The Kenya-based telecom firm Safaricom is number 19th globally according to a ranking done by the Fortune Magazine listing firms that ‘Change the World.’
Fortune ranking means Safaricom’s activities go a long way in addressing the challenges faced by the society. To be precise, Safaricom’s product M-Pesa, a mobile money solution for sending and receiving cash for the unbanked and the financially excluded members of the society. M-Pesa is touted as one of the world’s most successful fintech solutions, and among a pioneer within that space. No doubt it has become the poster-child for fintech solutions around the world.
M-Pesa has improved the lives of people who do not have traditional bank accounts and thus found it very difficult to receive payment or send money via conventional money transfer services. The magazine further said that M-Pesa now boasts of over 30 million customers across 10 countries; most of the customers being in rural areas far from banks.
“More than eight million of those users are in India, where state governments are employing M-Pesa to pay pensions to rural retirees, eliminating the delays and crime risks that come with shipping cash,” said Fortune Magazine.
Safaricom is one of only two telecom firms to feature on this list of 50 companies. It even beat big-time multinationals like Apple, Microsoft, Deloitte, Barclays, Toyota, and Hilton.
