April 4, 2007
Money transfer service wows Kenya
The lives of many Kenyans are being transformed by a free mobile phone money transfer service offered by Safaricom, called M-Pesa. The BBC reports.
"The service, which is in the process of rolling out to most major towns in Kenya, is also cheap - costing on average about $1 to send or receive money.
... Micheal Joseph, Safaricom's chief executive, said the idea first started as a trial money transfer service in the micro-finance industry two years ago. The success of the trial project drove the company to explore moving money among individuals across the country.
"Within two weeks of the launch over 10,000 account holders were registered and more than $100,000 had been transferred," Mr Joseph said.
Plans are under way to test this on an international stage in an effort to tap the large amounts of money transferred to Kenya by its citizens spread throughout the world, Mr Joseph revealed.
Related: - Kenya sets world first with money transfers by mobile
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2007/04/015518.htm