M-Pesa hits 3million subscribers, Tsh35billion transactions daily and growing….

Dar es Salaam, 10^th October, 2012 … Millions of Tanzanians continue to choose M-Pesa for money transactions on a daily basis.  The current number of active M-Pesa subscriptions stands at 3million.

Launched in 2008, the M-Pesa service continues to grow and serve the needs of the Tanzanian market as an affordable and reliable form of money transfer both locally and internationally. M-Pesa is a credible payment/transaction solution for many Tanzanians who do not have bank accounts, says Vodacom’s Managing Director Rene Meza.

Meza goes on to say that in a bid to ease transactions between various businesses and their customers, the service has now gone into partnership with various local companies.  “We have partnered with companies such as CRDB and Heritage Insurance to ensure that Tanzanians make more use of the service and also save on valuable time,” says Meza.

Last week, Vodacom partnered with Heritage Insurance Company Limited to launch a unique insurance product that provides funeral cover – Faraja – through M-Pesa. Faraja allows M-Pesa users to register for the policy, pay premiums and receive their cash benefit payments through M-Pesa. This product is a world first and is only available in Tanzania, says Meza.

Speaking at the launch of this year’s Financial Services Week, Meza said that approximately Tsh35billion is transacted daily through M-Pesa. We attribute this to the fact that the service is safe and reliable and available throughout the country.

Financial Services Week is an annual financial literacy education campaign aimed at empowering the un-banked segment of the population and informal businesses with knowledge to manage their money matters with confidence make optimal decisions and know where to source the required financial information that suits their needs.

About M-PESA

M-PESA service was launched in May 2008 in Tanzania. The service has over 3.5 million customers and over 36,000 agent outlets countrywide. Over 160 organizations are now accept bill payment via M-PESA.

This is a total payment solution which does not require users to have bank accounts -  an important consideration  in Tanzania  where millions of people do not operate bank accounts and can barely meet the minimum qualifications to open account. With M-PESA, Vodacom customers can deposit up to Tsh 5m/- for free, send and receive money and withdraw cash from any agent in the country. They can also access their CRDB bank accounts and receive money from Western Union.