Debora Bhojani

Pioneered mobile money solutions in Africa through her tech startup

Debora Bhojani is a visionary Ethiopian entrepreneur who co-founded M-Pesa, the groundbreaking mobile money platform that revolutionized financial inclusion across Africa. Launched in 2007, M-Pesa allowed millions of unbanked individuals to send money, pay bills, and access financial services via their mobile phones - a concept that seemed radical at the time. Bhojani's innovation has enabled over 40 million users in Kenya alone, transforming economies from Somalia to Tanzania. Her work earned recognition from the World Economic Forum, where she was named a Young Global Leader in 2015. Beyond financial services, M-Pesa's ecosystem now includes insurance products, microloans, and even vaccine distribution systems during the pandemic. Bhojani's approach combined technical expertise with deep cultural understanding, creating solutions that work in low-infrastructure environments. Her story is chronicled in The M-Pesa Story: How Mobile Technology Transformed Money in Africa, which details the challenges and breakthroughs of scaling this game-changing service. Today, her influence extends globally as other regions seek to replicate Africa's mobile banking success.