Mpesa Among Top 10 Global Most Influential Finance Projects of the Last 50 Years

Safaricom’s M-pesa is one of the top 10 influential finance projects of the last 50 years by Project Management Institute (PMI) in its 2019 Most Influential Projects list.

Mpesa has contributed to growth in financial inclusion and financial transformation of the Kenyan economy.

“Financial inclusion in Kenya has grown by more than 50 percent in the last twelve years to stand at more than 82 percent today “, said Michael Joseph, CEO Safaricom

Launched 12 years ago, Mpesa has evolved into a full financial services solution allowing users to make small payments, exchange cash, pay bills, receive paychecks and social grants, and access loans and savings products offered in partnership with local banks.

Furthermore, the service stood out in a list with more than 1000 projects considered by a group of 400 leaders and industry experts. To meet the standards of recognition, the project list identified efforts that changed the world, shaped lives, and altered the DNA of the organizations and the companies that launched them.

Actually, in 2017 Economists from MIT and Georgetown University found out that Mpesa lifted more than 195,000 Kenyan families from extreme poverty by empowering customers with the agency to receive money from any other phone user.

Mpesa serves more than 31 million customers through an ecosystem of more than 1,100 suppliers, 400 active dealers, and over 167,000 agents countrywide.

Mpesa has brought banking services to millions of people in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Tanzania, Albania, Egypt, Mozambique, India, and Romania.

Mpesa ranks as the dominant financial services app across Africa, processing 11 billion transactions in 2018.