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Tuesday, November 22, 2022 –M-Pesa remains the most well-thought-out innovation so far in the country now serving almost every part of the world.
Though, there are so many versions of who exactly came up with the idea, it is hard to believe that the mobile money transfer was started in Kenya.
Nyagaka Anyona, a little-known student at Jomo Kenyatta University, claimed ownership and was widely discussed as the true person behind the the multi-million dollar idea.
Other nationals also claimed to have mooted the idea that has since morphed into a monster and remained iconic not only in Kenya but also outside the country.
M-Pesa, which was developed in 2000, would then be bought by a local giant telco – Vodafone – which described the idea as a ‘life changer’.
On completion of concept tests with the then Safaricom Chief Executive Officer CEO Michael Joseph, the inventor (s) would be awarded full credits for a project well-planned.
In the year 2021, the inventor(s) were given a copyright certificate from Safaricom Board of Directors BoD; an indication that no one else could claim its ownership later on.
Though, at some point, M-Pesa’s other architects Paul Makin and co-worker Nick Hughes both tried to claim ownership of the concept, Anyona stated that they were total strangers to him.
Who Owns Kenya ran a story in which it linked the whole idea to the British nationals even as most Kenyans would want to believe that M-Pesa is a homegrown concept.
The publication wrote that, If we are to do away with Nyagaka’s version, Nick Hughes and Paul Makin remains the true owners of the idea which Vodafone bigwigs gave £1 million funding to match a similar amount given by the British Government’s Department for International Development to conceptualize the idea.
“Success has a thousand fathers. I know we piloted this and turned it into a business plan and eventually into M-Pesa. Today, I hear people I have never heard of put claim on this product.” Hughes told a financial outlet.
It is, therefore, not very clear how much was paid to the inventor (s) but word has it that he was compensated as per the market rates with other continuous benefits which he still enjoys upto today.
Today, the billion-dollar mobile financial platform is used by millions of citizens – both adults to children – where they send and receive money very fast.
The service has spread its tentacles to many parts of the world including the neighbouring Tanzania, Uganda, Ruanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria etc.
