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FinTech

Vodacom and Safaricom officially acquire the M-Pesa brand

JOHANNESBURG – Vodacom and Safaricom announce that they have completed the acquisition of the M-Pesa brand, product development and support services from Vodafone through a newly created joint venture.

The transaction, which was first announced in 2019, will accelerate M-Pesa's growth in Africa by giving both Vodacom and Safaricom full control of the M-Pesa brand, product development and support services as well as the opportunity to expand M-Pesa into new African markets.

M-Pesa is the largest payments platform on the African continent, it has 40 million users and processes over a billion transactions every month. M-Pesa is operational in Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mozambique and Egypt. Currently around 25% of all M-Pesa customers have access to a smartphone – a figure that is growing by 10% every year.

"M-Pesa is hugely successful and enables millions of unbanked people in Africa to transfer money, pay bills and trade. It benefits communities and helps create a multitude of small and micro-business ventures. However, with the rapid increase in smartphone penetration, the evolution into financial services and the potential for geographical expansion, we believe the next step in M-Pesa’s African growth will be more effectively overseen by Vodacom and Safaricom," Nick Read, Vodafone Group CEO said.

The disposal of the M-Pesa brand, support and product development services to Vodacom and Safaricom is broadly financially neutral for Vodafone Group.

Vodacom

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