M-Kopa has revealed that it sold at least 1 million of its branded smartphones in 2024. This accounts for 20.9% of the 4.8 million smartphones sold for the 12 months ending September 2024 according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
M-Kopa produces about 5,000 devices every day which are sold on hire-purchase through a pay-as-you-go plan. The company started assembling smartphones in Kenya in 2023 and is one of the only two first to do so. The other one is the East Africa Device Assembly Kenya jointly owned by Safaricom, Chinese phone maker Telel, Jamii Telecom and the Industrial Technology Training Company Limited.
While selling 1 million units and accounting for over 20% market share is a good thing, M-Kopa has consistently been accused of exploiting its customers who they end up overcharging for devices that they would have paid way less if bought them in cash. The daily payments customers are required to make add up and can be too much for some people.
A good example is the Samsung Galaxy A04 that M-Kopa can sell to you after you deposit Ksh 3,099 and pay the rest in installments of Ksh 70 per day for 365 days (Ksh 25,550) for a total of Ksh 28,649. On Samsung Brandcart, you can get the Galaxy A05 for around Ksh 12,000. With M-Kopa, you end up paying more than double this price. If this is not pure exploitation, I don’t know what is.
The best option I think is for someone to save the money using platforms such as Mshwari till they get the full amount then go ahead and buy the phone they want. I get that allowing people to pay in installments allows them to get access to devices without spending so much upfront but looking at the total amount paid shows buyers are getting a raw deal.
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