Microsoft has announced it aims to aid the growth of Africa’s largest financial technology service by moving it to the tech giant’s cloud platform and developing new applications for it.
Microsoft “intends to help further scale M-Pesa, already the largest financial technology platform in Africa, by housing it on Azure and enabling the launch of new cloud-native applications,” the company said Tuesday in a joint announcement with telecommunications firm Vodafone about their new 10-year global strategic partnership.
M-Pesa is currently used by over 60 million people across Africa to access financial services through mobile devices. By migrating M-Pesa to Azure and building new apps, Microsoft hopes to expand the service’s reach to “enrich the lives of 100 million consumers and 1 million SMEs across the African continent.”
“The goal is to enhance digital literacy, skilling and youth outreach programs, as well as offer digital services to the underserved SME market,” the companies said. “The partnership aims to boost financial services innovation, building a community of certified developers.”
Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle called the partnership with Microsoft “bold,” saying it “will accelerate the digital transformation of our business customers, particularly small and medium-sized companies, and step up the quality of customer experience for consumers.”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the collaboration “will apply the latest cloud and AI technology to enhance the customer experience of hundreds of millions of people and businesses across Africa and Europe, build new products and services, and accelerate the company’s transition to the cloud.”
In addition to expanding M-Pesa, the partnership calls for applying AI across Vodafone’s platforms, transforming its IoT connectivity business, boosting digital services for African consumers and SMEs, and transitioning Vodafone technology to Azure cloud.
Vodafone plans to invest $1.5 billion in the partnership over the next decade, while Microsoft intends to boost Vodafone’s IoT platform by connecting it to Azure and its broad developer community.
The deal highlights Africa as a strategic market for major tech companies and demonstrates the growing potential of digital financial services on the continent.
