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M-Pesa, a mobile money business of Kenya’s leading mobile network operator Safaricom, has made a profit of $423.6 million (Sh50 billion) before tax in the year ended March 2022.

This was revealed in the telecoms firm’s latest annual report which also showed that M-Pesa contributed nearly half (49 percent) of Safaricom’s total gross earnings.

As it cements its position as the telco’s most profitable service, the report noted that the mobile money unit has superior profitability compared to other business lines such as voice and data.

In the previous financial year, the gross profit from mobile money stood at $330.5 million (Sh39 billion), accounting for 41.7 percent of the group’s total profit before tax.

M-Pesa’s growing profitability has been helped by the increased adoption of mobile payments in the past two years when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed more people to conduct business online.

“Uptake of mobile money services continued to grow, as with its convenience and cashless nature it was perceived as helping curb the spread of Covid-19,” read part of the report.

“In general, the Kenyan ICT sector has experienced robust growth as a result of the pandemic having pushed consumers to adopt online ways of conducting business and mobile money payments.”

Safaricom has added more services on its M-Pesa platform beyond personal cash transfers. This has enabled the telco to grow revenue from the fees on the service without having to match it with high capital expenditure.

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