In an era where digital currency is gaining significant traction, Kenya’s leading telecommunications company, Safaricom, is reaping the benefits. The firm’s recently published 2022/23 financial year results reveal a robust growth in its mobile money service, M-Pesa, with transactions topping a staggering KSh 35 trillion, reinforcing the central role of mobile money in the country’s economy.
Safaricom declared a healthy post-tax profit of KSh 52.2 billion for the financial year 2022/2023. Safaricom PLC board chair, Adil Khawaja, underscored the critical role of M-Pesa in driving the company’s revenue, indicating it accounted for almost 40% of the total earnings.
The 21.4% surge in the M-Pesa transaction value to KSh 35.9 trillion, as indicated in the report released on May 11, underscores Kenyans’ ever-growing reliance on mobile money. This was complemented by a 33.5% increase in the total M-Pesa transaction volume to 21 billion year on year.
Safaricom’s Chief Financial Officer, Dilp Pal, highlighted several growth areas within M-Pesa, including the Pochi la Biashara, a wallet designed for micro or small businesses, business transaction tills, and merchant credit facilities. These facilities recorded a whopping 58.4% growth to KSh 1.5 billion in revenues.
Personal payments via M-Pesa swelled by 8% to KSh 78.2 billion, bolstered by KSh 42 billion transfers and KSh 36.2 billion withdrawals. In the same vein, business payments through M-Pesa witnessed a 17.3% uptick to KSh 27.3 billion.
In the context of financial services, there was a modest growth of 0.7% or KSh 8.6 billion, with Safaricom’s Fuliza M-Pesa, M-Shwari, and KCB M-Pesa reporting KSh 5.4 billion, KSh 2.1 billion, and KSh 0.6 billion, respectively.
Despite the decrease in charges, Fuliza saw an 8.3% drop this year. Nevertheless, M-Pesa’s customer base expanded by 5.2% year on year, reaching a total of 32.1 million active users per month.
“M-Pesa remains our most significant revenue pool, contributing to 39.7% of Safaricom Group’s total income,” remarked Khawaja, painting a bright picture of the service’s future in the rapidly evolving digital currency landscape.