Safaricom, on Friday morning, announced its Half Year results in 2018 revealing massive profits and growths in an economy where most organizations are struggling to stay afloat through retrenchment.
The biggest contributor to Safaricom’s growth in terms of products was M-PESA. It goes without saying that M-PESA has become a part of the Kenyan culture and language and it should never come as a surprise when one refers to a loan they owe you as a kaM-PESA.
M-PESA as a product could not be overlooked given its tremendous success. If Kenya was to go back in time and have to wish to take 5 things with them to the past, M-PESA is likely to appear in a majority of Kenyan’s list.
In 2015, M-PESA had 13.86 million loyal customers with revenue of 32.63 billion shillings which grew to 41.5 billion shillings with a customer base of 16.6 million customers as announced in 2016’s financial year.
In 2017’s financial year, M-PESA customers grew to 19 million shillings with revenue of 55.1 billion shillings and in this half year’s financial release, the product did not disappoint as it grew its customer base to an impressive 20.5 million shillings with 62.9 billion shillings.
For M-PESA, the sky is the limit as Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore hinted on a partnership between the telecommunication and Western Union where customers can send money from M-PESA to Western Union and withdraw from banks. Initially, customers could only receive money from Western Union but not send.