Nearly two decades before M-PESA became a global case study in mobile money innovation, a chance conversation at a fuel station helped shape one of its most defining features — the agent aggregator model.
In 2005, while Safaricom’s product team was still refining the concept that would later launch as M-PESA, they approached Caltex (then under Chevron Kenya Limited) seeking partners who could serve as cash-in and cash-out points. The contact person was Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, then Business Advisor and Merchandising Manager at Caltex.
“A lady named Susie Lonie reached out. She wanted to use Caltex service stations as agent points,” Sitoyo recalls.
“They assumed we owned and operated the stations directly, but we franchised them to dealers. That conversation ultimately inspired the aggregator model now used by M-PESA globally.”
At the time, Sitoyo became one of the early testers of the nascent money transfer service, nearly two years before its official rollout in 2007.
His journey with the platform later shifted from user to industry leader. In 2011, he joined Safaricom as Head of M-PESA Strategy and Business Development, before moving to Vodacom Tanzania in 2015 as Director of M-Commerce. He returned to Kenya to serve as Safaricom’s Chief Financial Services Officer, eventually rising to his current post as Managing Director at M-PESA Africa.
“You cannot fathom what has happened and how the world has changed because of M-PESA. The impact is tremendous,” he says, reflecting on its evolution.
Fourteen years after joining Safaricom and almost 20 years after that first meeting, Sitoyo still speaks with unmistakable passion about the platform’s growth. He sheds light on how products such as Fuliza, Pochi la Biashara and Lipa na M-PESA started as internal projects and are now central to the lives of 34 million Kenyan users who drive 89 million daily transactions — contributing 42 percent of Safaricom’s revenue.
With M-PESA Africa established in 2020 as a joint venture between Safaricom and Vodacom Group, Sitoyo’s mandate now extends beyond Kenya. The Centre of Excellence is tasked with accelerating product development, harmonising technology, and supporting operations across markets.
Today, M-PESA serves more than 60 million customers and 5 million businesses every month across eight African countries, facilitating transactions worth over a million dollars daily.
As the platform marks 18 years, Sitoyo notes: “It’s great to see what started in Kenya has expanded into successful markets across the continent. But more importantly, over 200 countries now have mobile money — and that movement began here.”
He shares more insights in a video:
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