When it comes to Africa and financial empowerment, we must acknowledge that consumers have the same wants and needs as consumers everywhere else in the world. Africans on the continent want to order the latest clothes, and electronics and have them delivered timeously.

We can agree that mobile money has done a lot to expand financial inclusion, but more is needed if they’re to seamlessly make purchases outside their countries and the continent. We must enable interoperability between mobile money and cards. 

That is, ensuring that merchants are able to accept payments from any consumer, whether they’re using mobile money or a card and whether they’re online or offline.

To understand the scale of the opportunity that interoperability represents, it’s worth taking a look at the African retail sector.

In a sector worth hundreds of billions of dollars, online retail accounts for just one percent of sales, against a global average of 15%.

Interoperability between cards and mobile money has the potential to not just bring that ratio more in line with global standards but to grow the sector as a whole. The appetite, after all, is clearly there. 

The COVID 19 pandemic saw African eCommerce sales grow 42% between 2019 and 2020. Imagine what the growth will be like as people are able to buy and sell seamlessly, no matter where they are and what channel they use.

Beyond the mobile money narrative 

This focus on interoperability represents a slight shift from the mobile money narrative that’s dominated discourse to date (some might argue that even this narrative has been overly focused on the success of MPesa in Kenya, with people elsewhere on the continent simply seen as unbanked).

In many ways, it’s understandable that so much focus has been put on the mobile money narrative in Africa. Its growth has been nothing short of explosive.

According to GSMA’s 2022 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, African mobile money transactions grew 39% in 2021 to reach US$701.4 billion, accounting for 70% of the global total. As a result, many of the world’s largest digital merchants – including the likes of Spotify in partnership with dLocal – have started accepting mobile money payments. 

By 2025, it’s estimated that some one million young people across Sub-Saharan Africa will have some kind of informal employment in the mobile sector, with many of them working as mobile money agents. 

Much of mobile money’s growth has been down to the fact that many Africans – around 57% of people on the continent, approximately 95 million people, do not have a traditional bank account. But for all the acceptance of mobile money, there are still instances where cards are the preferred payment method for consumers and merchants alike.  

It’s imperative, therefore, that we change the narrative from one where Africans will never have to adopt cards because of mobile money. Instead, we need to look towards facilitating interoperability between mobile money and cards and promoting adoption at scale.

Making payments truly borderless 

For the African fintech revolution to reach its true potential, interoperability cannot be confined to the continent. It needs to be completely borderless. 

That means that African consumers and businesses alike should be able to make payments to any destination, whether it’s online or offline. For us at MFS Africa, that means connecting mobile money to the rest of the world. Card networks very much appear to be the best way of doing so. It’s something that we’ve been working on for some time too. In 2019, for example, we concluded an agreement with Visa to connect our MFS Africa HUB to the Visa Network to enable card issuing at scale. It was a slow burn, but with the recent acquisition of US company GTP we’re in a prime position to accelerate interoperability. 

We’re not the only ones thinking this way either. The recent launch of the Mpesa Global card with Visa underscores how quickly international players are waking up to the need for interoperability. We are now at the point where the dream of every mobile money user having a card attached to their mobile money accounts is a feasible reality. In order for our continent to achieve the potential of the fintech revolution, mobile money needs to keep evolving and interoperability is key to that.

The post Why Card and Mobile Money Interoperability are Critical to Empowering African Consumers, Entrepreneurs appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

For ride-hailing companies, going cashless in emerging markets is rarely straightforward. South Africa’s ride-hailing market is projected to nearly triple by 2033, making it one of the fastest-growing mobility markets, and one where the shift to digital payments is well underway.

Cards account for 63% of all digital transactions, eWallets keep gaining ground, and cash is steadily losing share.

But serving both sides of a marketplace means splitting each fare between the driver and the platform in real time, paying drivers out through rails they actually use, and doing all of it through a single local integration.

