NAIROBI, Kenya – M-KOPA’s announcement that it has crossed 3 million active customers has been hailed as a fintech success story.
But the milestone also lays bare a more sobering reality: Kenya’s financial system continues to exclude millions, leaving non-traditional lenders to serve as lifelines for everyday Kenyans.
According to M-KOPA’s 2025 Impact Report, more than half of its users are accessing their first formal financial product through the platform.
In a country celebrated as the cradle of mobile money, this statistic reveals the stark limitations of conventional banking in reaching micro-entrepreneurs who dominate Kenya’s informal economy, estimated at 80% of the workforce.
“What matters most to us is how many people we’re actively serving every day, those who stay engaged with us over time. Our active customer number reached 3 million for the first time this year,” said Jesse Moore, Co-Founder & CEO of M-KOPA.
“When we ask customers ‘does M-KOPA make your life better?’ 9 out of 10 say yes. That’s tangible and meaningful impact on millions of lives.
Commercial banks remain largely focused on salaried workers and corporate clients, leaving small traders, artisans, and boda riders without collateral or credit histories locked out.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has in recent years, tried to bridge this gap through the licensing of digital lenders and the rollout of credit guarantee schemes for MSMEs.
But progress has been uneven, and fintechs like M-KOPA continue to carry much of the load.
Since 2011, M-KOPA has deployed more than $2 billion in credit across Africa, with Kenya as its anchor market. Its asset-financing model, allowing customers to pay for smartphones, motorbikes, or insurance in small instalments, has effectively become a parallel credit system.
The company reports that 70% of its customers use their smartphones to earn income, while 59% say their earnings have increased.
Yet the reliance on fintech raises questions of sustainability. CBK has previously flagged concerns over predatory pricing and over-indebtedness in Kenya’s digital lending boom, leading to the 2022 regulation of digital credit providers.
The report warns that as households stack multiple credit products, repayment risks could escalate, particularly in low-income segments.
The report further notes that women account for 40% of M-KOPA’s customer base, with 81% saying they would not have afforded a smartphone without the scheme.
While this highlights fintech’s role in gender inclusion, it also underscores the failures of mainstream finance to design products suited for women in the informal sector.
For policymakers, the milestone is less about fintech triumph and more a reminder that exclusion persists at scale.
Unless banks, regulators, and government-backed schemes move faster to integrate “Every Day Earners” into the formal credit system, millions of Kenyans will remain dependent on stopgap digital solutions to meet basic financial needs.
