MPESA Growth has continued to accelerate since the launch of the service in Kenya back in 2007. A few years later, MPESA started venturing into other countries especially in East and South Africa, Eastern Europe and Middle East. Recently, MPESA launched in the Eastern European country Albania and the Western African country Ghana, countries that have warmly received the Vodafone mobile money service enabling MPESA Growth to hit 25 million users.
Elated by the progress, former Safaricom CEO and current Vodafone Group Director of Mobile Money Michael Joseph said,“I am delighted and proud that M-Pesa has reached the 25 million active customers milestone. M-Pesa continues to expand, evolving beyond traditional money transfers to encompass savings and loans, payment of salaries and benefits, settlement of utility bills and school fees and to enable vital health and agricultural solution. Since 2007, M-Pesa has enhanced the lives and livelihoods of people without bank accounts, giving them access to essential financial services through their mobile phones.”
MPESA Growth has seen the service gain access to 11 countries which are India, Lesotho, Kenya, Mozambique, Romania, South Africa, Tanzania, Albania, DRC, Egypt, and Ghana. MPESA continue to impact people’s lives in remarkable ways. For example in Tanzania where the cost of travel prevents many people from getting the medical care they need, one non-governmental organisation (NGO), Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT), has used M-Pesa to send patients the money to pay for their travel to its hospital. In India, In India, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission uses MPESA to enable financial inclusion for women’s groups and the National Rural Health Mission is using the service to disburse prenatal health benefits.
Although MPESA Growth may seem remarkable, it is worth noting that MPESA active users in Kenya alone are slightly over 19 million, meaning that the other 10 countries are sharing the remaining 6 million users. If MPESA could be as successful in India, South Africa and Ghana as it is in Kenya, then the mobile money service could hit well over 250 million active users in no time.
