Earlier today, Safaricom unveiled new M-PESA based business credit solutions — Fuliza Biashara and the new Taasi Till loan — in a move that further reinforces its transformation into a digital financial services ‘hydra’. The launch gives small businesses access to instant overdrafts (Fuliza Biashara) up to KES. 400,000 and short-term “Taasi” loans up to KES. 250,000 on the M-PESA platform. 

It’s a significant expansion of Safaricom’s M-PESA lending offerings, coming after the wildly popular Fuliza personal overdraft and other mobile loans like M-Shwari. This latest push begs the question: Is Safaricom now more fintech than telco? In this opinion analysis, I explore the strategic implications of Safaricom’s deepening fintech focus — from its dependence on M-PESA for nearly half of its revenue, to the idea of spinning off M-PESA as a standalone company, to whether M-PESA can break out of Safaricom’s walled garden into an open financial platform.

Safaricom’s Digital Lifeline: M-PESA Now Generates 44% of its Revenues

It’s no secret that M-PESA — Safaricom’s mobile money platform — has become the company’s financial lifeline. In Safaricom’s latest financial results, M-PESA revenues surged 15% to KES. 161.1 Billion, contributing 44.2% of Safaricom’s service revenue in Kenya. This makes M-PESA nearly as large as all traditional connectivity services (voice, SMS, data) combined! Its little wonder Safaricom is leaning into fintech: its core voice and data business is seeing slower growth, so the telco is leveraging M-PESA to generate new revenue streams through lending, payments, and other fintech services. 

The scale of M-PESA’s ecosystem is mindboggling! The platform now serves over 35 million active customers in Kenya, processes billions of transactions (over KES 38 Trillion worth in FY2025 alone), and handles up to 4,500 transactions per second. In 2024, M-PESA accounted for 44% of Safaricom’s US $2.8 billion service revenue. By diversifying beyond person-to-person transfers into digital credit, savings, insurance, and wealth management products, M-PESA has kept revenue growing in double-digits even as traditional telco revenues plateau. The growth in these financial services — from mobile loans to unit trusts — has truly made M-PESA the “financial backbone” of Safaricom’s digital ecosystem.

A Digital Financial Services Hydra: Safaricom’s Many Fintech Tentacles

Safaricom’s strategy over the past few years resembles a digital financial services ‘hydra’ — with M-PESA sprouting multiple “heads” in the form of fintech products and partnerships. What began as a simple mobile money transfer service has evolved into a multi-pronged fintech platform serving both individuals and businesses:

• Fuliza (Consumer Overdraft): Launched in 2019, Fuliza lets M-PESA users complete transactions when short on funds. It’s immensely popular — Fuliza disburses an average of KES. 2.5 Billion daily in short-term advances, and had about 7.9 million active customers in FY25. This overdraft service earns Safaricom and its bank partners substantial fees, showcasing the demand for instant micro-credit.
• M-Shwari & KCB M-PESA (Mobile Loans & Savings): In partnership with NCBA and KCB Bank, Safaricom offers M-Shwari and KCB M-PESA, which provide mobile-based loans and a savings account to M-PESA users. M-Shwari now has over 20 million customers, and disbursed KES. 167 Billion in loans in FY25 — a critical source of credit for millions of Kenyans without formal bank loans. These services effectively turned M-PESA into a virtual bank account for many, allowing deposits, savings, and instant credit via phone.
• Fuliza Biashara & Taasi (SME Credit): Until recently, most Safaricom fintech products targeted individuals; now the focus is on enterprises. Fuliza Biashara (piloted in 2023 and now repackaged) gives M-PESA merchants an overdraft on their Lipa Na M-PESA tills, from KES. 1,000 up to KES. 400,000. Meanwhile, the newly launched Taasi Till offers short-term loans of KES. 1,500 — KES. 250,000 to small businesses. Even informal traders using “Pochi la Biashara” wallets (a mini-M-PESA wallet for micro-merchants) aren’t left out — they can now get Taasi Pochi loans as low as KES. 1,000. Safaricom has roped in banking partners like KCB, NCBA, Sidian, DTB, and fintech lender Pezesha to power these credit lines, essentially acting as a marketplace matching SMEs to credit. This new SME lending arm extends M-PESA’s tentacles further into Kenya’s entrepreneurial economy.
• Wealth Management (Savings & Investments): Safaricom is also moving into financial growth products. It introduced a money-market fund integration called M-PESA “Ziidi”, allowing users to invest their M-PESA balances in a unit trust for short-term returns. As of FY25, over 1.5 million customers have opted into M-PESA’s savings/investment product, collectively holding KES 13 Billion in a fund. By offering interest-earning options and wealth management on the M-PESA app, Safaricom is encroaching into territory traditionally held by banks and fund managers.
• Insurance & Other Services: Through the M-PESA Super App, users can purchase insurance cover, manage personal finances (the M-PESA M-Ratiba tool helps with budgeting), and even buy goods and services — all tied to their mobile wallets. Safaricom has mini-app partnerships for things like ticket booking, e-commerce, and service payments, ensuring M-PESA is deeply woven into customers’ daily lives. The M-PESA GlobalPay Visa card, integrations with PayPal, Western Union, AliPay, and more have extended M-PESA’s reach to global e-commerce. In effect, Safaricom’s fintech arm has many facets — payments, credit, savings, investments, insurance, international transfers — making the company a digital financial service hydra with multiple interlocking offerings under one ecosystem.