This partnership makes it possible. Through dLocal’s infrastructure, inDrive can now accept local cards in-app, including real-time payouts via PayShap, split transactions automatically between the driver’s share and the platform fee, and pay out driver earnings through South African domestic rails.

Reducing reliance on cash also lowers exposure to fraud and improves security for drivers on the road.

Cash remains available as a payment method where it’s still the preferred option, making this an expansion of choice, not a replacement.

South Africa is the first market where companies have run this model end-to-end. dLocal’s coverage of local payment methods across 44+ markets, including local cards, mobile money, bank transfers, RTPs, and eWallets, means the same model can follow into additional markets across Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, through a single connection already in place.

“South Africa is a key market for inDrive, and getting payments right here matters, not only for the passengers who want a convenient cashless experience but also for the drivers who depend on fast, reliable payouts,” said Ashif Black, Country Representative in South Africa at inDrive. “dLocal gives us the ability to do both, in one integration, in a market where that combination wasn’t available before.”

“Making payments work in emerging markets takes more than a technical integration. It takes local infrastructure, local relationships, and an understanding of how money actually moves in each market,” said Barrie Swart, Country Manager (South Africa) at dLocal. “This partnership in South Africa is a strong example of what becomes possible when all of that is in place.”

The post dLocal and inDrive Launch Cashless Payments for Rides appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

While the continent already accounts for 74% of global mobile money transaction volume, new analysis shows that the next stage of growth will be defined less by transaction scale and more by financial depth, institutional design, and long-term investment readiness.

Launched around the Inclusive FinTech Forum (IFF) in Kigali, a forum increasingly recognised by regulators, financial institutions and investors as a convening point for Africa’s financial architecture, the report Beyond Payments: Unlocking Africa’s Second FinTech Wave from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) examines how the continent is shifting from transactional inclusion to scalable, infrastructure driven financial systems.

While the first wave of African FinTech successfully built domestic payment rails with over 40% of adults in Sub Saharan Africa now using mobile money, the report finds that even in advanced markets, more than 50% of lending still occurs through informal or semiformal channels.

This gap has sharpened the focus on B2B payments, government digitisation, interoperable credit rails, and data driven underwriting as the engines of the second wave.

Africa has already built scale in digital finance. The opportunity now is to convert that scale into sustained, institutional-grade growth.

Markets offering regulatory clarity, interoperable infrastructure, and predictable operating conditions are becoming increasingly attractive to long term‑ capital.

Across parts of the continent, these conditions are taking shape, driving a step change in ‑long-term institutional capital interest beyond ‑early-stage‑ FinTech plays.

The report highlights Rwanda as an example of deliberate institutional coordination that directly lowers the cost to scale for financial institutions.

Supported by forward looking regulation, interoperable digital public infrastructure, and a clear cross border orientation, the country has positioned itself as a focal point for ecosystem alignment across East Africa.

Recent initiatives, including the Licence Passporting Memorandum of Understanding between Rwanda and Kenya, are cited as practical steps toward lowering the cost to scale for financial institutions, easing regional expansion, and improving cross border payment and credit flows.

Financial centres like the KIFC play a critical role in Africa’s next phase of FinTech growth. By combining regulatory clarity, coordinated infrastructure, and Pan African integration, they materially reduce uncertainty for banks, FinTechs, and investors, and help position markets into credible, long-term investment destinations.

As African FinTech ecosystems mature, the report notes a growing shift from consumer peer to peer models toward infrastructure grade opportunities aligned with bank balance sheets, development finance institutions, and long duration private capital.

Interoperable payment switches, AI enabled credit models, open banking reforms, and clearer licensing regimes are reducing fragmentation and increasing investability across markets.

What’s increasingly clear is that Africa’s next FinTech phase will be led by financial institutions. Banks and regulated FIs are becoming the primary customers of digital financial infrastructure demanding platforms that align with their balance sheets, risk frameworks and regulatory obligations.

