This archive report was first published on 17 July 2019.
Safaricom aims to take its e-commerce platform Masoko beyond Kenya's borders by 2020, riding the wave of rapid smartphone adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa.
By the end of next year, an estimated 525 million people in the region are expected to own smartphones, creating a vast market for e-commerce.
"We see endless possibilities for business beyond borders," said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, Chief Financial Services Officer at Safaricom. "We are reviewing our e-commerce proposition to ensure we're positioned to take off."
The announcement follows a recent partnership with Aliexpress.com, a Chinese online store under Alibaba Group, which allows users to pay with M-PESA.
Through Masoko, Safaricom aims to bring the market to small businesses across Kenya and provide them with access to global e-commerce opportunities.
"As a telco, we're committed to transforming lives through technology and knowledge," said Lopokoiyit. "We want to widen the reach of possibilities across Africa using that pocket-sized gadget."
Already, Safaricom has opened its platform to over 16,000 Fintech developers, who can develop products and services for customers.
Today, APIs are publicly available, and small businesses can test and connect to the platform directly, with a sandbox for testing and a 10-minute connection to the M-PESA platform.
