MPesa is a mobile phone based money transfer system in Kenya which grew at a blistering pace following its inception in 2007. Its adoption is country wide; both in the urban and rural areas. Mpesa enables the users to send money in electronic form, store money on a mobile phone in an electronic account and deposit or withdraw money in the form of hard currency at any of the Mpesa agents, pay bills and purchase goods and services. The purpose of the study was to identify socio-economic effects of Mpesa adoption on the livelihoods of people in Bureti Sub County. The study adopted a survey research design. The sample of study comprised of 105 Mpesa owners and operators selected purposively from three divisions: Roret; Cheborge, and Buret. Data for this study was obtained mainly from primary sources collected using a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to test hypotheses. Among the respondents 54% were male and 46% were female. The results indicate that majority (45%) of the Mpesa shops had been in operational between 2 and 3 years. The study established a positive correlation between Mpesa and creation of employment (correlation coefficient of 0.334), Mpesa and access to credit facilities with a coefficient of 0.141 and, Mpesa and income generation with a coefficient of 0.356. This shows that Mpesa operation had improved peoples’ livelihood in Bureti Sub County by creating employment opportunities, increasing income generation, access to credit facilities and social capital between families and friends. In order to fully tap the benefits of Mpesa in the area, its services should be extended to all parts of the Sub County, as well as widening the scope of banking services to include provision of micro credits to customers.
Aminuzzaman, S., H. Baldersheim, & I. Jamil (2003). Talking Back Empowerment and Mobile Phones in Rural Bangladesh: A Study of the Village Phone Scheme of Grameen Bank. Contemporary South Asia journal 12 (2003): 327_48.
Anderson, S., J.M. Baland, & K. Moene (2008). Sustainability and Organizational Design in Roscas: Some Evidence from Kenya.’’ Manuscript, University of Namur 2002. http://www.fundp.ac.be/eco/recherche/cred/papers/enforce811.pdf (accessed December 12, 2008).
American Statistical Association (ASA). (2005). Designing a Survey. http://www.amstat.org/sections/srms/brochures/designquest.pdf
Communications Commission of Kenya (2012). Quarterly Sector Statistics Report: Fourth Quarter of the Financial Year 2011/12. Nairobi: Communications Commission of Kenya.
Government of Kenya, (2010). Kenya Population and Housing Census. Government Printers. Nairobi, Kenya
Grewal, D. S. (2008). Network Power: the Social Dynamics of Globalization New Haven: Yale UP.
Mas, I & Olga M. (2009) Designing Mobile Transfer Services: Lessons from M-Pesa . Innovations. Mimeo, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Mbiti I. & Weil D.N. (2011) Mobile Banking: The Impact of M-Pesa in Kenya. Meru, Methodist University.
Morawczynski, O & Pickens M. (2009). Poor People Using Mobile Financial Services: Observations on Customer Usage and Impact from M-PESA” CGAP Brief Online http://www.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.36723/BR_Poor_People_Using_Mobile_Financial_Services.pdf
Olga M. (2009). Exploring the usage and impact of transformational mobile financial services: the case of M-PESA in Kenya. Journal of Eastern African Studies. 3(3):509-525.
Plyler, M.G. and Geetha N (2010). Community-Level Economic Effects of M-PESA in Kenya. Iris Center, University of Maryland.
Sigei K. (2014). Determinants of Market Participation Among Smallscale Pineapple Farmers in Kericho County, Kenya. Published, thesis Egerton University.
Suri T. & Jack, W. (2011) Mobile Money: The Economics of M-Pesa" NBER Working Paper 16721
Trochim, W. (2006). The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd Edition. Atomic Dog Publishing, Cincinnati, OH.
Copyright: © 2014 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
