M-Pesa global: Safaricom Ethiopia mobile money users triples in 4 months after launch

Safaricom seems to be taking a good bearing in Ethiopia as far as M-pesa users are concerned, following the latest report that shows how numbers have grown three times in just four months.

According to the company CEO, Peter Ndegwa, in four months, 3.1 million have leveraged on the M-Pesa, translating to 18.5 billion transactions, giving a certain indication that it is taking a successful trajectory.

While expressing his exhilaration, the Chief Executive said that they are looking forward to seeing a bigger transformation the M-pesa will bring to financial inclusion in Ethiopia.

“We are very pleased with the optimism that  M-pesa has evoked in the youthful population of Ethiopia, we are looking forward with excitement to the transformation the M-pesa will bring to financial inclusion in Ethiopia, ” CEO Ndegwa said.

In the very first month after its inauguration on August 15th 2023, the mobile service attracted 1.2 million users before it tripled to 3.1 million users at the end of December last year.

At the close of September last year, user transactions were placed at KSh 3 billion before they went six times, KSh 18.5 billion at the end of the fourth month.

M-Pesa transaction volume

As the volume of transactions quadrupled, The M-pesa merchants had to be added to 43,100 at the end of the fourth month compared to 12,400 at the end of September.

The massive increase in the transactions in the last four months has brought a hefty revenue of KSh 44.9 to the Ethiopia Unit, going past messaging services which gave KSh 28.2 million in nine months.

Organizations which lends money like Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Dashen Bank ,Bank of Abyssinia , Awash International Bank , Co-operative Bank of Oromia , Abay Bank , Hilbret Bank , Berhan Bank and Buuna Bank , are now both able to exchange and make use of information with the communication service provider.

The telco is very optimistic about seeing an expansion of its branches across all walks of life in Ethiopia to beat the current 2,242 base stations which are majorly positioned in 33 cities.

To gain more users, the company is planning to spend KSh 40 billion in the current financial year ending March 2024, to improve proper connectivity which would then encourage quality.