As 2025 draws to a close, Safaricom has reflected on a milestone year for its flagship mobile money platform, M-PESA, marked by major anniversaries, expanded financial services and strong industry recognition.
The year was significant on two fronts: Safaricom marked its 25th anniversary, while M-PESA celebrated 18 years since launch, a moment executives described as a transition from rapid growth to maturity, resilience and long-term sustainability.
According to Safaricom Chief Financial Services Officer Esther Masese Waititu, 2025 saw accelerated investments under its “Fintech 2.0” strategy, focused on modernising M-PESA’s core infrastructure to enhance security, scalability and reliability. The platform now supports 37.9 million active customers, over 2 million businesses and a steadily expanding ecosystem of partners and developers.
These efforts were recognised through several industry accolades. M-PESA was named InsurTech of the Year at the African Insurance Awards and received the Nganya Award for Best Payments. The platform also earned the Ecommerce Growth Partner Award from Visa and was recognised as Most Innovative Partner at the Sanlam Awards. Safaricom’s financial services leadership was additionally acknowledged by regional and international business publications for its role in driving innovation and operational excellence.
Safaricom attributed much of this progress to its internal teams and broader ecosystem, including developers, agents, merchants and technology partners. Daraja 3.0, M-PESA’s developer platform, continued to play a key role in enabling third parties to integrate payment and financial services into everyday consumer and business applications.
From Access to Financial Outcomes
Beyond scale, Safaricom said 2025 focused on turning financial access into tangible outcomes. Through its Ziidi investment product, customers were able to begin investing with as little as KES 100, lowering barriers to wealth creation. For small and medium-sized enterprises, Business Till Loans expanded access to working capital, supporting a merchant base that grew to 2.4 million. Enhancements to Pochi allowed merchants to save and invest directly from their wallets.
Expanding Insurance and Financial Protection
Insurance emerged as a key pillar of M-PESA’s growth strategy. Products such as Tunza Mapato, which provides short-term income protection for informal sector workers, and Tunza Simu, which offers affordable device insurance, were positioned as tools to help customers manage financial shocks and protect livelihoods.
Community and Talent Development
M-PESA also continued to invest beyond financial services, supporting national sports teams including the Shujaa and Lionesses rugby sides, and partnering with the Junior NBA programme to promote youth development and financial literacy.
Safaricom credited collaboration with regulators, banks, insurers, merchants and technology partners as central to M-PESA’s continued evolution.
Looking ahead, the company says M-PESA’s next phase will focus on building a “platform nation” designed to drive inclusion, resilience and sustainable economic growth across Kenya and the wider region.
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