Thursday 16th May 2024. M-KOPA, a leading African fintech company with operations across a number of markets in sub-Saharan Africa, has been named on the Financial Times (FT) “Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies 2024” list. This accolade recognises the substantial growth M-KOPA continues to achieve. The company is one of a handful of businesses to be featured on the FT’s rankings three years in a row, highlighting its role in providing affordable financing for smartphones, electric motorbikes and digital financial services, such as digital loans and health insurance.
In partnership with Statista, one of the world’s leading companies for statistical and market data, the FT’s “Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies” list showcases companies with the strongest growth over a 3-year period. M-KOPA’s consistent recognition highlights its pivotal role in fostering financial and digital inclusion across Africa.
M-KOPA has provided more than $1Bn in credit to individuals who would not ordinarily qualify for formal financing products. Through its innovative micropayments model, which does not require collateral or a guarantor, the company has unlocked access to previously inaccessible products and digital financial services for over 4 million people. By making smartphones affordable, its offering has enabled customers to connect to the internet, many for the first time, and to improve their livelihoods as active participants in the digital economy. The company has been able to achieve this impact by leveraging its own distribution network, proprietary technology and AI Machine Learning models to provide access to smartphones embedded with life enhancing financial services.
M-KOPA has achieved significant milestones including:
· Disbursing over $1 billion in digital credit to over 4 million people, enabling access to high-quality products, and impacting millions of lives through its financial and digital inclusion efforts.
· Directly employing over 2,000 people across Africa with a network of over 20,000 sales agents expanding its reach.
· Successfully expanding beyond East Africa in Kenya and Uganda, to Nigeria, Ghana and most recently South Africa, and supporting individuals without access to traditional financial services
· Establishing Kenya’s first local smartphone assembly factory, adding 300 recent graduates to its workforce, 70% of whom were first-time job holders.
Speaking on the recognition, Faraimose Kutadzaushe , M-KOPA CFO said, “We are proud to be one of the largest and most consistent companies on the FT “Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies” list for three successive years.
Faraimose Kutadzaushe, M-KOPA CFO
As M-KOPA continues to scale, we remain deeply committed to building long-term relationships with our customers. The foundation of these relationships starts with a smartphone, which is crucial for empowering our customers to overcome financial challenges and achieve progress. By doing so, we are paving the way for financial inclusivity across Africa.”