Kennedy Luhombo (R) receives the award from Steve Clarke, Founder of Mobile Money Global during the 6th Mobile Money Global Awards held in Dubai/COURTESY
Safaricom’s M-PESA was awarded the Best Operator-Led Mobile Money service-beating operators from Afghanistan, UAE, Qatar and the USA-in recognition of the success that M-PESA has had in the emerging markets and its potential to transform lives.
The award provides a glamorous platform for mobile operators to showcase their achievements in the mobile money sector to an audience of over 500 leading mobile money companies globally.
“This award is an endorsement of the role that M-PESA continues to play in the advancement of the financial inclusion agenda in Kenya and we remain firm in our commitment that we will continue to introduce innovative financial tools for our customers,” said Safaricom’s General Manager of Financial Services, Betty Mwangi.
Since its inception in 2007, M-PESA has revolutionized the way Kenyans access formal financial services.
The service has evolved from being a money transfer service to a payment platform with a customer base of more than18.2 million subscribers.
The iconic mobile transfer service, has won several global awards since its launch including: Best Mobile Money transfer services in the Global Mobile Awards, Achievement in Financial Inclusion award, GSMA Best Mobile Money Transfer Service, Mobile Content Award, Best Mobile Money Transfer Service and four times GSMA Award among others.
Two months ago, Safaricom’s General Manager of Financial Services Betty Mwangi was named as one of Africa’s twenty most influential women in technology this year, which was seen as an endorsement of the great impact that M-PESA continues to have in the lives of millions of people in Kenya and beyond.
In November 2012, Safaricom Limited, in partnership with Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) launched M-Shwari, a service which allows M-PESA customers to save money and get micro loans through their mobile phones at competitive market rates. In June 2013, M-PESA launched the Lipa na M-PESA a service aimed at making M-PESA a primary tool of transaction.
The M-PESA service was launched in March 2007. As at September 2013, M-PESA has 18.2 million customers. The system handles Sh94.8bn of real time payments per month.
