Kiva is the path-breaking, fast-growing person-to-person microlending site. It works this way: Kiva posts pictures and stories of people needing loans. You give your money to Kiva. Kiva sends it to a microlender. The lender makes the loan to a person you choose. He or she ordinarily repays. You get your money back with no interest. It's like eBay for microcredit.

You knew that, right? Well guess what: you're wrong, and so is Kiva's diagram. Less that 5% of Kiva loans are disbursed after they are listed and funded on Kiva's site. Just today, for example, Kiva listed a loan fepor Phong Mut in Cambodia and at this writing only $25 of the needed $800 has been raised. But you needn't worry about whether Phong Mut will get the loan because it was disbursed last month. And if she defaults, you might not hear about it: the intermediating microlender MAXIMA might cover for her in order to keep its Kiva-listed repayment rate high.

Kiva’s business plan was quite straightforward: An online platform would allow ordinary people to invest in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the developing world.

Microfinance platform Kiva has proven many times over that people are willing to give $25 microloans to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Now the platform is bringing its microfinance savvy to small business owners in struggling areas of the U.S. with Kiva City, a program launched this past June. The program has already proven successful in Detroit and New Orleans (the two launch cities), where 19 initial loans have been fulfilled by microlenders. That’s over $135,000 in loans.

Safaricom is still extremely dominant when it comes to Kenya's mobile money market, with almost 99% market share

M-Pesa was launched in 2007, and it’s still going strong. The concept of a phone-based money transfer service originated back in 2002, when researchers realized the popularity of the market for phone airtime — individuals in a handful of African nations often transferred it to friends and family for subsequent use or resale.

M-PESA was cheaper than banks, and safer and more convenient than handling cash. The financial inclusion driven by M-PESA has greatly led to the growth of Kenya’s digital economy.

M-PESA's International Money Transfer (IMT) service allows anyone wishing to send money to Kenya to visit one of several Safaricom IMT partners (such as Post Finance, World Remit, and Western Union) and send money to an M-PESA mobile phone in Kenya. Money transfers are received almost instantly, and at no expense to the recipient.

No other mobile money service has been able to successfully challenge Safaricom’s dominance, but not from a lack of trying. The most recent attempt comes with the announcement of a merger between Airtel and Telkom, two of Safaricom’s major rivals. The companies unsuccessfully attempted a merger last year, but recently created a joint venture called Airtel-Telkom.

Average monthly M-Pesa transactions, including Safaricom, was $24.2 billion (Sh2.6 trillion) and represented a growth of 57.8 per cent.

Safaricom is partnering with PayPal to boost its e-commerce capabilities in Kenya, solidifying its footing not just as a mobile phone business but as a global company with diversified interests in sectors including healthcare, transportation, and music.

M-Pesa offers a safe, fast and low-cost way to pay, receive, transfer and store money. M-Pesa, works in real time and digitally, making it faster and cheaper than traditional informal money transfer services (e.g. sending money on a bus) and safer since every transaction is protected and signed with a PIN.

Like many parts of the developing world, Africans are significantly less likely to have bank accounts and credit or debit cards. But mobile phones have penetrated the African market, and in countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, the majority of people have a workable phone.

M-Pesa is Africa's most successful mobile money service and the region’s largest fintech platform. M-Pesa is the preferred way to make payments across the continent both for the banked and unbanked due to its safety and unmatched convenience.

JUMO builds its credit profiles using behavioral data gathered from mobile wallets, cell phones and transaction data.

JUMO claimed it has helped disburse over $1.6-billion in funding to small and micro enterprises and is growing its base of savings products.

So far JUMO has analysed more than 33 terabytes of data to serve more than nine million customers in seven countries across Africa and Asia, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Zambia and Pakistan.

JUMO uses behavioural data such as mobile telephone use to help financial services providers and mobile network operators assess lending risk and tailor financial products to those living in developing countries where credit information is scarce.

Since launch in 2014, more than 10 million people have saved or borrowed on the Jumo platform, with nearly 70% of these being micro and small business owners across Africa and Asia. To date, the company has originated almost US$1 billion in loans and maintained savings growth of over 50% month-on-month on its platform, which manages over 45 million customer interactions per month.

Since JUMO was founded in 2014, the company doubled its staff complement each year for two consecutive years, and it was recently recognized by the London Stock Exchange Group as one of the Companies to Inspire Africa in 2019.

“I’m excited for our next phase. This backing will help us build a better business and break new ground. The strong vote of confidence, along with the world-class tech talent we now have in the business, means we can achieve exceptional outcomes for our partners and customers.” Andrew Watkins-Ball, CEO, JUMO.