Pan-African fintech company M-KOPA has surpassed 10 million customers across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, marking a significant milestone in its mission to expand access to financial services for everyday earners.
The achievement reflects the company's rapid growth over the past six years and underscores the rising demand for digital financial solutions tailored to people often underserved by traditional banking institutions.
The company announced the milestone on Tuesday, saying it is now onboarding approximately 10,000 new customers every day through its "More than a Phone" platform, which combines smartphone financing with embedded financial services, including insurance, affordable credit and device protection at the point of purchase.
The latest milestone highlights M-KOPA's remarkable growth trajectory. While it took the company eight years to reach its first one million customers, it has added another nine million in just six years following the launch of its smartphone financing business in 2020. The company attributes this growth to its focus on providing accessible financial products designed around the needs of people who earn daily incomes.
M-KOPA says its services are built for "Every Day Earners"—including traders, boda boda riders, tailors, shopkeepers and other informal sector workers—whose income patterns often make it difficult to access conventional financial services. Rather than relying on traditional salary-based lending models, the company says its platform uses a payment model to unlock access to credit and other financial products.
According to M-KOPA, independent customer research shows that 9 out of every 10 customers say the company's products have improved their lives, highlighting the impact of its financing model beyond simply enabling smartphone ownership.
Commenting on the achievement, M-KOPA Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jesse Moore said reaching 10 million customers demonstrates that people earning daily incomes are creditworthy when financial products are designed around how they earn rather than how traditional financial institutions assess borrowers.
The company says the opportunity for further growth remains substantial, noting that nearly 90 per cent of workers in sub-Saharan Africa earn their livelihoods in the informal economy. It adds that by 2040, the continent is expected to have one of the world's largest populations of economically active adults working outside formal salaried employment.
Beyond financial services, M-KOPA continues to expand its local manufacturing footprint. In 2023, the company opened what it describes as Africa's largest smartphone assembly factory in Kenya. The facility employs more than 400 people, has achieved global ISO certification, and has produced more than 3.3 million smartphones.
The company also reported strong growth beyond its traditional East African markets, with Nigeria becoming the fastest country in its history to surpass one million customers. Today, M-KOPA serves customers through a direct sales network of more than 40,000 agents operating across its five African markets.
As it celebrates the 10-million-customer milestone, M-KOPA says it remains focused on expanding financial inclusion for millions more Africans. The company reports that its revenue has grown at an average annual rate of 50 per cent since 2020 and points to its recognition by the Financial Times as one of Africa's fastest-growing companies for five consecutive years, as well as CNBC's inclusion of M-KOPA among the world's top fintech companies for the second year running.
The milestone, the company says, is not an endpoint but another step in its ambition to broaden access to affordable digital financial services across Africa.