Business
Kenya’s Safaricom launches incubation center to move beyond the M-Pesa platform
Kenyan wireless operator Safaricom has opened an innovation center to incubate products that will help it grow its mobile money service.
The incubator – named Safaricom Alpha – will have the priority of identifying spending patterns on M-Pesa and turning what is found into additional Safaricom products, — according to Chief Innovation Officer, Kamal Bhattacharya.
“We would actually like to move beyond M-Pesa by leveraging its power as a social network to connect people to other product solutions,” said Bhattacharya.Though operational, the innovation center is still under construction and will eventually connect to a Venture Capital function to support investments and partnerships.
The Nairobi-based innovation center will also look to help Safaricom adapt better to its customer’s needs. The mobile operator is responsible for 73 percent of all of Kenya’s mobile subscribers, while M-Pesa is used by 27 million customers across a network.
Safaricom has already added other products to its collection, either developed in-house or through partnerships. Products include digital TV, the M-Kopa solar-powered lighting kit, a bill pay service, and a ride-hailing app to rival Uber Kenya. Furthermore, the company is planning to launch an eCommerce platform in the coming months.
Source: Telecom Paper
