How the next banking revolution is taking place in your cell phone

M-Pesa handles more money than all banks put together, while Equitel has overtaken its holding company in the value and number of transactions it processes.

“I am not sure M-Pesa is going to end well.”

These ominous words came from the mouth of one of Kenya’s most respected public servants – the late John Michuki.

The no-nonsense Kibaki-era minister was at the time, December 2008, the acting minister for Finance. He was concerned about the 21-month-old mobile money transfer service that had taken Kenyans by storm.