More than half of Kenyans use M-Pesa, says report

More than half of Kenya’s population now uses M-Pesa to pay bills, a new report says.

The report, titled “Embracing the Digital Revolution: Policies for Building the Digital Economy” says another 120,000 Kenyans have signed up with M-Tiba to pay for their healthcare services.

M-TIBA is a “health wallet” on mobile phones that allows patients to set funds aside for healthcare, thereby improving their financial capability to access health services.

The GSMA report findings corroborate a World Bank report, which noted that by last year, M-pesa had become a necessity in the daily lives of Kenyans, with nine million customers, equivalent to 40 per cent of the country’s adult population, using the mobile platform to access a range of financial services including money deposits, withdrawals, remittance delivery, bill payments and microfinance credit.