Africa’s leading financial technology platform, M-Pesa, becomes the first African mobile money provider to join the Financial Task-Force by United For Wildlife, a coalition of charities working to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.
The United for Wildlife was founded by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. Led by the Duke of Cambridge, in 2012 and brings together the world’s leading wildlife charities global corporations to protect endangered species towards their prolonged existence.
Illegal wildlife trade and its related criminal activities have brought along with it, high risks in public health and it is an issue being addressed globally. Kate Bedwell, Head of Governance, Risk, and Compliance for M-Pesa, in a statement, said that “criminal activity not only endangers animals and threatens the security of rangers but also contributes to the spread of zoonotic diseases – infections caused by a pathogen that has jumped from animal to humans – such as COVID-19 and Ebola.”
M-Pesa’s participation in this movement will ensure that no fund transactions from illegal wildlife trade will be enabled on their platforms as part of their move to curb such activities in Africa.