Safaricom wants M-PESA to become a business management platform for Kenya's small traders
Safaricom wants M-PESA to play a larger role in how businesses operate, with plans to extend its merchant services into credit, invoicing, reconciliation and business administration. The strategy builds on a reported merchant population of 4.5 million and reflects the company’s ambition to make its payments platform more useful to small traders and businesses beyond the point at which a customer pays for goods or services.
Speaking during the company’s HY27 results briefing, CEO Peter Ndegwa said Safaricom was working to develop services that help merchants manage their businesses. He cited small operators such as boda boda riders and mama mboga traders, who may need tools to track payments, organise their transactions and access financial services. The company wants to combine its consumer and enterprise capabilities around the needs of people who use M-PESA both as customers and as business operators.
The merchant network has grown substantially. Safaricom reported 4.5 million merchants during the six months ended September 2026, up 90.3%. Pochi la Biashara reached 3.2 million customers, an increase of 115.3%, while Lipa na M-PESA had 1.3 million merchants. Merchant transaction volumes increased 52.6% to 4.7 billion, generating KSh8.18 billion in revenue, up 34.6%.
The company is now looking beyond the number of businesses accepting M-PESA payments. Ndegwa said merchant services would include financial products developed with partners, alongside tools that help businesses handle administrative tasks. These include reconciliation and invoicing, functions that can be difficult for small businesses to manage when transactions are spread across cash, mobile money and other payment channels.
Credit is another part of the proposed expansion. Merchants often need working capital to purchase stock, pay suppliers or manage fluctuations in daily cash flow. Safaricom’s wider financial services business already includes credit products, and the company wants to use partnerships and its merchant relationships to extend relevant services to businesses on its platform.
Chief Financial Officer Dilip Pal said merchant acquisition was only one part of the strategy, with engagement and retention also important. He described the reported active merchant base as reflecting the net effect of businesses joining and leaving the platform. This puts attention on whether merchants continue using M-PESA services after registering, rather than simply counting new payment acceptance points.
The strategy also has a connection to the government’s efforts to expand electronic invoicing. TechTrendsKE previously reported discussions between the Kenya Revenue Authority and Safaricom over the potential use of M-PESA merchant information and payment infrastructure to support eTIMS and electronic tax invoicing. The development places digital payment platforms within a wider effort to improve record-keeping and tax compliance among small businesses.
For merchants, the combination of payment acceptance, business records and financial products could make a mobile money account more useful in daily operations. A trader receiving payments through Pochi or a till could also use digital tools to reconcile sales, organise invoices and access services linked to the business. Safaricom’s merchant strategy is therefore built around a wider relationship with businesses, rather than the individual transaction alone.
The expansion also creates a larger commercial opportunity for M-PESA. Merchant payments generated KSh8.18 billion in revenue during the half-year, while the wider financial services business recorded revenue growth of 55.3% to KSh7.1 billion. Safaricom is seeking to connect these activities through a platform that serves consumers, merchants and businesses with payments, financial products and operational tools.
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