Airtel Kenya has announced the separation from its mobile money product Airtel Money as Airtel Money will be considered an independent venture and subsequently regarded as Airtel Money Kenya Limited. Hence, Airtel Money Kenya Limited will take charge of all mobile money services in the country. These changes could be traced by many in the market following the sale of 22.77% stakes in the mobile money company by Airtel Kenya to raise funds back in June in a record-breaking deal in which Airtel Money was valued in London at Sh250 million.
Changes in the ownership of mobile money businesses have been witnessed in other countries in Africa like Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. Change is always influenced by several factors, like the change in ownership of Airtel Money will provide sufficient funding to accelerate operational efficiency further. Aside from boosting its efficiency, Airtel Kenya's split from Airtel Money was also largely influenced by government policies in Kenya, as the government passed a policy requiring Airtel to sell at least 30% shares of its business to local investors.
Airtel mobile money will look to ride on the strength of this division and build an operational structure that would emphasize market dominance. To achieve this, the firm will look to new leadership to enforce good plans and resources in competing with big mobile money players like Safaricom's M-Pesa, as they have long dominated mobile money in Kenya.
Kenya in focus:
Population: 53.77 million in 2020 as compared to 52.57 million in 2019
GDP: $98.84 billion compared to $95.5 billion in 2019
GDP per capita: $1,838 in 2020 compared to $1,816 in 2019
