Former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph Introduces First M-Pesa Service In Europe

Former Safaricom boss, Michael Joseph on Monday 31 launched M-Pesa in Romania making it the first mobile money service in Europe.
Mr Joseph, who is currently Vodafone’s director of mobile money, said the launch was the first of several planned in Central and Eastern Europe. Vodafone Romania, a fully -owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc, says it aims to sign about 7 million of it’s customers at the moment who are mainly transacting business in cash.
Romanian M-Pesa customers will be able to transfer between Sh 26 and Sh 792,370 a day, a limit much higher than Kenya’s Sh 140,000.
“Vodafone M-Pesa is already used regularly by nearly 17 million customers (globally) and we look forward to bringing the significant benefits of the service to the people of Romania,” he said.
Since it’s launch in Kenya in 2007 and its subsequent success, the service has achieved international recognition and in the past year alone, it has been introduced in Egypt, India, Mozambique and Lesotho. Other countries where M-pesa is available include South Africa, Tanzania and DRC.
Additional Reporting by Business Daily