PayPal Collaborates with Kenya’s M-PESA To Facilitate Global E-comm Payments In Africa

PayPal and Safaricom announced a collaboration that would enable Kenyans to move money between their M-PESA and PayPal accounts, in a press release today. The new service is expected to eliminate barriers that have hindered consumers and businesses in the country from taking full advantage of global eCommerce.

PayPal’s collaboration with M-PESA is part of the company’s long-term strategy to enable eCommerce and democratize financial services on the African continent, says Efi Dahan, General Manager for the Middle East, Africa and Russia, PayPal.

The collaboration intends to enable global eCommerce on the African continent by allowing M-PESA users in Kenya to shop with PayPal merchants globally. This gives a chance to local Kenyan online businesses and freelancers to sell globally and transfer funds between their PayPal and M-PESA accounts.

M-PESA’s cooperation with PayPal will open up global marketplaces and the global economy to millions of Kenyan and Kenyan-based businesses and individuals, said Joseph Ogutu, Director of Strategy, Safaricom. Interestingly, Safaricom had last year launched its e-commerce platform Masoko in Kenya to deepen its roots in the retail sector.

It was also reported that the Google Play store started taking payments for apps via Kenya´s M-PESA service last from February this year. As of last year the company had 27 Mn registered users. It currently operates in multiple markets that include Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, India and Eastern Europe.

TransferTo, which operates a global Cross-Border Mobile Payments Network for emerging markets, is the technology partner underpinning this strategic collaboration

‘We are proud to have been chosen by these two world-class payments providers to bridge the gap between the services offered in developed countries with those available in emerging markets which is the cornerstone of TransferTo’s mission”, said Peter De Caluwe, CEO, TransferTo.