Global Transfers: M-Pesa, Intellectual Property Rights and Digital Innovation

TL;DR

This paper examines how the transfer and control of intellectual property rights for M-Pesa influence digital innovation and power dynamics in the global south, especially during the COVID pandemic.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the history and implications of IPR transfer for M-Pesa, highlighting structural issues in global digital innovation regimes.

Findings

IPR for M-Pesa was originally held outside Kenya.

The transfer back to African control impacts innovation inclusivity.

Global IPR regimes shape uneven innovation outcomes.

Abstract

In July 2020, in the midst of the COVID crisis, the Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom announced that the intellectual property rights (IPR) for mobile money service M-Pesa were "moving back into African control". This paper tracks how the IPR originally came to be held outside Kenya, and the implications for understanding M-Pesa as an inclusive innovation. Through reflection of this analysis of IPR and innovation, the paper contributes to discussions on structural aspects of digital innovation in the global south. By focussing on IPR, it unpacks some of the processes by which global intellectual property regimes and cross-border IPR practices shape uneven outcomes and power.