M-PESA Kenya Business Model: Agents and Merchants
Study Safaricom’s M-PESA business in Kenya, its FY2025 revenue and the role of agents and merchants in payment adoption.
The M-PESA Kenya business model illustrates what happens when a wallet can solve several jobs in the same local network. An app screen describes only one part of that network. Agents, merchants, cash access and payment confirmation all shape whether customers return.
What the M-PESA Kenya business model monetises
Safaricom’s audited results for its fiscal year ended March 2025 show KSh 161.1 billion in Kenya M-PESA revenue, up 15.2% year over year. The company attributed performance to increased usage and more chargeable transactions per one-month active customer. This article uses the FY25 audited baseline. It describes Safaricom’s Kenya reporting scope and period. Safaricom, audited FY2025 results release
Customers can encounter the network through transfers and merchant payments, and the agent channel supports interaction between cash and digital balances. For a merchant, a payment becomes operationally useful when it is confirmed and matched to an order. Safaricom’s Daraja portal also shows how developers can integrate supported payment journeys. Availability and terms need confirmation for each use case. Safaricom, Daraja developer portal
How distribution influences marketing
A merchant till can introduce a wallet at the moment a customer already intends to pay. Repeated exposure across merchants may reinforce familiarity. This is an interpretation of the distribution model. The annual revenue figure does not establish the incremental impact of a merchant promotion or a specific acquisition channel.
What an exporter should test in Kenya
Run an end-to-end payment and refund using realistic order references and support roles. Track successful confirmation, time to settlement and mismatched payments. Ask merchants how staff handle a customer who pays the right amount with the wrong reference. Give finance the same evidence the support desk uses so disputes can be resolved from a shared record.
FAQs
Does M-PESA revenue equal money moved through wallets?
Revenue measures what Safaricom records from the business. Transaction value measures the value moving through the service.
Should a Kenyan pilot test assisted payments?
Include them when merchants and customers rely on assistance in the actual purchasing journey.
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Use this M-PESA Kenya business model review as a starting point for a country-specific Tech GTM Sprint discussion with JenirA.
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