Giving his speech at the Global World Government Summit in Dubai, President William Ruto acknowledged the groundbreaking role played by M-Pesa in Kenya's digital landscape.
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00:00 Our proudest moment as Kenya, which has come to define our country in the digital technology
00:07 space, is mobile money, and Mokhtar Diop has referred to it shortly, which first emerged
00:16 in our country as M-Pesa.
00:18 When Safaricom launched the service 17 years ago, the country's banking sector was up
00:24 in arms, pointing out that Safaricom had set out to conduct banking business without either
00:31 obtaining a banking license or undergoing the rigours of banking regulation.
00:38 For its part, the public eagerly embraced the liberating efficiency of mobile phone-based
00:45 cash transfer.
00:47 Many types of businesses quickly saw the benefit of cashless transactions and persuaded banks
00:53 to enable them to conduct their banking over the phone.
00:57 After rigorous debate, Kenya opted to face the future with courage, and M-Pesa became
01:05 the legendary driver of trade and commerce that it has become, transacting $1.2 billion
01:16 every day, serving over 5 million enterprises, 61 million customers across eight countries
01:27 and counting.
01:30 In Kenya, we understand that the soul of innovation is the constant endeavour to meet public demand
01:36 by providing solutions to problems, efficiently delivering effective services, and transforming
01:43 challenges into productive opportunities.
01:47 With this understanding, we have exploited our digital revolution to transform the public
01:52 and private service delivery landscape, enabling government to reach more people, accelerating
01:59 the performance of key sectors, serve the previously marginalised, achieve inclusion,
02:05 and improve the well-being of all especially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
02:10 [End of Audio] Duration: 2 minutes and 30 seconds
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