Safaricom's M-Pesa mobile money service is now processing approximately 100 billion Kenyan shillings in transactions daily, Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa announced. The figure, equivalent to around $770 million, underscores the continued dominance of the platform in Kenya's digital payments landscape, which has become a cornerstone of the country's economy since its launch in 2007.
Ndegwa, speaking at an event in Nairobi, attributed the sustained growth to the platform's evolution beyond simple peer-to-peer transfers. "M-Pesa is no longer just a money transfer platform," he said. "It is a financial services platform." The service now facilitates a wide range of activities, including merchant payments, international remittances, savings and credit products, and bill payments for utilities and government services.
The daily volume milestone reflects M-Pesa's deep integration into Kenyan commerce and its role in driving financial inclusion. With over 30 million active customers in Kenya and a vast agent network, the platform has become the primary financial tool for a significant portion of the population, many of whom previously lacked access to formal banking services. The service's reliability and widespread acceptance have made it a default payment method for both informal and formal sector transactions.
Separately, Vodacom Tanzania, which operates the M-Pesa brand in Tanzania under a licensing agreement with Vodafone, has expanded its cross-border payment corridors. The operator has partnered with global payments network Thunes to enable its customers to send money directly to mobile wallets in China and Uganda. This builds on an existing service with Kenya launched in 2023.
The new connections allow Vodacom Tanzania's M-Pesa users to send funds to recipients with Alipay+ partner wallets in China and to MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money users in Uganda. The service aims to tap into trade and remittance flows, offering an alternative to traditional money transfer operators. "This partnership with Thunes marks a pivotal step in our journey to make cross-border payments as simple and secure as local transactions," said Philip Besiimire, Managing Director of Vodacom Tanzania M-Pesa.
The expansion in Tanzania highlights the strategic push by M-Pesa operators across East Africa to capture a larger share of the regional and international remittance market. While Safaricom's announcement focuses on domestic transaction scale, Vodacom Tanzania's move illustrates the ongoing effort to enhance the service's utility across borders, a key area of growth as digital payment ecosystems mature.
Analysts note that M-Pesa's success in Kenya has provided a blueprint for mobile money across Africa, though replicating its scale has proven difficult elsewhere due to varying levels of telecom competition, regulatory approaches, and consumer behavior. The platform now faces increasing competition within Kenya from a growing number of fintech apps and digital banking services, even as it continues to set the benchmark for transaction volume and ecosystem breadth.