In an exclusive interview, Karen Basiye, Safaricom’s Director for Sustainable Business and Social Impact, offered a compelling look into the enduring legacy and future aspirations of the M-PESA Foundation. Marking its 15th anniversary, the Foundation has become a cornerstone of development in Kenya, demonstrating how focused investment in sectors like education and health can create lasting change.
HapaKenya: Over the past 15 years, what would you say are the significant achievements of the M-PESA Foundation?
Karen Basiye: The M-PESA Foundation’s strategy focuses on long-term, capital-intensive projects designed to address Kenya’s most significant needs. Our work spans multiple sectors, including health, environment, education, and community empowerment.
In healthcare, we are building and equipping modern maternal and newborn units in 30 counties, including Trans Nzoia, Marsabit, and Makueni. These facilities are state-of-the-art, often surpassing the equipment found in older hospitals. We also run a dedicated fistula program in high-burden counties like Bungoma and Kisumu to restore dignity to women and girls. To reach remote communities, we utilize telemedicine and hold medical camps that have already served over 70,000 patients. Additionally, we are developing an emergency transport system in partnership with the government and USAID.
Our environmental initiatives are extensive. An early flagship project was the Nairobi Green Line, created to protect Nairobi National Park from industrial encroachment. We have also worked to conserve the Kakamega Forest, protect the endangered roan antelope in Ruma National Park, support elephant conservation at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, and restore the Mau Ecosystem through fencing and greening programs.
In education, our support includes building new, ICT-ready schools in five counties. We also remain flexible to address urgent needs. For instance, following the tragic suicide of a young girl who was shamed at school, we launched the ‘Keeping Girls in School’ initiative, providing a year’s supply of sanitary towels to approximately 800,000 girls in Class 8 and Form 4. This flexibility also allows us to engage in rapid disaster response when communities are in distress.
To empower communities, we constructed the Yalani water dam, which now serves 90,000 people and supports over 400 farmers. This successful project has already inspired the development of two more dams. We also run a microcredit and capacity-building program for women to foster economic independence, a program we aim to scale.
Through these diverse and impactful projects, the Foundation continues to invest in the long-term, sustainable development of Kenya.
Joseph Ogutu, Safaricom Foundation Chairman, and H.E. Hon. Gladys Wanga, CBS, Governor of Homa Bay County, present a Mama Pack from the M-Pesa Foundation to Ivene Obuya, a new mother, at the Homa Bay County Referral and Teaching Hospital
HapaKenya: What specific milestones or projects stand out as defining moments for the Foundation across the 15 years of existence?
Karen Basiye: Of the many transformations I’ve witnessed, two stories stand out as especially powerful examples of our impact.
The first is about a student from our Academy. We selected her from a remote village and gave her a full scholarship. Our mission at the Academy, which has been running for ten years, is to develop future leaders, thinkers, and doers. She excelled, earned a scholarship to study in America, and recently secured a job at Goldman Sachs. Now, she is giving back by starting development projects in her home community. This is the journey we envision for our students—one of them even returned from America with funding to start an education project back home. We are seeing the direct, positive impact these children are having.
The second story, which is deeply heartwarming, is that of an elderly fistula patient. She was nearly 90 years old and had suffered from fistula for almost 70 years of her life. After we provided restorative surgery, she came to us and said, “You have no idea what you’ve done for me. I can now walk to my relatives’ graves and be part of my community again.” Imagine, at 90 years old, she felt her life was just beginning.
It’s stories like these, of tangible, visible restoration, that make it impossible to choose just one. I think of a child in Samburu with a hole in her heart whom we helped heal using telemedicine. Every story is incredibly powerful and impactful.
HapaKenya: How have partnerships with NGOs, government, and other organizations contributed to the success of the Foundation?
Karen Basiye: Partnerships are a critical component of our strategy, as we recognize that collaboration is essential to achieving significant impact. We have built a diverse network of partners for our most important programs.
For example, we are working with the Ministry of Education and the World Bank on a large-scale teacher training initiative. At the local level, we partner with the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), managed by MPs, to pool resources and ‘stretch the shilling’ for greater community benefit. We also collaborate with Kenyan philanthropists who contribute assets like land, while we manage the project execution.
Furthermore, we are now successfully attracting support from international organizations. We have secured funding from partners like the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to advance our work in areas such as water access and youth empowerment. We firmly believe that without these diverse partnerships, our progress would be significantly limited.
M-Pesa Foundation Trustee, Patricia Ithau Third Left and H.E Issa Timamy, Governor, Lamu County Fourth Right
HapaKenya: M-PESA Foundation has invested in sectors such as education and health. What measurable changes have you seen in these sectors as a result of your interventions?
