Abdimalik Hussein
Pay for a bus ride in Nairobi and you’ll probably use M-Pesa. Buy a coffee in Mogadishu and you’ll likely use EVC Plus. On the phone screen they look similar: a menu, a number, a PIN. Underneath, they work quite differently, and if you run a business or write software for the region, those differences matter.
EVC Plus vs M-Pesa at a glance
| M-Pesa | EVC Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Main market | Kenya | South and central Somalia |
| Operator | Safaricom | Hormuud Telecom |
| Currency | Kenyan shillings | Mostly US dollars |
| Business payments | Till (Buy Goods) or Paybill | Merchant number |
| Developer API | Public Daraja API with sandbox | Through aggregators such as WaafiPay, after a business agreement |
Who else is in the market
In Kenya, M-Pesa is far ahead, with Airtel Money as the main alternative. In Somalia, EVC Plus is the largest wallet in the south and centre, alongside eDahab (Somtel) and Sahal (Golis). In Somaliland, ZAAD from Telesom dominates.
Shillings vs dollars
This is the biggest practical difference. M-Pesa balances are in Kenyan shillings. Somali wallets like EVC Plus mostly hold US dollars, which is why prices in Mogadishu are usually quoted in dollars. If your business works in both countries, you’re dealing with two currencies, two price lists and exchange-rate risk every time money moves between them.
How businesses get paid
In Kenya, a business gets a Till number (Buy Goods) or a Paybill number, and customers pay from their M-Pesa menu or app. In Somalia, merchants usually receive payments to a merchant wallet number.
Either way, the main risk is the same: fake confirmations. Check every payment in your own statement or through an automatic integration, never from a message on the customer’s phone. We explain the common tricks in how to spot an M-Pesa scam SMS.
For developers: the APIs
Safaricom’s Daraja API is public and well documented. You can sign up, test in a sandbox the same day, and use STK Push to send a payment prompt to the customer’s phone. We walk through the full integration in M-Pesa STK Push with Node.js.
In Somalia, providers such as WaafiPay (covering EVC Plus and other wallets) and eDahab offer merchant APIs, but you’ll usually need a business agreement and verification before you get credentials. Plan for a conversation with the provider, not just a signup form.
Which one should you integrate first?
Follow your customers. If they’re in Kenya, start with M-Pesa through Daraja. If they’re in Somalia, start with the wallet most of them use, usually EVC Plus through an aggregator. If you serve both, design your system from day one for more than one currency and more than one payment provider. Retrofitting that later is painful.