This breadth of offerings has created a powerful network effect. The more financial needs Safaricom can fulfill, the harder it is for customers to leave its platform. As one industry analyst observed, by continually adding these “layers of value” to M-PESA, Safaricom is able to “transcend the traditional telco business.”Indeed, Safaricom today looks far more like a diversified financial services provider than a traditional telco.

Telco or Fintech? Safaricom At A Strategic Crossroads

Given that M-PESA is now generating almost half of its revenue and an ever-expanding suite of fintech products, Safaricom is straddling a fine line between being a telco and a fintech company. The company itself recognizes this shift — its recently concluded five-year strategy was all about transforming “from a telecommunication business to a technology company”. The connectivity side (voice, SMS, data) still makes up just over half of revenues, but growth is modest (voice revenues are nearly flat, data growing but facing price pressures). The financial services side, on the other hand, is the growth engine — M-PESA’s revenue is growing faster than any other segment. Safaricom’s future profits and competitive advantage are increasingly tied to fintech innovation rather than traditional telco infrastructure.

This raises important strategic questions. Can Safaricom continue to be excellent in both arenas, or will fintech ultimately define its core business? Thus far, the symbiosis has worked well: the telco network gives M-PESA a distribution and data advantage (e.g. leveraging airtime dealers as M-PESA agents, using customer usage data for credit scoring), while M-PESA in turn boosts loyalty to the telco (many Kenyans stay with Safaricom because of M-PESA’s convenience and ubiquity). It’s a virtuous cycle that competitors have struggled to crack. But as Safaricom’s fintech operations mushroom, there’s growing debate about whether M-PESA should stand on its own — both to unlock its full potential and to address competition concerns.

The Case (& Questions) For A Standalone M-PESA Fintech

Imagine M-PESA as an independent fintech company, separate from Safaricom’s telco business. It’s not a far-fetched idea — in fact, Kenyan lawmakers and regulators have periodically pushed for Safaricom to split off M-PESA into a standalone unit to curb Safaricom’s dominance. Their argument: Safaricom’s tight integration of a telco and mobile money has made it too powerful, and a split would level the playing field for other operators and allow more regulatory scrutiny of the financial services. M-PESA is regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya, whereas the telco side is regulated by the Communications Authority of Kenya — splitting would formally separate these concerns.

Other African telcos have already taken the plunge. Airtel Africa carved out Airtel Money into a separate entity in 2021, which has since become its fastest-growing division. MTN Group spun off its fintech ‘MoMo’ arm and even sold a US$ 5.2 Billion stake to Mastercard — unlocking significant value. These moves generated fresh capital and, some argue, greater focus for the mobile money businesses. One could envision a standalone M-PESA fintech that could pursue opportunities beyond Safaricom (e.g. multi-country expansion, partnerships, or even a stock listing to raise funds).

However, Safaricom’s leadership so far sees no compelling reason to split. In Safaricom’s view, separating M-PESA would add no value to shareholders and would sacrifice the strategic advantage of integration. There’s also a hefty tax consideration — a one-time tax bill estimated at KES. 75 Billion would be triggered by a split, wiping out a year’s profits. In essence, Safaricom believes M-PESA and the telco are stronger together for now.

Yet the debate isn’t settled. If M-PESA were a standalone fintech, it might become network-agnostic, able to serve any mobile user regardless of carrier. This could vastly expand its addressable market beyond Safaricom’s subscriber base (though in Kenya most mobile users already have a Safaricom line given M-PESA’s dominance). A separated M-PESA might also innovate faster under dedicated management or attract strategic fintech investors. 

On the other hand, Safaricom would be loath to give rivals equal access to M-PESA’s platform — currently, M-PESA is a walled garden that keeps customers tied to Safaricom. The company’s middle-ground plan is to reorganize under a new holding company in 2025, making M-PESA a distinct subsidiary alongside telco services. This could satisfy regulators by structurally separating business units, without diluting Safaricom’s overall control.

An Open Platform Beyond The Walled ‘M-Pesa’ Garden?

