Impact of mobile money transfer service m-pesa on microenterprises in Kenya
Date
2012
Authors
Muriuki, Kenneth Ngugi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
The research had two main objectives; these were to find out to what extent the use of mobile rYlfW'P'" transfer services like M-Pesa and YuCash had changed how microenterprises conducted if they were the main media of payments or not, if at aiL
second objective was to find out whether mobile money transfer service had helped microenterprises increase their sales volumes as compared to before they had mobile money This was later found to be difficult to measure as none of the respondents had l"pr'rw{i" going that far. The research therefore settled for a simple growth in sales volume as the
measure mobile money transfer helping to increase sales growth.
was gathered from microenterprises from 3 locations within Langata constituency, i.e.
Madaraka/Nairobi West area, the Kibera area and the Karen area. Despite their apparent
wealth and locales, they all had some similarities that were considered for their inclusion in this research. All the businesses had less than 10 employees; in fact, most had 3 or 4 emniovees including the owner. In fact only one had 10. Second criterion is that all of them used the ""JUl1\,. money transfer services as part of their modes of transaction; however, they did not
have to it as an integral part of their payment strategy.
Correlation analysis between the datasets found that the microenterprises did not perceive mobile money transfer as crucial to their business, i.e. they could still operate with or without mobile money transfer. The services also served to complement rather than replace traditional modes of transaction. It also found that the main reason that most of the microenterprises used mobile money transfer because of it's convenience, more than any other reason.
findings, the research concluded that most microenterprises were ready to embrace mobile money transfer services as part of the payment media. Indeed, this process was already underway; however, high costs and lack of a service tailored to their needs hindered greater adaptation and relegated this service to the periphery of importance as a payment tool for these businesses.
Description
Abstracts only
Keywords
M-pesa