Safaricom has announced
its financial results for the last year, with M-PESA recording phenomenal
growth, contributing 42.4% to the company's group revenue. The mobile financial
service giant raked in KSh 140 billion in revenue, marking a 7.7% increase from
the previous year.
M-PESA's impressive
performance was driven by its massive user base, with over 32 million active
customers in Kenya and 4.5 million registered customers in Ethiopia. The
platform processed a staggering 28.3 billion transactions, with a total value
of KSh 40.2 trillion. In Ethiopia, M-PESA facilitated 31 million transactions
worth KSh 24.5 billion since its launch in August 2023.
Strategic partnerships
with the government enabled M-PESA to disburse KSh 49.5 billion in affordable
credit to over 21 million customers through the Hustler Fund. Additionally,
over 2 million women accessed KSh 0.9 billion in credit through the Women
Enterprise Fund. Overall, M-PESA disbursed a total of KSh 218 billion in
affordable credit through various initiatives, including Fuliza, M-Shwari, KCB
M-PESA, Timiza, merchant credit, and government partnerships.
Business payments emerged
as a significant revenue contributor, with 633,000 active M-PESA merchants
processing 2.5 billion Lipa Na M-PESA transactions worth KSh 2 trillion.
Pochi
La Biashara, a service that enables micro SMEs to receive payments and separate
business funds, recorded 632,000 active businesses with 494 million
transactions worth KSh 73.5 billion.
M-PESA innovations also
posted robust growth, with the M-PESA Visa Virtual GlobalPay card facilitating
6.1 million international payments worth KSh 14.5 billion for 143,000
customers. The Mali mutual fund attracted over 119,000 active customers with
KSh 1.9 billion in assets under management. M-PESA Global, which enables
customers to send and receive money and payments worldwide, reached a milestone
of 1.1 million customers with KSh 566 billion transacted in over 38 million
transactions.
By: Nana Appiah Acquaye
