Device credit company M-Kopa hit the 5 million customer mark for loan agreements and other services aimed at those excluded from conventional financial services across its five markets in Africa.

M-Kopa, which counts Vodacom Group and MTN units among its partners, provides financing for smartphones using a daily repayment model it claims makes devices available to those unable to buy them through usual routes.  

It also supplies credit for other consumer products including electric motorcycles, alongside other digital financial services including health insurance and standard loans.

The company operates in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, and has handed out a total of $1.5 billion to customers.

M-Kopa sold its first loan in 2010, though noted 2 million of its 5 million total customers had signed up in the last 15 months. Outside of the financial segment, it opened a smartphone assembly plant in Kenya in 2023 which has already churned out 1 million devices, and has an own-brand handset.

The company claimed it is “having a major impact in improving digital access in Africa”, pointing to almost 2 million of its customers being first-time mobile internet users and 40 per cent of its base being women.

Smartphone affordability remains a huge issue across parts of Africa’s population, with vendors, operators, industry groups and inclusion-focused organisations working on various initiatives in an attempt to bring prices down and up accessibility.