New research from Vodafone Group, Vodacom Group, Safaricom, and the United Nations Development Programme indicates that the successful deployment and adoption of mobile financial services is associated with a positive impact on GDP growth in developing markets as it helps businesses to reduce cost, access credit to invest, and to connect with consumers that were previously excluded from financial services.
The analysis was conducted as part of the companies’ Africa.Connected campaign, an initiative to drive sustainable development through collaboration and help close the divides that prevent progress in Africa’s key economic sectors. The findings are part of a new research paper,, the fourth research paper developed and released under the Africa.Connected umbrella.
As part of the Africa.Connected research, consumer surveys were conducted focusing on users of M-Pesa in Kenya and Tanzania, and results were extrapolated to Ghana and Mozambique. A business survey was also conducted in Kenya. The resulting research underpinned the continuing importance of the world’s first mobile money service 15 years after it launched in 2007. The researchers estimated that: