Kenya’s Safaricom working to expand M-Pesa mobile money across Africa

Kenya’s largest wireless carrier, Safaricom has revealed that it intends to expand its M-Pesa (mobile money) financial services across Africa, having built a proven solution in Kenya and in the east African region.

The development comes after South Africa’s Vodacom acquired a 35 percent stake in Safaricom.

Safaricom, which dominates the wireless space in Kenya with 28 million subscribers, said in a statement that Vodafone had offered “appropriate assurances” to the Kenyan government, which is also a shareholder in Safaricom, before the deal was announced.

The Kenyan government a 35 percent stake in share in the company. The Vodafone Group retains a 5 percent stake, while 25 percent of the shares are being traded on the Nairobi stock market.

The M-pesa platform has expanded rapidly and has become the most successful mobile money processor in Africa. It currently provides users in a number of African countries with the ability to process payments seamlessly over their mobile phones.