A team from our Digital Financial Services (DFS) and Regulatory and the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) set out to Kenya and Tanzania so that the regulator gets to see the mobile finance experience of other countries.
The team arrived in Kenya on Sunday and hit the ground running since Monday morning. As the major mobile finance operator in Kenya and Tanzania, they paid a visit to M-PESA’s activities.
They visited the Safaricom HQ on Monday morning, where they went through the journey of M-PESA. The session was robust with a lively engagement session on how the key products - Consumer App, the Business App and Daraja operate. At a visit to the Safaricom Foundation, the delegation learned about how the brand connects with people. They met young individuals from various walks of life who shared the hope they know. A young lady who aims to be an international Chef stood out, moved the crowd. The foundation not only gave her resources to pursue her dream but hope and support that she is grateful for.
The team also visited the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and had fruitful discussions with Governor Patrick Njoroge. After that, the team immersed themselves in a market visit in Kangemi, which sits in the Nairobi West and Mountain region. Customer experience is at the heart of Safaricom’s values, and they got experience firsthand on an end-to-end payment transaction. The first stop was the customer service visit. Here they learnt about the KYC process and got to understand the various levels of customer complaint processes.
Through their visit to a Coca–Cola distributor, they got to see a truly cashless business as the supplier does not accept any other forms of payment except M-PESA. “It’s an additional security measure because people know we don’t have cash on the premises”, said the business owner.
Dagmawe Teklemariam from Safaricom Ethiopia’s EA&R team remarked: “Our market visit in Kangemi enabled me to see the transformative nature of M-PESA. There exists a sincere level of trust that I have not seen before. We visited a Coca-cola distributor that only accepts payments through M-PESA. They believe in M-PESA the eco system and level of trust is something my fellow Ethiopians deserve to have.”
In Tanzania the team got to engage with Vodacom who are pioneers in Digital Know Your Customer processes and other mobile payment solutions. M-PESA has transformed the Tanzanian market with over 200K jobs created directly and indirectly, 3000 businesses & banks connected, and 160,000 transacting agents across Tanzania. Instant, secure transactions have fostered healthy business activity.
The digitization of the economy has seen 65% of the adult population financially included thanks to M-PESA solutions like Micro-Savings, Micro-Credit, Insurance, and International Money Transfer Payments.
We look forward to more win-win partnerships across the Voda family that will enhance Digital Financial Services across the region. So they visited Bank of Tanzania and then vodacom offices.
The team have expressed their gratitude to the warm welcome the Safaricom PLC team in Kenya gave them including the CEO, Peter Ndegwa. They have also extended their appreciation to the hospitality of M-PESA CEO Sitho Mdlalose and MD, Epimack Mbeteni.