By 121 News
Chandigarh 25th February:-AsVodafone marksthe10thanniversaryofM-Pesa,theworld'sleadingmobile moneyservice,itwasrevealed thatarecord614millionM-PesatransactionswereprocessedduringDecember2016.
VodafonenowoffersM-Pesaservicesin10countries:Albania,theDemocraticRepublic ofCongo,Egypt,Ghana, India,Kenya,Lesotho,Mozambique,RomaniaandTanzania. AsoftheendofDecember2016,M-Pesaserved almost29.5millionactivecustomersthroughanetwork ofmorethan287,400agents. During2016,the serviceprocessedaround6billiontransactions,peakinginDecember2016at529transactionseverysecond.
M-PesawaslaunchedbyVodafone'sKenyanassociate,Safaricom,on6March2007.The serviceisdesignedto enablecustomerssafelyandsecurelytosend,receiveandstoremoneyviaabasicmobilephoneand,more recentlyinsomemarkets,usingasmartphoneapp.CustomersvisitanM-PesaagenttotopuptheirM-Pesa accountandarethenabletousetheirmobilephonetomakepurchasesinshopsandsendmoneytoother peoplewhocanthenvisittheirnearestM-Pesaagenttowithdrawtheirfunds.
M-Pesaalsoreducessignificantlythepotentialrisksofstreetrobbery,burglaryandpettycorruptionwithin cash-basedeconomieswhereonlyasmallproportionofthepopulationbenefitfromaccesstoconventional financialservices.
Vodafone GroupManagingDirectorofM-Pesa, MichaelJoseph,said:"M-Pesa isa revolutionthat hasempoweredtensofmillionsofpeopleinsomeofthepoorestcommunitiesintheworldtostartandgrow businessesandgaingreaterfinancialresilience.Allof usatVodafoneareveryproudofhowM-Pesahas enhancedourcustomers'dailylivesandhelpedthemplanforthefuturewithconfidence."
Andrew Dunnett, DirectoroftheVodafone Foundation, added that M-Pesaisacriticalcomponentofmanyofthe VodafoneFoundation's corehealthservices,suchastheTexttoTreatment serviceswehavelaunchedin LesothoandTanzania.Theseservicesdramaticallyimprovequalityoflifeandinmanycases,savelives– particularlyinsomeoftheremoteandisolatedareasthatweserve.
AccordingtoarecentstudyconductedbyMITandpublishedinthejournalScience,M-Pesahashadadramatic impactontheoveralleconomyin Kenya–liftingsomehouseholdsabovethepovertylineandparticularly benefitingfamiliesheadedbywomen. Inonenotableexample,povertyfell22%withinakilometreofwheresix M-Pesaagentsopenedbetween2008and2010. InTanzania,financialexclusionwaslowered by50%asa resultofmobilemoneyservices(source:Finscope2013).
TheM-PesaFoundation,establishedin2010,isanindependentcharitabletrustinvestinginprojectsthatimprove thesocialandeconomicstatusofKenyans.FundedbyM-Pesa,ithassupportedanumberoflarge-scalehealth, environmental,conservation,education andwaterprojects- includingthe M-Pesa FoundationAcademy,a boardinghighschoolservingtalentedbutdisadvantagedKenyanstudentswithdemonstrableleadershippotential.