23 May 2025

To achieve this, Vodacom is leveraging its ecosystem of super apps, notably M-Pesa and VodaPay, to expand access to basic financial services such as peer-to-peer transfers, payments, and credit advances, while progressively introducing more sophisticated offerings like savings, loans, insurance, and international transfers. The company also plans to launch wealth management tools for individuals and financing solutions for SMEs.

In its 2025 annual results, Vodacom emphasized: “our strategy is to promote and strengthen financial inclusion for both individuals and merchants. By deepening financial inclusion, we are opening new growth opportunities. Recent investments in wealth management products in Tanzania and Kenya exemplify this, creating new revenue streams for our financial services.”

This subscriber growth is expected to drive increased usage, with current daily transactions totalling $1.2 billion. In fiscal year 2025, total transaction value reached $451 billion — an 18.3% rise from $381 billion in the previous year — potentially boosting mobile financial services revenue, which amounted to R14.02 billion in 2025. Vodacom forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 15-20% through 2030.

However, several challenges could impede this growth, notably regulatory hurdles stemming from new transaction taxes introduced by governments across Africa. While the GSMA’s April 2025 report noted improvements in regulatory frameworks, restrictions on cross-border data transfers and investment conditions remain significant obstacles. Additional barriers include low mobile phone ownership, fraud, limited digital financial literacy, and intense competition from players such as Orange (Orange Money), MTN (Mobile Money), and Airtel (Airtel Money).