M-PESA Invests $2 Million In Shared Service Operations Centre
Safaricom PLC has launched the M-Pesa Africa Shared Service Operations Centre (SSOC) hosted Nairobi, to oversee service operations and technical support for 5 African markets. The M-Pesa Africa SSOC will oversee service operations and technical support including incident monitoring and resolution, managing platform changes and upgrades, deployment of new features and capacity management, and coordination with technical vendors. “For 16 years, M-Pesa has been at the core of our purpose to transform lives by using technology to connect customers to different opportunities. The M-Pesa Africa SSOC builds on our purpose by enabling us to deliver a higher service quality and increased platform reliability as we expand to more markets and add more products to the platform,” said Peter Ndegwa, the CEO at Safaricom. The M-Pesa SSOC will support M-Pesa operations in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Lesotho, Ghana as well as future markets the service expands to. M-Pesa platform operations in the five markets were previously being handled across several points in Africa and Europe and the SSOC brings the entire platform in-house to a single point in Kenya for the first time. “Financial services remain a priority for us as we drive financial and digital inclusion on the continent. The
launch of this Operations Centre is an important milestone and testament to our commitment to continue delivering innovative and cost-effective personal finance and business solutions that were previously difficult and cumbersome to acquire – further supporting us in connecting the next 100 million African customers,” said Shameel Joosub, CEO, Vodacom Group. M-Pesa Africa has invested more than $2 million into the SSOC and is part of the company’s transition to a digital cloud-based platform. The new M-Pesa platform is designed to be scalable and offer the entire range of products and services across all markets, support integration of new products and services as well as leveraging emerging technologies in areas such as Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. “We are delighted to launch the M-Pesa Africa Shared Service Operations Centre which empowers us to provide 24/7 monitoring and support to operations and services across different markets. The Shared Service Operations Centre strengthens our position as Africa’s largest fintech and digital ecosystem, bringing us closer to our vision of one M-Pesa, providing one platform and unified operations across all our markets. It will enable us to deliver increased reliability, a more robust platform, faster upgrade and change management as we transition to a fully digital ecosystem connecting customers and businesses across the continent,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, MD, M-Pesa Africa.
24 www.cioafrica.co | MARCH-APRIL 2023 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵
Remittances Play a Powerful Role in Consumers’ Financial Planning As global populations navigate macroeconomic headwinds, consumers expect remittances to play an even stronger role in their current and future financial planning. According to Western Union’s inaugural Global Money Transfer Index, 64 per cent of global money transfer consumers send and/or receive money once a month or more. Over the next 12 months, 75 per cent expect these remittances to increase. The Global Money Transfer Index asks consumers how, when, and why they use international money transfer capabilities today, as well as their expectations for tomorrow. Surveying 30,600 consumers in 20 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, it is the largest consumer research published by a money transfer operator. The results bolster Western Union’s ‘Evolve 25’ strategy to combine high-value, accessible retail, and digital financial services for all. Focus on Africa In Africa, five key markets were surveyed. These are South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Morocco. According to the findings, most of Africa’s consumers (62 per cent) receive money transfers at least once a month or more. Fifty-nine percent send funds across borders at the same rate. Over the next 12 months, more than threequarters of Africa’s receivers (78 per cent) expect these remittances to increase. The Global Money Transfer Index shows that economic challenges such as higher global cost of living mean 81 per cent of receiving consumers (compared to 79 per cent globally) across the African continent are asking senders for more money. For the same reason, 72 per cent of African senders (71 per cent, globally) agree they are sending more
