To mark the 10th anniversary of ground-breaking mobile money service-M-PESA, WorldRemit has released new data showing that Kenyans in diaspora are the biggest senders of digital remittances to mobile accounts.
Transfers to mobile money accounts make up 93% of WorldRemit transactions to Kenya now – showing that Kenyans continue to be early adopters of innovative technology.
Mobile money has played a key role in the growth of WorldRemit’s Kenyan customer base, attracted by the low price, speed and convenience of sending instant remittances from the app or website directly to a mobile phone in Kenya.
In January 2017, WorldRemit customers transferred more than $140m (at annualised rate) to Kenya, making WorldRemit one of the largest remittance companies serving the Kenyan diaspora.
Top remittance-sending countries are the UK, Australia, US, Germany, Canada and Nordic countries. Around three million Kenyans live abroad, with large communities in North America, Europe and Australia.
Remittances play an important role in Kenya’s economy – inward remittances reached a record value of just under $161m in November 2016, according to the Central Bank of Kenya, making it one of the nation’s top earners.
WorldRemit is now connected to over a fifth of all mobile money accounts – 112 million of 500 million mobile money accounts around the world.
Globally, WorldRemit customers send more than 580,000 transfers every month to over 140 destinations.
In a March 28, 2017 press statement issued by WorldRemit, Ismail Ahmed, Founder and CEO at WorldRemit, says: “Kenya is famed for leading Africa’s digital transformation, and today its Kenyans abroad who are at the forefront of digitising international money transfers.
Most of our Kenyan customers use our mobile app, demonstrating the strong demand for convenience when sending to friends and family.”
He added: “…WorldRemit customers now send more than 65,000 transfers to the country every month from the WorldRemit app and website with over 90% going to M-PESA.”
