{"id":17459,"date":"2022-07-14T10:02:24","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T10:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3"},"modified":"2022-07-14T10:27:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T10:27:33","slug":"m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3","title":{"rendered":"M-Pesa paved the way \u2013 but can others follow?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span><\/a>Africa\u2019s mobile payments ecosystem experienced its birth and adolescence in Kenya, as the M-Pesa service took the country by storm. You all know the story.
\nStemming from the Swahili word for \u2018money\u2019, M-Pesa transformed how Kenyans paid for goods and services and made peer-to-peer digital money transfers possible, without the need for a bank.
\nSince its inception, M-Pesa has developed into an integral financial service, and its reach now extends far beyond purchases and transfers. Given the success of mobile payments in East Africa, it\u2019s not surprising to see growing interest in expanding M-Pesa\u2019s model across the whole continent.<\/p>\n

A number of organisations have publicly stated their intent to bring mobile payments to other regions, and others are expected to be exploring their options behind closed doors.
\nAll will have to contend with one key question, though\u2014is it possible to replicate M-Pesa\u2019s success? M-Pesa is the largest player in both the Kenyan and wider African markets by some distance, with 26 million users.
\nThe company behind M-Pesa also owns the majority of the mobile infrastructure in Kenya, so it enjoys an almost total monopoly over the mobile payments space.
\nAnother reason behind M-Pesa\u2019s success could be its central role in the wider Kenyan economy. The Kenyan government is supportive of the service, given the tax revenues the company generates, and this may be strengthening the platform\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

Safaricom was met with an advantageous landscape, and this has been converted into a dominant market position. However, this strategic advantage doesn\u2019t exist outside of East Africa for M-Pesa or any other service provider.
\nHaving a host government, and the regulators under its control, on-side and willing to facilitate implementation is somewhat of a silver bullet, but few exist.
\nIn fact, M-Pesa itself has struggled to expand its success to other markets, including South Africa, which has a technologically advanced, highly accessible and cash-rich financial system, meaning that the demand for a revolutionary payments system just didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

Most African countries don\u2019t fall into this category, however there is another hurdle to overcome. In India, replicating a similar system ran into a regulatory roadblock, with limited levels of deposits and lending designed to protect the banking sector from disruption.
\nThis is an issue that others will face in Africa, too. With this in mind, the prospects for the expansion of existing services or the inception of new ones looks bleak.
\nThere are now other African countries with the same regulatory landscape as Kenya, limiting possible target regions even where underlying economic conditions seem to indicate demand.<\/p>\n

Despite these factors, it\u2019s likely that we\u2019ll still see a number of providers attempting to break into the African mobile payments market. Other telecoms organisations, both from Africa and from abroad, have already dipped a toe into the water, backed in some cases by considerable investment.<\/p>\n

These have seen moderate early success, but all are tailored very specifically to individual markets, and therefore are unlikely to alter the balance on a large scale.<\/p>\n

Similarly, established financial institutions are also entering the fray, in some cases appealing to different consumers, including those who are already participating in the traditional financial system.
\nWe may also see new technologies such as cryptocurrency play a role in expanding mobile payments services into new markets. Already a revolutionary way to move money, the disruption brought by cryptocurrency could unlock doors which have remained closed until now.
\nWhichever way this sector goes in the coming years, there\u2019s no doubt that Africa is the leader in this area of innovation. People previously barred from the financial system now have access, changing both their personal and business lives.
\nAs technology continues to develop, barriers will continue to be broken down and mobile payments will become even more seamless. It\u2019s impossible to say for certain that new market entrants can\u2019t succeed, and that we won\u2019t see an explosion of mobile payments providers all across the continent, but those that try will certainly have a mountain to climb.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Africa\u2019s mobile payments ecosystem experienced its birth and adolescence in Kenya, as the M-Pesa service took the country by storm. You all know the story. Stemming from the Swahili word for \u2018money\u2019, M-Pesa transformed how Kenyans paid for goods and services and made peer-to-peer digital money transfers possible, without the need for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":17458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[242,233,246,245],"class_list":["post-17459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nM-Pesa paved the way \u2013 but can others follow? - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Africa\u2019s mobile payments ecosystem experienced its birth and adolescence in Kenya, as the M- ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M-Pesa paved the way \u2013 but can others follow?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa\u2019s mobile payments ecosystem experienced its birth and adolescence in Kenya, as the M- ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-14T10:02:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-14T10:27:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_2-62cfef7448a16.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"M-Pesa paved the way \u2013 but can others follow?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-14T10:02:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-14T10:27:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3\"},\"wordCount\":696,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_2-62cfef7448a16.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m-pesa-paved-the-way-but-can-others-follow-3\",\"name\":\"M-Pesa paved the way \u2013 but can others follow? 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