Fast forward to today, and millions of people live without wallets at all. Not because they lost them, but because they no longer need them.

This is not a passing trend. It is a generational shift. Mobile money is no longer the future we anticipate; it is the present we are living in.

As of 2025, more than 2.1 billion people globally hold mobile money accounts. In 2024 alone, over $1.7 trillion moved through these digital wallets.

Remarkably, Africa accounted for more than 72% of those transactions, proving that the continent is not just catching up but leading this financial transformation.

The mobile wallet has become far more than a substitute for cash. It is the central nervous system of modern financial life, particularly for young, underserved and mobile-first communities who have leapfrogged traditional banking altogether.

At FlashChange, we saw this revolution coming, not through forecasts or boardroom theories but by listening. We listened to students, traders, freelancers building global careers from their homes, and families navigating life across the globe.

They weren’t asking for “banking” as we’ve known it. They were asking for speed, trust and control.

So we built FlashChange around those values. Not to digitise the old system but to reimagine access.

We designed a wallet that works at the pace of real life: money that moves instantly, an ecosystem where local merchants and market sellers thrive, and a platform where identity, savings, and earnings live together, without bureaucracy, without middlemen.

Sub-Saharan Africa is not just participating in this renaissance; it is leading it. Out of necessity, innovation has flourished. Where banking infrastructure is thin, mobile wallets have become the infrastructure.

A FlashChange user could be a trader in Onitsha moving funds to a supplier, a freelancer in Lekki collecting payments from abroad, or a student in Nairobi receiving school fees from home.

Their incomes may differ, but their intent is the same: they want financial tools that work with them, not against them.

We don’t design for perfect users in perfect conditions. We design for real people, in real time, with real needs. And that is why this moment is bigger than the decline of cash.

We are witnessing the birth of new financial identities, where empowerment, access, and inclusion are not aspirations but lived realities.

At FlashChange, we hold a simple belief: finance should serve people, not the other way around. That is the future we are building.

About the Author

Bidemi Oke is the Chief Executive Officer of FlashChange, a fintech platform focused on secure digital asset exchange. He is an entrepreneur and vibrant leader, recognised for driving innovation and redefining access in the financial technology industry.

A payment gateway enables businesses, governments, NGOs, charities, and others to receive payments from their websites or other digital touchpoints through cards, transfers, USSD, wallets, etc, for themselves or on behalf of their customers.

While there are a number of payment gateway providers in Nigeria, the 10 prominent players are listed below:

1. Remita
2. Paystack
3. Flutterwave
4. Interswitch
5. Seerbit
6. Fincra
7. Kora
8. Moniepoint
9. eTranzact
10. HabariPay

1. Remita

Launched in 2005, the Remita payment gateway is offered by Remita Payment Services Limited, a subsidiary of SystemSpecs. It is robust and resilient and is in use by many SMEs, corporates, religious institutions, NGOs, governments, fintechs, etc.

Selected by the Central Bank of Nigeria, it serves as the payment gateway for the National Treasury Single Account (TSA) initiative, processing millions of local and foreign transactions across multiple channels. Remita processes more than N60 trillion in transaction value annually.

2. Paystack

Founded in 2015, Paystack is a leading payment gateway provider. Its payment gateway enables customers to easily activate collections on their digital touchpoints.

By July 2024, Paystack announced it had processed a staggering N1 trillion in a single month – a milestone that spoke volumes of its rapid adoption among startups and enterprises.

Founded by Nigerian entrepreneurs, Paystack was acquired by global payment company Stripe in October 2020.

3. Flutterwave

Founded in 2016, Flutterwave is a pan-African payments company providing payment gateway services to merchants, fintechs, and other entities. Merchants use Flutterwave payment gateway to receive payments in different currencies through cards, mobile money, USSD, and bank transfers. Flutterwave processed US$31 billion in transaction value in 2024.

4. Interswitch

Founded in 2002, with an initial focus on card switching and processing, Interswitch expanded into providing payment gateway services that enable customers to receive money digitally through different payment channels. Interswitch processed 1.2 billion transactions in March 2023.

