Telecom major Vodacom believes it can offer its more than 44-million clients in SA wealth management services, after a successful rollout of such services in the East African economies of Kenya and Tanzania.
At this stage, the group has not made a decision to roll out out such products in SA. However, Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy told Business Day that wealth management was part of the group’s financial services ecosystem as it looked to deepen financial inclusion across its markets.
“We believe that there are meaningful opportunities to expand into the savings and investments market where many of the existing propositions remain inaccessible to a significant proportion of the population. We continuously research and monitor market trends enabling us to design and introduce solutions that align with the evolving needs of our customers,” Kennedy said.
Vodacom was the first telecommunications group in SA to attain an insurance licence. The group, with about 211-million customers across the continent, has been aggressively expanding its financial services offering, which includes extending credit to individuals and businesses.
The group, worth R280bn on the JSE, has controlled operations in Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania, with an associate holding in Safaricom providing exposure to Ethiopia and Kenya.
Vodacom last year entered into a partnership with Sanlam Allianz Investments in Tanzania to launch M-Wekeza — a mobile-first investment platform designed to bring Tanzanian citizens into the capital markets.
With entry as low as 1,000 Tanzanian shillings (about R7) and potential annual returns of up to 13%, M-Wekeza offers a collective investment scheme that empowers users to save and grow wealth directly from their M-Pesa accounts, Kennedy said.
M-Wekeza allows customers to earn daily interest and to withdraw their money instantly.
The scheme facilitates microsavings and investment in stocks and securities through fund managers.
The group said M-Wekeza was regulated by the Capital Markets and Securities Authority and it had “experienced exponential growth attracting nearly 25-billion Tanzanian shillings [about R176m] in deposits within its initial months of operation (up to the financial year ending March 2025).”
Kennedy pointed to the 2023 FinScope report, which shows that capital markets penetration is at 0.5% of the Tanzanian adult population.
He said the low penetration was not due to a lack of interest but rather a lack of accessible, inclusive and user-friendly investment solutions.
“M-Wekeza is the result of that insight. It is a first-of-its-kind, mobile-based collective investment scheme that empowers any eligible M-Pesa user to start investing with as little as 1,000 Tanzanian shillings, offering an attractive annual return of up to 13%,” Kennedy said.
Revolutionary
“This low barrier to entry is revolutionary in a market where traditional investment services often require large upfront capital, extensive documentation and in-person visits to financial institutions.”
In Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, the group has launched Mali and Ziidi — two money market funds offered on the M-Pesa app.
Vodacom’s financial services ecosystem connects 87.7-million customers, with the group aiming to increase it to 120-million by 2030.
The group’s financial services revenue has more than doubled in the past five years, rising from R6bn in the 2020 financial year to R14bn in the 2025 financial year.
The company’s impact is further amplified by the reach of its associate, Safaricom, which generated financial services revenue of R22.6bn.
Vodacom’s apps — VodaPay, Vodafone Cash and M-Pesa — are central to its financial services ecosystem.
The apps are expected to play a crucial role for the group to meet its lofty financial services ambitions, with the group expecting its fintech customers to grow by more than 40% over the next five years, driven by the VodaPay, Vodafone Cash and M-Pesa super-apps and merchant services.
Updated: October 3 2025
The article has been updated to clarify that Vodacom has not yet taken the decision to launch wealth management services in SA
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