According to latest reports Kenya’s leading communications company; Safaricom, is looking to undergo a restructure that will see it transform into a holding company. This means that the holding company will then be home to M-Pesa which is the world’s first ever mobile money transfer system, the Ethiopian arm of Safaricom, as well as Safaricom’s telecommunications operations. All three (3) will then become subsidiaries of the holding company.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Safaricom; Peter Ndegwa made it known during an interview that the company does not have any intention to separate its M-Pesa service from Safaricom even with the pressure and a number of queries.
In his words, “What we intend to do though as ourselves is to create a group structure so Safaricom Plc becomes a group, and then you have different businesses.”
Read Also: Safaricom Is Now The First Telecommunications Company In Ethiopia
The other establishments that Safaricom will be adding to the holding company in Digi Farm which is a new tower company which was at the time of putting this article together still being put together, as well as any other company Safaricom might acquire in the future.
Read Also: Safaricom Launches New Interest Free Credit Service For Goods Purchases Via M-Pesa
Safaricom’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Peter Ndegwa revealed that its M-Pesa mobile money service has been successful with its users because it is also part of its GSM operations.
According to him, “Although we work in separate teams – the actual M-Pesa team is very different – but they rely on the network that the GSM side has. They rely on the distribution network.”
The nearest competitor to Safaricom; Airtel Networks Limited also just recently finalized the separation of its own mobile money service; Airtel Money, from the rest of its telecommunications services. The separation resulted in the formation of a new entity called Airtel Money Kenya Limited (AMKL) which will now be tasked with overseeing the day to day operations of Airtel Money.
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When asked about the Airtel’s separation the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Safaricom stated that Airtel made the decision because they were looking to raise funds. Expanding further he said, “And they needed to do it at an African level. They wanted to monetise their mobile financial business.”
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