NAIROBI, March 15 (Xinhua) -- M-Pesa, Kenya's premier mobile money platform, stands as one of the most remarkable stories of innovation born out of Africa.
Launched in 2007 by Safaricom and UK-based telecom company Vodafone, M-Pesa has evolved from a simple mobile money transfer platform into a comprehensive service that empowers millions to access banking, credit, and digital payments worldwide.
Today, over 60 million people in Kenya, across Africa, and beyond use the service monthly, according to Safaricom.
At the center of this transformation lies not just the ingenuity of Safaricom and Vodafone, but also the critical support of Chinese technology, expertise, and devices.
Safaricom selected Chinese technology firm Huawei to upgrade its mobile money payment system.
Through its partnership with Safaricom and Vodafone, Huawei expanded M-Pesa's service capabilities. The company's experts supported infrastructure enhancements that enabled the system to handle massive transaction volumes and introduce new services, including real-time bill payments.
A long-running partnership between Safaricom and Huawei saw the Chinese tech giant assist in relocating M-Pesa's servers from Germany to Kenya in 2015.
Bernard Mwaso, a Nairobi-based IT consultant, told Xinhua that moving the servers to Kenya was a pivotal step that stabilized the platform and accelerated its growth.
"The challenge with having servers in a different jurisdiction is that it takes longer to deal with issues like downtime if they arise. This degrades the customer experience," he said.
He observed that M-Pesa blossomed after the server migration, racking up more subscribers as it diversified into banking services, real-time bill payments, and global transfers.
"You cannot deny the fact that the Chinese have had a huge impact on the success of M-Pesa. This is not only because of the expertise they offer but also the mobile devices that Kenyans use," Mwaso noted in a recent interview.
Across the capital Nairobi, Chinese-made smartphones rule the roost. A visit to various shops revealed that popular budget brands, including Infinix, Tecno, Itel, and Xiaomi, retail for as low as 4,000 shillings (about 30.9 U.S. dollars) despite their impressive versatility.
These affordable devices have enabled millions of Kenyans to own smartphones, facilitating access to various digital services such as online shopping and banking, which in turn fuels the growth of M-Pesa.
"I own an Oppo phone that I bought for 92.8 dollars. I use it for online shopping, doing online freelance jobs, and taking loans from mobile apps. The money from the latter two comes directly into my M-Pesa wallet," Beatrice Ngwiri, a graphic designer in Nairobi, told Xinhua.
In his book, "Silicon Elsewhere: Nairobi, Global China and the Promise of Techno-Capital," Andrea Pollio, an Italian researcher and professor, notes that while M-Pesa's success depended on "financial infrastructures that were used to collateralize mobile money" and thousands of agent kiosks, the affordability of Chinese devices has been critical. These smartphones facilitated the growth of "lending wallets, pay-go kits, and gig-work platforms."
M-Pesa's transition into a global digital payment network has also been shaped by collaborations with Chinese digital payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, which have expanded its reach into international e-commerce and cross-border transactions.
These partnerships have helped customers easily shop online by eliminating the need for complex foreign exchange conversions, thereby solidifying M-Pesa's international payment capabilities.
Mwaso observed that integrating M-Pesa with established global networks has ensured secure, regulated, and trustworthy transactions.
"With these partnerships, Kenyan consumers and businesses can participate in global e-commerce without needing credit cards or complex banking arrangements. Freelancers can also work for firms in China and other parts of the world and get paid with ease," he said. ■
