad from the Payments Tribe at Safaricom to understand how they used Agile to develop and deliver the super app, and to understand what it means to have squads and tribes at a company.

Watch the podcast below: