Verified1 min read
● projectScaled · systemic · 2007
M-PESA (mobile money)
Mobile money service launched by Safaricom in 2007 that allows sending, receiving, storing and paying money from a basic phone via an agent network, without a bank account.
illustrative atlas image · Bernd Dittrich / UnsplashSPSafaricom PLCVGVodafone GroupDFDepartment for International Development (DFID)NHNick HughesSLSusie LonieTSTavneet Suri
Part of this project? Claim your place
01 The context
It grew out of a pilot funded by DFID (Financial Deepening Challenge Fund) and scaled into national financial infrastructure. Suri and Jack 2016 document that it lifted ~194,000 households out of poverty (2% of Kenyan households), with ~185,000 women moving from farming to business.
02 How it works
03 What it stands on
Evidence level
Own experience
Grounded in published theory
Documented evidence elsewhere
Independently evaluated here
Peer-reviewed research documents this project: the strongest evidence level in the atlas.
The evidence 2 ›
EvidenceM-Pesa: Financial Inclusion in Kenya (case study)Harvard Business School · 2011
EvidenceThe long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile moneyScience (AAAS), vol. 354, pp. 1288-1292 · 2016