One South African company moves R25 billion through customers’ phones every day

Vodacom processes $547.9 billion (R9.14 trillion) of mobile wallet transaction value every year, as the telecom giant’s financial services segment continues to grow.

This means Vodacom processes R25 billion worth of mobile wallet transactions every day, with the company now boasting 103 million financial services customers.

To understand how Vodacom has grown its financial services segment to this scale, it is useful to go back to 2007, when the company first launched M-Pesa.

M-Pesa is Vodacom’s historic mobile payment service, originally developed as a joint venture funded by the telecoms giant’s parent company, Vodafone, and its Kenyan affiliate, Safaricom.

A phone-based service, M-Pesa allowed users to store funds in a digital wallet and perform transactions like transfers, payments and micro-financing without a traditional bank account.

M-Pesa was considered one of the world’s first successful mobile money transfer and microfinance services, and particularly appealed to consumers in Africa.

Remittances form a huge part of the African economy, now constituting 5% of the continent’s total GDP, dominated by countries like Egypt, Nigeria, and Morocco.

Vodacom caught on to the growing need for African consumers to send money back and forth between countries early on and captured a large share of this market with M-Pesa.

Soon after launch, the service was available across Vodacom’s subsidiaries in East and Southern Africa, and took off in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Lesotho in particular.

Due to the high number of unbanked citizens in this region, M-Pesa was able to identify and solve a pressing need for many consumers.

The service did not succeed in South Africa due to the country’s more developed banking system and stronger competition, and it was shut down here in 2016.

However, the launch and strong growth of M-Pesa showed Vodacom that there is high potential in the financial services sector.

M-Pesa still exists in many markets today, having transitioned into a “super app” in recent years to offer mini-programs for merchants, transport, and e-commerce.

In 2020, Vodacom and Safaricom also formed a joint venture to acquire full ownership of the M-Pesa brand and technology from Vodafone.

This joint venture, called M-Pesa Africa, allowed Vodacom to build and scale the product across all of its markets. Today, M-Pesa serves 73 million active users across Africa.

Billions of rands processed each day

The launch and subsequent success of M-Pesa showed Vodacom what is possible in the financial services sector, and now its mobile wallet business is a cornerstone of the company’s strategy.

Vodacom’s mobile wallets business operates through three “super-apps”: M-Pesa in international markets, VodaPay in South Africa, and Vodafone Cash in Egypt.

Over the past five years, the business has evolved from basic peer-to-peer money transfers into a comprehensive, two-sided ecosystem for both consumers and merchants.

Vodacom’s merchant and agent network spans 3.9 million active merchants and 823,000 agents through M-Pesa alone.

Vodacom’s super-apps integrate the telecom giant’s own products with third-party partner offerings to create what is essentially a “digital mall” and financial hub.

In its results for the 2026 financial year, Vodacom explained that financial services remain a core pillar of its growth strategy and a powerful engine for inclusion.

That year, Vodacom’s financial services customers increased by 17.4% to reach 103 million, including Safaricom. This segment accounted for 23.1% of Vodacom’s service revenue.

The telecoms giant also foresees significant growth for this segment, having upped its target to 130 million financial services customers by 2030.

In a trading update for the quarter ended 30 June 2026, Vodacom revealed that it processes $547.9 billion (R9.14 trillion) of mobile wallet transaction value annually.

While not on the same scale as a banking giant like Standard Bank, which processes R164 trillion in payments in a year, Vodacom has become a financial services giant in its own right.

In its 2026 results, Vodacom said a significant portion of the economically active population remains unbanked, presenting a clear growth opportunity for the company.

“Our FinTech customers are expected to grow by 26% over the next four years, driven by the VodaPay, Vodafone Cash and M-Pesa super-apps, payments, lending and investments,” it said.

“Increasing data and smartphone penetration rates present growth opportunities as more customers start to use data-enabled devices.”

“We are unlocking this opportunity with investment into coverage, lower-cost devices, and prepaid handset financing.”