M-Pesa agents earned KSh 9,353 a month in the year to March 2026, down 9.9 percent
Safaricom Kenya paid KSh 37.38 billion in M-Pesa commissions across 333,011 agents in the year to March 2026. That is KSh 9,353 per agent per month, down from KSh 10,378. The commission pool did not shrink. It grew 0.4 percent. Agent numbers grew 11.4 percent.
What changed
- Safaricom Kenya M-Pesa commissions for the year to 31 March 2026: KSh 37,375.4 million, up 0.4 percent from KSh 37,223.1 million in FY25.
- M-Pesa agents on the Kenya network: 333,011, up 11.4 percent from 298,890. That is 34,121 more outlets in twelve months.
- Dividing one by the other gives KSh 112,235 per agent per year, or KSh 9,353 a month, against KSh 124,538 and KSh 10,378 the year before.
- The decline is 9.9 percent in a year when Safaricom actually paid out more. The denominator did all the work.
- Both input figures are published by Safaricom itself: the commission line in the Safaricom Kenya direct costs table on page 24 of the FY26 Results Booklet, and the agent count in the Safaricom Kenya operating KPIs on page 12.
Why it matters
An M-Pesa agency is usually pitched as a way to put idle capital to work, and the pitch is normally made with a commission chart rather than a return. The per-agent figure is the part that decides whether the shop clears. KSh 9,353 a month is a ceiling, not a wage: it is the average commission attributable to an outlet before rent, staff, tax and any split with an aggregator, and the spread around it is wide because a stand outside a matatu stage and a stand in a quiet estate each count as one agent. Anyone deciding whether to open an outlet should assume the denominator keeps growing, because that, and not Safaricom cutting rates, is what has been reducing the average.
What to do
- If you run an agency, work out your own rate rather than using a published average: last month’s total commission divided by last month’s total value processed.
- Compare the annualised return on your float against a SACCO dividend or a money market fund yield before adding more float. Our M-Pesa agent calculator does this comparison.
- If you operate under a principal agent rather than directly, read the split in your contract. Safaricom publishes no standard, and that single term moves take-home more than anything else.
- Remember withholding: KRA publishes the resident rate for consultancy and agency, in force since 1 July 2003, as 5 percent, deducted at source and credited against final tax.
Published 29 September 2026 on paybillke. Last verified 29 September 2026. We refresh news entries quarterly and within 48 hours of any directly relevant ecosystem change. Editorial process.