According to reports Safaricom’s mobile money service; M-Pesa, is looking to expand its operations into Ethiopia and Nigeria. This is according to statements by the company (Safaricom)’s interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Michael Joseph.
Since its launch in 2007, the innovative service by Safaricom PLC which is described by many as Africa’s biggest innovation in financially inclusive services, has grown tremendously.
M-Pesa has also in recent times, partnered with global payment services such as Paypal, WeChat, and AliExpress, which also drove up its generated revenues.
In Safaricom’s last financial report, M-Pesa contributed 75 billion Kenyan Shillings, which is roughly a third of the company’s revenue in that year.
Nigeria and Ethiopia are some of the continent of Africa’s most populous countries, with over 100 million people each.
M-Pesa’s planned expansion into the economies of each territory, will provide a much bigger market for M-pesa, particularly the Ethiopian market, which is largely untapped.
While the money transfer platform will most likely face stiff competition from big players in the Nigerian market, such as MTN who are equally strong, Michael Joseph is confident that MPESA has the capacity and what it takes to realize substantive penetration in spite of the competition.
The mobile money service ;M-Pesa, is projected to become Safaricom’s main revenue earner in the next three years, as it is expected to begin contributing more than 50 percent of the telecommunications giant’s earnings.
