The testing began in December. The introduction of Mali in the market comes at a time when Safaricom is looking to expand the scope of Mpesa from sending and receiving money, accessing loans, and making payments to include insurance and wealth management.

Subscribers will enjoy returns from either capital growth of their units or dividends.

“We are in the final stages of piloting a unit trust investment product enabling customers to create and retain wealth,” said Michael Joseph, a director at Safaricom who served as acting CEO till April.

While Safaricom did not disclose details of the savings product, it is expected to partner with a fund manager that already has the Capital Markets Authority’s licensing. The giant telco is expected to earn fees from the wealth management service as the product will generate new income for Mpesa as the new product is to aid in the enhancement of Mpesa as a lifestyle platform.

In the coming years, Safaricom predicts that Mpesa will make up half of its total revenue as the income generated by voice and SMS flatten.

Standard Investment Bank views Mali’s wealth management and lending service combination as a boost to earnings generated by financial services as it possibly includes a fund manager and partner bank.

Kenyan Policymakers say that Kenya suffers from a low rate of national savings and Safaricom could be using the new savings product to target this untapped market.