Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Nehanda, post: 29209, member: 2262"] M-Pesa started as a simple mobile payment service in Kenya back in 2007, but nobody expected how big it would become. These days, you can find M-Pesa working in more than 170 countries around the world, helping over 70 million people send and receive money. The company keeps growing fast, with more than a million businesses and agents across Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt. M-Pesa supports over 55,000 connected systems through its Daraja platform, where more than 100,000 developers create new apps and services. The system handles around 4,000 money transfers every second, which adds up to nearly 100 million daily transactions. This makes M-Pesa the biggest financial technology solution across Africa. People love M-Pesa because it lets anyone with a cell phone make quick, safe money transfers without needing a bank account. Safaricom turned on its mobile network in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city, on October 6, 2022. The company received the first license to compete against the government-run Ethio Telecom. This fits right into the Digital Ethiopia 2025 plan that aims to help the country use technology to build a better future. Safaricom took almost 25 years to reach 65% of Kenyan mobile users, but after just two years in Ethiopia, they already cover 46% of the population - that's about 52 million people out of 112 million. Safaricom Ethiopia CEO Vim Vanhelleputte feels very positive about the network his team built last year. He believes they can copy their Kenyan success because Ethiopia has many people who need banking services. With over 120 million citizens spread across a country twice the size of Kenya, Safaricom sees huge profit potential. "Every year, three million Ethiopians turn 18 years old - that equals adding one and a half times the entire population of Lesotho as potential customers annually," Vanhelleputte explained. Safaricom Ethiopia learned from past experiences in Kenya. It took seven years to establish M-Pesa in Nairobi but only seven months to launch it in Addis Ababa. According to financial results released in February, M-Pesa customers in Ethiopia jumped from 3.1 million to 10.8 million during the twelve months ending December 2024. This represents almost one-third of all mobile phone users in the country. Vanhelleputte mentioned that bringing M-Pesa to Ethiopia presents different challenges than Kenya faced. M-Pesa originally solved money transfer problems for Kenyans who relied on bus drivers to deliver cash to rural areas where banks didn't exist. In Ethiopia, M-Pesa helps people move away from using physical cash. "You need networks, people, distribution channels, and the M-Pesa platform," said Vanhelleputte. "We've put all these building blocks in place as our foundation. Next comes scaling everything up for future success - we're ready to start building the house and show how well we can perform here." Financial technology expert James Maore says M-Pesa will change Ethiopian banking by offering easy financial services to people without bank accounts. This will increase financial access and create healthy competition. "Mobile money changed Kenya's financial landscape without hurting traditional banks," Maore said. It gives customers something completely different, and despite banks fighting against it at first, they eventually used it to reach more customers." He expects Ethiopian banks will cut costs by shifting from physical buildings to digital services. M-Pesa should transform how Ethiopians handle money, giving them more control over daily finances and saving time through digital transactions. Consumers benefit from online shopping, discounts, rewards programs, referrals, savings accounts, loans, and completing everyday tasks on their phones. Businesses can reach more customers and enjoy efficient online processes with easy-to-use dashboards and reports. Last October, Safaricom expanded its M-Pesa Global service to allow money transfers between Kenya and Ethiopia. Both companies want to increase mobile money usage across Ethiopia to help local economies and create opportunities for people, businesses, and organizations throughout the country. They focus on meeting customer needs in changing markets, always making sure they follow local regulations and laws. Safaricom partners with financial technology companies as part of its plan to reshape banking in this landlocked nation. Earlier this week, Safaricom M-Pesa teamed up with LakiPay Financial Technologies to improve digital payment services in Ethiopia. This partnership allows merchants who sign up through LakiPay to accept M-Pesa payments. The integration makes transactions easier, expands financial access, and helps Ethiopia's growing digital economy. Safaricom M-Pesa Mobile Financial Service CEO Elsa Muzzolini said, "As a company offering mobile financial services, we want to empower businesses and individuals with secure and convenient digital payment solutions. Our partnership with LakiPay strengthens our efforts to drive financial inclusion and digital transformation in Ethiopia by providing more options for seamless transactions." M-Pesa succeeds not just because of clever technology but because it fits well with cultural practices of supporting family networks spread across different areas. This shows how important cultural compatibility becomes when introducing new financial technologies. M-Pesa represents a rare complete success story of technological advancement in the Global South, skipping traditional banking stages entirely. We can look at its full journey and learn valuable lessons about financial technology adoption around the world. [/QUOTE]

Name