M-PESA: Mobile Money for the “Unbanked”

Report

Nick Hughes and Susie Lonie’s account, published in the journal Innovations (winter/spring 2007), of the development of M-PESA in Kenya. They describe the pilot, which began on 11 October 2005 with around 500 clients and eight agent stores, and the commercial launch in March 2007, when the service attracted more than 20,000 customers in its first month. Spanning pages 63 to 81 of the journal, the paper is a first-hand record of how a mobile money service aimed at Kenya’s unbanked was designed, piloted and launched.