5. Seerbit

Founded in 2019, Seerbit is a Nigerian fintech startup with a mandate to bridge Africa’s offline–online payment divide. The Seerbit payment gateway enables its customers to receive payments digitally through multiple payment channels. As of 2025, Seerbit is active in 12 African countries.

6. Fincra

Founded in 2021 with a grand vision to create a borderless Africa seamlessly connected to global finance. It provides multiple APIs for pay-ins (payment gateway, payment links, virtual accounts) and pay-outs (bulk disbursements, IMTO‑licensed transfers). Between 2023 and 2024, Fincra processed over US$10 billion in transaction value.

7. Kora

Founded in 2017, Kora is among the 10 leading payment gateway providers in Nigeria. It initially started as a blockchain remittance platform before pivoting to B2B Payment infrastructure services.

In addition to its payment gateway service, it now offers pay-ins, payouts, virtual accounts, and card issuing across Africa – helping local and global businesses scale in multiple currencies.

8. Moniepoint

Founded in 2015 as Teamapt, Moniepoint has evolved into a leading payment company. Its Monnify payment gateway allows merchants to receive payments through multiple channels, including cards, bank transfers, USSD, etc. As of 2025, Moniepoint processes roughly US$17 billion monthly.

9. eTranzact

Founded in 2003, eTranzact is a leading payments company that provides a wide-array of payment solutions. Its payment gateway Webconnect, enables businesses to accept payments via cards, USSD, bank transfers, etc.

Merchants on Webconnect benefit from seamless integration, a transaction dashboard, and prompt settlements. eTranzact processes trillions of Naira in payment value annually.

10. HabariPay

Founded in 2021, HabariPay is the fintech subsidiary of GTCO. Its Squad payment gateway allows merchants to collect payments from a variety of payment channels, including cards, bank transfers, USSD, etc. HabariPay processed N27.4 trillion in 2024 alone.

Checkout.com’s primary business is processing e-commerce payments for companies like Sony, Pizza Hut, and Sainsbury’s. The card-issuing offering is a new direction for the company.

The payment technology of the business with its London headquarters will be integrated with cards issued by Checkout.com.

Meron Colbeci, CPO, Checkout.com, said: “Checkout.com Issuing is built on open, flexible APIs that mean businesses can create purpose-built card programmes, enhance cash flow and unlock new revenue opportunities.”

It marks a push into embedded finance for Checkout.com, a market that analysts expect to grow rapidly this decade.

“We use bespoke, single-use, virtual cards which can have specific value limits and expiry dates, which not only makes it easier for our customers to get their groceries, but helps prevent fraud and easily manage our supply chain,” Jow co-founder and CTO Antoine Maillard said.

“We can also find new revenue streams through integrating card issuing with the wider payments value chain, and deliver joined up funding of cards to optimise cash flow.”

The NetPOS Mini launched into the Nigerian market earlier this year, is a device that doubles as both a SmartPhone and a POS terminal, and offers multiple payment channels for merchants, including Cards, Account Transfers, QR codes and USSD payments.

Asides having NFC built in, pre-installed business apps and a merchant dashboard, the device can also be used by the merchants to take orders by call, text or iMessages.

It comes pre-installed with STORM, the Super Merchant app, which provides inventory management, payment integration with social media, and sales tracker all in one.

Speaking on the new banking product, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the group managing director/chief executive of Zenith Bank Plc, said that: “SMEs remain the growth engine of any economy and Nigeria is no exception, with 96% of local businesses classified as SMEs according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC). This provides a huge space to deliver value and offer compelling propositions and engagement for business growth and contribute to national development”.

According to him, “the launch of the ‘SME Grow My Business’ product by the bank, therefore, stems from the desire to provide a unique platform for catering for the unique needs of SMEs who represent a major segment of the Nigerian economy”.

Zenith Bank has continued to distinguish itself in the Nigerian financial services industry through superior service offerings, unique customer experience and sound financial indices.

The Bank remains a clear leader in the digital space with several firsts in the deployment of innovative products, solutions and an assortment of alternative channels that ensure convenience, speed and safety of transactions.