WISER Seminar Papers

  • WISER's TRUST seminar is hosted on-line every Monday afternoon from 16:00 - 17:00 SA time during the teaching semester. Forthcoming seminars are available here, and past events are detailed in our archive.
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Presented by : Kevin Donovan

23 Feb 2026 - 4:00pm

This paper examines the functioning and implications of a little-known legal trust that forms the financial foundation for M-Pesa. The M-Pesa Holding Company operates a trust fund which is intended to ensure the liquidity of M-Pesa deposits — that is, ensuring Kenyan users can translate between M-Pesa value and fiat currency. But this legal and financial device has significant implications for the distribution of financial yield, as well as authority. The paper discusses how this arrangement emerged, its role in financing the corporate philanthropy of Safaricom, and questions about how the ensuing wealth might be distributed to users, banks, or corporate managers.

Paper for discussion:
WISER Research Theme: