Kenyan operator Safaricom has announced plans to expand its e-commerce proposition Masoko to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020. This is because of expected smartphone growth in the region, which is estimated to exceed 525 million users by the end of 2020.

Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, chief financial services officer at Safaricom, said the ambition for the Masoko platform is to bring the market to small businesses wherever they are in Kenya, and to give them opportunities presented by the rapid growth of e-commerce across the globe.

This follows a partnership in March in which Safaricom signed a deal with Chinese company Alibaba Group’s Aliexpress.com online store, allowing the use of M-Pesa as a payment option.

Safaricom has so far opened its platform to over 16,000 fintech developers to provide relevant products and services to customers.

Source: Telecompaper.com