15 years ago, in March 2007, M-PESA was launched in Kenya. The service brought fame to mobile money globally, inspiring hundreds of other launches in almost 100 countries across the developing world.

It also filled financial inclusion practitioners with hope as mobile money appeared to be the cost-effective solution to reaching low-income and rural people with improved financial services the community had been seeking.

The new data released by GSMA along with the 2022 State of the Industry Report, provides a great opportunity to reflect on how the industry has evolved, what has been learned, and what is still left to figure out after 15 years.

Based on this data, UNCDF authored a series of thought pieces on mobile money. The insights are aimed at clarifying perceptions around the growth, maturity, and the impact of the industry. Some of this data highlights questions to which UNCDF does not have the answers. And while we also continued to learn from our own implementation on the ground, we simultaneously seek to renew informed discussion in the financial inclusion community around these outstanding mobile money mysteries. Please contribute to the discussions on our social media channels so that we may all better understand the progress of the past, and the pathways for the future of mobile money and financial inclusion.