M-Pesa Eyes Global Remittances Market

Safaricom’s M-Pesa has taken a bold step into the global remittance market by partnering with eCommerce giant Amazon.

M-Pesa’s mobile phone-based money transfer service has already made significant strides in Kenya, but this collaboration will help Safaricom extend its reach globally and tap into the remittance market which the United Nations projects will hit $5.4 trillion by 2030.

With over 200 million migrant workers worldwide sending over $630 million to their families last year, global remittances have become a vital source of foreign income for many developing economies. Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya are the three largest recipients of global remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This isn’t the first time that Safaricom has teamed up with global corporations to expand its service offerings. The company has also partnered with global digital payment companies PayPal and Visa to allow users to transfer money to their mobile wallets and shop online respectively. The M-PESA-Visa virtual card has enabled Kenyans to make secure, cashless payments at merchant locations in over 200 countries through Visa’s global network.