A person using M-Pesa services. [Photo/businessdaily.co.ke]
The increase in mobile money transactions by Kenyans has helped the growth of e-commerce and has alleviated poverty, this is according to the leader of an audit firm EY East Africa, Robert Nyamu.
According to a report released by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) late last month the value of mobile commerce rose 60 per cent year on year between July and September compared to person to person transfers which rose to 14.7% in the same period.
In an interview with the Business Daily, Nyamu said that the ‘future’ of business is online since the surge of mobile payment systems have made it easy to make financial transactions between people and businesses.
“E-commerce is actually growing exponentially and person to person mobile interactions is also on the rise,”Nyamu said.
In addition, he said that this form of mobile money transactions is helping people get out of poverty since they are able to conduct businesses and pay for services at the comfort of their houses.
“The good thing about that especially on the lower end of the pyramid is that it is driving poverty alleviation as well as because the number of people who would have dreamt about doing certain types of business have been enabled to do that,” he added.
The increase in mobile money transactions has seen people being able to acquire loans on their phones easily.