Perhaps the most exciting prospect is M-PESA evolving into an open, platform-agnostic fintech service — essentially Kenya’s version of a global digital wallet, untethered from the telco. Safaricom has already taken small steps in this direction. The M-PESA Super App was launched to provide an “over-the-top” experience, allowing users (even in diaspora or non-Safaricom networks) to transact via the app without relying on SIM toolkits or USSD. In theory, anyone can download the M-PESA app and sign up with the right KYC, which hints at a future where M-PESA could operate a bit more like PayPal or Alipay — a pure digital wallet accepted widely, rather than a service exclusive to one telco.

For M-PESA to truly become an open platform, however, several things would need to happen. It would likely require interoperability such that sending money between M-PESA and other mobile wallets (Airtel Money, T-Kash, etc.) is seamless and low-cost. There have been strides in wallet interoperability in Kenya, but M-PESA-to-other networks still isn’t as frictionless as it could be. 

A fully independent M-PESA might also consider partnering with other telcos (imagine M-PESA running on rival networks or powering mobile money in markets where Safaricom isn’t present). We’re already seeing hints of this regionally — Safaricom’s parent Vodacom has launched M-Pesa in countries like Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, and just most recently in Ethiopia, where M-PESA gained 2.4 million users in under a year of operations. As a platform, M-PESA could scale far beyond Safaricom’s home base if it were unshackled and allowed to integrate across markets and networks.

There’s also the question of licensing and regulation. Right now, Safaricom avoids being a bank by partnering with banks for its lending and holding customer funds in trust accounts. If M-PESA were to expand services (for example, offer larger and longer-term loans, or hold customer deposits directly), it might eventually need a banking license or some form of digital bank status. That would entail stricter oversight by the Central Bank, higher capital requirements, and potentially a more open data sharing regime (open banking APIs, etc.). 

It’s a delicate balance — Safaricom’s fintech success so far has been under the lighter-touch regime for mobile money operators. Going full-bank might slow it down with compliance burdens. Thus, Safaricom may prefer to remain a Fintech hybrid — not a fully licensed bank itself, but continuing to partner with banks to extend services while it focuses on customer acquisition and technology.

What’s clear is that M-PESA’s future growth lies in being more open and ubiquitous. Safaricom has already opened M-PESA’s APIs to thousands of developers to create new use-cases on the platform. The company also formed M-Pesa Africa (a joint venture with Vodacom) to drive the service into new markets and develop innovations centrally. 

As competition in fintech heats up — from banks launching their own apps and real-time payment systems, to fintech startups offering niche financial products — Safaricom will need to ensure M-PESA remains the go-to financial platform. That likely means embracing an ecosystem approach, even if it challenges the walled-garden model. An open, interoperable M-PESA that works across networks and borders could cement Safaricom’s position as a Pan-African Fintech Giant, not just a Kenyan telco.

Conclusion: Safaricom’s Current Identity — An Outsized Fintech In Telco Clothing

Safaricom’s launch of Fuliza Biashara and Taasi loans today is the latest confirmation that the company’s identity has fundamentally evolved. What started as a mobile operator is now, arguably, a fintech behemoth with a telco ‘side hustle’. When nearly half your revenues come from financial services and you’re offering everything from loans to insurance on your platform, the label “telco” starts to feel inadequate. Safaricom’s hydra-like expansion of M-PESA services has positioned it as a sort of digital financial services supermarket for Kenyans — all accessible via a mobile phone.

Is Safaricom more fintech than telco today? By revenues and strategy, yes! However, its special sauce is the integration of the two — the synergy of fintech and telco under one roof. That synergy is what competitors envy and what Safaricom’s management is cautious to disrupt. For now, Safaricom is determined to keep M-PESA tightly interwoven with its other services, even as it gives M-PESA more autonomy internally. The company is effectively blurring the lines: to the consumer, Safaricom is simply a one-stop digital services platform.

Going forward, the big things to watch will be how Safaricom balances regulatory pressures and competition while driving fintech growth. Will an external push or market logic eventually force an M-PESA spin-off? Or can Safaricom have its cake and eat it — remaining one company that dominates both telco and fintech? In either scenario, Safaricom’s continued success will hinge on innovation in financial services. The launch of new credit products signals that Safaricom has no intention of slowing down its fintech momentum. It’s even conceivable that in a few years, Safaricom will drop the “telco” label altogether and rebrand as a primarily digital financial services provider.

For Kenya’s economy and consumers, Safaricom’s fintech positioning is mostly positive — it brings inclusion, convenience, and access to capital at an unprecedented scale. But it also concentrates a lot of power in one company’s hands, which is why the conversation about splitting M-PESA or opening it up will persist. Safaricom’s evolution into a fintech giant is well underway, and every new service — be it Fuliza Biashara or the next big idea — reinforces the reality that Safaricom is no longer just a telco. It’s Kenya’s and East Africa’s biggest fintech hiding in plain sight on the backbone of a telco. The lines will only get blurrier from here, but one thing is clear: Safaricom’s future is being written in the language of fintech.