(L-R) Esther Waititu, chief financial services officer, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, cabinet secretary, National Treasury and Economic Planning, Safaricom CEO, Dr. Peter Ndegwa, and Michael Joseph, Safaricom chairman.

Today marks the 18th anniversary of Safaricom's mobile money service M-PESA, which was launched in March 2007.

M-PESA is now available in over 170 countries and serves over 70 million customers.

The mobile financial services company also now serves over one million businesses and agents in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt.

Furthermore, the service supports over 55,000 integrations on its Daraja platform, which is home to over 100,000 developers.

With a current capacity of 4000 transactions per second, the platform conducts over 100 million transactions each day, making it Africa's largest fintech solution.

Safaricom said in a press briefing on Friday that M-PESA’s success is due to its accessibility and universal nature, which allows millions of people to conduct rapid, secure, and reliable financial transactions using their mobile phones.

“In the last 18 years, M-PESA has transformed the lives of millions of customers, empowering them with useful and affordable financial services, ‘’ Dr. Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO said.

‘’With increasing smartphone usage across the continent, we are transitioning to be a digital financial services provider connecting customers and businesses to opportunities and powering their growth through our tech-powered solutions.”

Safaricom said as more people across the continent adopt smartphones, 3G, and 4G broadband, M-PESA is evolving to become a digital financial services provider of choice.

In 2021, M-PESA Africa debuted the M-PESA Super App with a business proposition: the M-PESA commercial App, which allows any business on the service to operate a virtual shopfront and provide their services using M-PESA Mini apps.

M-PESA's services have doubled over the last 18 years, resulting in increased financial inclusion and national economic progress.

According to Safaricom's chief financial services officer, Esther Waititu, the business is expanding the M-PESA platform to allow more digital services, faster product development, and better stability and reliability.

“M-PESA’s future success will be based on its ease of use, and its seamless integration with other services and products to give customers a comprehensive suite of financial services at their fingertips. M-PESA represents the future of mobile financial services across the continent,” she said.