M-Pesa agents get Sh22 billion commission

Safaricom paid Sh22 billion in M-Pesa commissions to its agents during the last financial year, new data shows.

This as new features introduced on the payments platform continue to drive user growth and transactions.

The commissions paid out to the telco’s over 167,000 M-Pesa agents were 12 per cent higher than last year and represented the highest payout made in recent years.

The company also paid out another Sh11 billion in commissions to airtime vendors, down from Sh11.4 billion paid out the previous year on account of more consumers purchasing airtime from their M-Pesa accounts.   

In its 2019 Sustainability Report, Safaricom said investment in its agency network was one of the ways of promoting sustainable business practices along the company’s value chain.

“Last year, we focused on the theme of Shared Value and…building on this theme, we deployed a more advanced approach to our sustainability agenda in 2019, by focusing on activities aimed at reducing inequalities, as envisioned by Sustainable Development Goal 10,” said Chairman Nicholas Nga’ng’a.

Safaricom signed a partnership with Stanbic to finance agent head offices with a cumulative Sh1 billion in financing issued weekly.