Designing Mobile Money Services: Lessons from M-PESA
This article analyzes the success of M-PESA, the Kenyan mobile money service offered by Safaricom. M-PESA has almost six million customers, representing nearly half the base of Safaricom. Its agent network too has grown, and the service is now available at nearly 9000 retail outlets in urban and rural areas. M-PESA facilitates a number of financial transactions through mobile phones such as transferring money, checking account balance, paying bills, purchasing mobile phone credit, and transferring such credit to others. Customers can also deposit and withdraw cash from their M-PESA account by visiting an authorized agent. M-PESA is not the only mobile money service to be launched in Africa, but it is the most successful. Its growth is attributed to:
- Latent demand for money services driven by rural-urban migration;
- Safaricom's market domination with 77% market share in voice telephony;
- Safaricom's strong brand presence, nationalistic marketing campaigns and brand association with people's perception of modern Kenya;
- Easy to use services and consistent customer experience across all retail agents;
- Easy and quick registration process;
- Simple and transparent retail pricing;
- Free deposits, no minimum balance and ATM access.