Karen Basiye: In Samburu, we focused on improving maternal health. We found that cultural barriers were preventing women from delivering in hospitals. For instance, many women needed their husband’s permission to go to the hospital, and there was strong cultural resistance to male medical staff attending to women during childbirth. To address this, we adopted a county-wide approach. We started by upgrading the hospitals and worked with the national government, as this was before health was fully devolved, to tackle these specific cultural issues and make medical care more accessible and culturally appropriate for women.
We’ve seen significant improvements in maternal and child health in counties that previously had poor outcomes. For example, Lamu, which once had one of the worst maternal care records, has seen a significant drop in maternal deaths since we built a new maternal unit. As a result, child immunization rates there have now reached nearly 92%.
We’re seeing similar success in Samburu. There, we’ve integrated technology by sending automated reminders to women’s mobile phones. These messages, delivered in their local language, alert them about clinic appointments, delivery dates, and vaccination schedules. This integration of infrastructure and technology is key to how we are improving health outcomes.
HapaKenya: As the Foundation looks to the future, what is your vision for its next phase of growth and impact? What lies ahead?
Karen Basiye: We have developed this program called Citizens of the Future, which is a transformative initiative. We are trying to shape the next and the current and the next generation to be well-rounded, educated, and skilled citizens. We’re going to work in the areas I have told you about. We’re going to have scholarships for senior secondary school. We’re going to modernize around 600 schools by upgrading classrooms, building ICT labs, doing science labs. We have launched a women empowerment fund to support women, called Wezesha Mama. It’s a program to empower through granting, training, digital and financial literacy, and connectivity. We are looking to impact at least 5,000 women.
We have City Park restoration. We’re working with KFS (Kenya Forest Service) and the government to restore City Park. So, we’re going to start phase one by fencing, then phase two by beautification.
We’re looking at restoration of water towers, ensuring that we never, ever run out of water because we destroyed the environment ourselves. We have medical camps, we’ll continue doing this because we realize these camps are beneficial. Fistula, we’ll continue doing fistula. We’ll continue working in health. What we are challenging ourselves is to say, we had to go into a model of fixing one per county, but now we are thinking the counties that are struggling the most with these things, why not go in Samburu style? Come to the county, maybe do all maternal units in that county, any level three, four, or two, we sort out the maternity and then wait and see. We wait to see the impact of those, because we feel those will be very, very great. So, in a nutshell, we’ll continue working in education but with an expanded scope. In health, expanded scope. In economic empowerment, testing out models but leveraging on technology to deliver this.
Hon. Amason Kingi, Speaker of the Senate (left), and John Ohaga, Trustee of the M-PESA Foundation (right), officially handing over the Obach Primary School project in Siaya
HapaKenya: What new focus areas will the Foundation prioritize in the coming years?
Karen Basiye: To be sincere, we are constantly evaluating our work and asking ourselves if we’ve truly maximized our impact. Looking ahead, our strategy will be guided by a few key principles. First, we will continue to leverage technology across all our programs to enable efficient scaling and expansion.
We are also exploring new focus areas. One of these is providing support for refugee communities, and we are assessing how the Foundation can best intervene. In healthcare, now that we have addressed many basic needs, we are debating a strategic pivot towards ‘precision public health.’ For example, given there is only one PET scan machine for cancer diagnosis in Kenya, we are considering focusing on such critical, high-tech areas. Our approach remains flexible, always guided by the evolving needs of Kenyans
HapaKenya: As the Foundation celebrates 15 years, like you said, what message would you like to share with stakeholders, partners, and most importantly, the communities that you serve?
Karen Basiye: As we celebrate our 15th anniversary, I want to share a message with our stakeholders.
First, to the communities we serve: thank you. We are deeply grateful for the trust you have placed in us and for welcoming our teams so warmly. It is a privilege we do not take for granted. We exist because of you and for you.
To all our partners and stakeholders, thank you for being part of this journey. We are committed to continuing our work and delivering a lasting, positive impact for all Kenyans.
Nicolas Ng’ang’a, M-Pesa Foundation Chairman (left) and Anders Thomsen, UNFPA Country Representative
HapaKenya: Other than education, 50 years from now, when, you know, whoever will be around audits M-PESA Foundation, what would you like the story to be?
Karen Basiye: 50 years from now, I envision a transformed Kenya, built on the foundations we are laying today.
My vision begins with our Citizens of the Future Scholars. I see them not just as individuals who received an education, but as a great movement of leaders, thinkers, and doers, empowered because our system strategically gave them opportunities they otherwise would have missed.
I envision a green and thriving nation where the deserts of northern Kenya have been turned into forests and desertification is a problem of the past. I see healthy communities where no one dies from preventable causes or neglect. It must be a future where no mother dies giving birth.
My hope is that future generations will look back and say, ‘The people who came before us had a vision and a plan.’ I want them to see a prosperous country and know that our ‘little foundation’ took the first crucial steps to tackle these major issues.
Ultimately, my dream is a simple one: to see my children’s children sitting and enjoying life under the shade of trees. Getting there will take a lot of work, but we are ready for it.