To achieve this, the report identifies five institutional priorities critical to sustaining momentum:

• Interoperable infrastructure remains essential to unlocking Africa’s next phase of digital financial growth. Building seamless wallet to bank to switch integration will enable faster, more efficient value movement across ecosystems, reducing friction for consumers, SMEs, and financial institutions alike.
• At the same time, data-driven credit represents one of the continent’s largest untapped opportunities. By transforming transaction data into AI enabled underwriting models, providers can extend responsible, scalable credit to SMEs, helping bridge the gap created by traditional collateral based lending.
• Regulatory coherence is another critical pillar. Implementing proportional licensing frameworks and predictable supervisory practices will lower the cost to scale for innovators, reduce uncertainty, and create a more level playing field across markets.
• Trust and resilience form the backbone of sustainable adoption. Expanding cybersecurity capabilities and strengthening consumer protection mechanisms will ensure that as digital usage grows, the ecosystem remains safe, reliable, and transparent.

Africa has already demonstrated that FinTech scale is achievable. The next opportunity lies in strengthening the institutional foundations required to sustain that growth. Markets that do so effectively will shape Africa’s financial system over the coming decade.

The post Kigali Emerges Africa’s New Hub for Scalable FinTech Infrastructure appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

And in that same year, Nigeria recorded roughly 7.9 billion real-time digital payment transactions.

But now, in late 2025, something curious is happening. About half of Nigerian SMEs, once heavily cash-dependent, now rely on fintech platforms for their core business banking needs including payroll, payments, cashflow, and even basic credit.

I usually find myself asking, is this true financial inclusion or is it just an elegant, digital rebrand of the same old inefficiencies?

How We Got Here: Building the Rails (2010–2025)

Mobile Money Era (2010–2015)

Back then, mobile money meant USSD codes and agents. Quick person-to-person transfers. For many Nigerians, especially those outside major cities, this was a breakthrough. 

It brought, for the first time, a way to move money without visiting a bank branch. But the system had some limits, minimal functionality. Saving, loans, invoicing, these were mostly out of reach.

Fintech Explosion (2016–2020)

Smartphones became more common. Fintech apps began providing wallets, easy payments, and basic services. The idea of cashless started to stick. Entrepreneurs could now send payments, collect revenues, and do business without stacks of naira notes.

But still, bookkeeping was manual, payroll was offline, credit was almost nonexistent for most small businesses. Many SMEs operated in hybrid mode, some digital payments, but plenty of paper bills, manual ledgers, cash-in-hand.

Cloud-Native Finance (2021–2025)

The last few years changed things more radically. Rather than just payments, SMEs now get banking-as-a-service: invoices, payroll, reconciliations, lending, expense tracking, all via APIs and cloud tools. Digital banking isn’t just consumer-facing anymore, it’s business-native.

Fintech companies have proliferated. By early 2025, there were over 430 fintech firms operating in Nigeria, a 68% increase from 2024. The convenience is real, apps onboard fast, many offer light KYC, and services are usually cheaper than traditional banks.

Now, SMEs can run near-full financial operations online. No “bank visits once a month.” No “cash purchased and moved by hand.” Everything runs digitally.

The SME Reality in 2025: What’s Actually Happening

• According to a 2025 index by Mastercard, 99% of Nigerian SMEs now accept digital payments.
• Around 50% of SMEs now rely on fintech platforms for banking functions such as collections, payroll, cash-flow management, and occasionally lending.
• Among SMEs that were “cash-only” not too long ago, 76% say they plan to invest in new payment technologies.
• Many SME owners say digital payments improved customer experience, reduced downtime, and cut reliance on physical cash, which can be risky or cumbersome.

In short, digital finance is no longer a nice-to-have add-on. It’s now core to how many small businesses operate.

That transition should matter at the macroeconomic level. More efficient SMEs mean faster transactions, better record-keeping, easier scaling. Tax authorities get better visibility. Credit providers get cleaner data. Growth becomes more traceable.

Inclusion or Efficiency

Financial inclusion, yes, but how deep?

Digital payments have made it easier to transact. SMEs can receive payments, pay suppliers, and manage cash with less issues. For many micro and small businesses, that’s a big leap from cash-only days.

