Telecom operator Vodafone Group has revealed its achievements of mobile money service M-Pesa that is is celebrating the 10th anniversary.
Vodafone said M-Pesa processed a record 614 million mobile money transactions during December 2016. Vodafone offers M-Pesa mobile money services in 10 countries: Albania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Romania and Tanzania.
Key M-Pesa milestones
March 2007 M-Pesa launches in Kenya
Nov 2007 M-Pesa reaches 1 million active users
April 2008 M-Pesa launches in Tanzania
Sept 2008 M-Pesa reaches 4 million active users
Aug 2009 M-Pesa partners with Western Union to allow customers to receive money from the UK
June 2010 M-Pesa reaches 10 million active users
Sept 2010 M-Pesa launches in South Africa
March 2011 Safaricom and Western Union reach agreement to allow M-Pesa customers to receive international money transfers from 45 countries
Jan 2011 Lipa Karo allows learning institutions to receive school fees via M-PESA.
Nov 2012 M-Pesa launches in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Nov 2012 Savings and loans service M-Shwari launches in Kenya, reaching 2.3 mn subscribers in 4 months.
2013 Vodafone Foundation engages M-Pesa to provide access to essential health services through text-to-treatment
April 2013 Vodafone and ICICI Bank launch M-Pesa in India
May 2013 M-Pesa launches in Mozambique
June 2013 M-Pesa launches in Lesotho
June 2013 Vodafone Cash launches in Egypt.
June 2013 Lipa na M-Pesa launches, allowing consumers to pay merchants and retailers for goods and services using M-Pesa
March 2014 Vodafone M-Pesa launched in Romania, marking the first time the service is available in Europe.
May 2014 M-Pawa launches in Tanzania
March 2015 M-Pesa launches its first international money transfer corridor between Tanzania and Kenya
May 2015 Vodafone M-Pesa launches in Albania Dec 2015 Vodafone M-Pesa launches in Ghana.
2015 Vodafone establishes a global framework agreement for M-Pesa to deliver interoperability, enabling M-Pesa customers to transact with other services and across borders
2016 The World Food Program uses M-Pesa to help deliver their food aid programme in Kenyan refugee camps
April 2016 M-Pesa reaches 25 million active users.
June 2016 Safaricom opens M-Tiba health payment platform in Kenya
M-Pesa, according to Vodafone, has served almost 29.5 million active customers through a network of more than 287,400 agents as of the end of December 2016. The mobile money service processed around 6 billion transactions in 2016, achieving 529 transactions every second in December 2016. M-Pesa went live in Kenya on 6 March 2007.
“M-Pesa is a revolution that has empowered millions of people in some of the poorest communities in the world to start and grow businesses and gain greater financial resilience,” said Michael Joseph, Vodafone Group Managing Director of M-Pesa.
