M-PESA: Progress and Prospects

Abstract

In Innovations, less than two years ago, Nick Hughes and Susie Lonie described how they conceptualized, piloted and, in 2007 launched, M-PESA, an award-winning money transfer technology based on mobile phones.1 Much has happened since then. This article looks further into what happened next, focusing on the local context and commenting on what the future might hold.I will try to demonstrate that besides the simple and innovative product, the characteristics of the local mobile telephony and banking sectors contributed greatly to the successful adoption and diffusion of the money transfer service. This is a good example of a service whose time had come and whose implementation occurred in the right context.