Recent estimates put adoption for M-Pesa, Kenya’s wildly successul mobile payment service for the unbanked, at 17 million users. The service that allows users without bank accounts to complete simple financial transactions, received a boost through M-Shwari, a bolt-on service that allows M-Pesa users access to savings accounts and loans, in late 2012.
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M-Shwari netted over 70 000 registrations in its first day and the latest from Fiorano Software, the company who’s Fiorano ESB middleware along with the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) powers M-Shwari, suggests that the service is still growing at a rate of 40 000 signups per day and has now crossed Ksh1 billion (US$11.4 million) in transactions per month.
With customer deposits of over KSh 3 billion, M-Shwari one of the most successful new financial services products in the African market in recent years.
Initially prototyped as a microfinance service for Kenya’s Safaricom cellular network, M-Pesa evolved into a service empowering unbanked individuals to complete person-to-person money transfers. With M-Shwari’s success, M-Pesa has come full circle, allowing Safaricom subscribers to operate savings accounts, earn interest on deposits, and borrow money using their mobile phones.
