The future and development of mobile money in Kenya is taking a greater and fast turn than it was expected. Over a short period of time, mobile money transfer has become the most popular mode of payment and transfer of cash in the country.

In a recent global survey done by the MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index (MPRI), Kenya was ranked among the top four nations in the world with readiness to use person to person, mobile-web commerce (m-commerce) and mobile contact-less payments at points of sale (tills).

Kenya came first in Africa ahead of South Africa and Nigeria which were also sampled. This shows the maturity and readiness of Kenyans to take up this mode of transaction owing to the amounts that mobile transactions handle in the country. The survey could see globalization of mobile money usage in the near future.

Kenya came in the fourth place globally with 40.4 on a scale of 0-100, which was above global average which is at 33.2 on that scale. The United States is ranked first with 41.5. Consumer readiness, according to experts is a critical success factor in adopting mobile payment methods.

"Kenyan consumers’ very high levels of familiarity with and frequent usage of mobile payments makes this nation the top score on the survey’s Consumer Readiness component,” MasterCard Worldwide, East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands Vice President Charlton Goredema noted. (Quoted in Daily Nation)

These are good tidings for local mobile operators as they will take the opportunity to work with global financial organizations to make the payment network. The use of a mobile phone account to run limitless errands and access services both locally and internationally will be a welcome move for many businessmen and tourists in the country.