gmeltdown

M-KESHO, the newly launched financial services product is yet another demonstration of how Safaricom is constantly consolidating its gains in the country while exploring new business frontiers. The financial product appears to be a direct derivative of M-PESA's data warehousing essentials. There is definitely a reason Safaricom and Equity Bank are betting on M-KESHO - that of building on past successes and an understanding of the peculiar Kenyan market place. Despite the welcome innovative moves by the pair, I must say that in my humble estimation the M-KESHO product might succeed but not so much beyond Equity Banks earlier attempt at mobile banking (Eazzy 24/7).  I stand corrected but although M-PESA succedes to foster a culture of saving among the unbanked, it may be too early to stretch it in search of interest revenues through a financial credit service - which apparently is the differentiating feature of the M-KESHO product from other mobile banking products. Th...

Much has been written about Safaricom's success in Kenya. From voice, to sms revenues, to money transfer and data services, safaricom has clearly demonstrated the power of leveraging on traditional revenue streams to generate new value propositions. Michael Joseph and his troops are successfully integrating their business empire with the larger Kenyan economy. So far this has the obvious result of apparently sustained competitiveness for Safaricom. Safaricom's new partnership with Equity Bank whose EAZZY 24/7 service was at some point  pre-positioned as a serious competitor to the M-PESA service speaks volumes. Seemingly there is a limit to how far a large company in Kenya can pursue an aggressive product diversification strategy before having to 'sleep' with its other would-be serious competitors. Such a limit would then appear as the beginning of hope for companies competing with Safaricom in any of the sectors it has ventured into. Indeed, Safaricom's growth r...