But inclusion isn’t only about access. Factual inclusion should mean affordability, reliability, and long-term economic mobility. That’s where things get murkier.

The catch behind the convenience

• Transaction expenses is real. Digital or not, fees accrue. For many small businesses, those add up. Over time, the burden may shift from the consumer to the business.
• Platform lock-in. Once an SME is embedded in a fintech ecosystem, made up of payments, bookkeeping, maybe even credit, switching becomes expensive. That wears away competition.
• Credit is still a weak point. Having a digital footprint doesn’t guarantee good credit. Many small firms lack the data history institutions need to underwrite loans at reasonable rates.
• Infrastructure gaps are still there. In many regions, connectivity is poor. Power outages, network failures, or USSD downtime wipe out the benefits. For those on the margins, rural SMEs, women-led SMEs and informal traders, digital finance may be inaccessible or unreliable.
• Digital tools don’t automatically solve structural problems like inflation, currency instability, lack of collateral, supply-chain fragility, or regulatory unpredictability.

So while many SMEs may now have the tools, whether those tools become stability, growth, and resilience is still up for discussion.

Digitising Old Inefficiencies; A Reality Check

Digital finance has simplified many processes. But in many cases, it has simply transformed old inefficiencies into new ones.

Fragmented infrastructure. Multiple fintech platforms, each with its own policy, fees, limits, and downtime. For an SME juggling several services, integration becomes messy.

Costs are burdensome. Many SMEs now pay for digital services such as payment processing, inventory tools, subscription-based bookkeeping or payroll apps. Over time, these expenses chip away at margins.

Credit and liquidity still constrained. Digital transaction history doesn’t always translate to creditworthiness. Few fintech platforms provide noteworthy working capital at scale, and traditional lenders remain sceptical.

Regulation, compliance, and hesitation. The regulatory environment is still growing. Licensing, compliance, data protection, KYC requirements, these can be blockers for many small operators.

Infrastructure risk. Network instability, power issues, SIM-swap fraud, or downtime can affect a business that relies solely on digital rails.

In effect, digital finance has made SMEs look and feel more formal. But the economic engines that drive growth, stable credit, reliable infrastructure, competitive markets, are still uneven and weak.

Macroeconomic Impact: Progress and Risks

Where we see real positive effects

• Transaction visibility & formalisation: More SMEs are traceable, easier for regulators and tax authorities to monitor economic activity. That could enlarge the tax base and improve revenue.
• Lower transaction friction: Digital payments are faster, more reliable, and often safer than cash, reducing costs tied to logistics, theft, and cash handling.
• Enhanced operational efficiency: For SMEs, digital bookkeeping, payroll, supplier payments help save time, freeing up mental bandwidth and resources.
• Potential for data-driven credit and growth tools: Over time, digital footprints may allow lenders to design better credit products, supply-chain financing, or working-capital services.
• Job and sector growth: Fintech companies, mobile agents, and digital payment ecosystems create employment beyond traditional banking.

But there are still risks of systemic inefficiency

• Platform dependency & monopolisation: If a few fintech companies top the space, small businesses lose bargaining power. Costs may stay high; switching platforms may be hard.
• Hidden cost burden: What seems “free” or “cheap” can accumulate; transaction fees, subscription fees, float charges, digital-service fees. Over time, small margins can be worn away.
• Financial exclusion for the most vulnerable: Those without stable internet, smartphones, or digital literacy, rural traders, older entrepreneurs, women-led businesses, may be left out.
• Regulatory & systemic risk: Without consistent regulation and oversight, fraud, downtime, or misuse of data can harm trust, and erode inclusion gains.
• Economic fragility: Digital finance doesn’t solve macro problems like inflation, currency volatility, poor infrastructure, or supply-chain instability. Without comprehensive reforms, many SMEs will continually be vulnerable.

What Must Change for Real Inclusion (Not Just Digitisation)

To move from “neat digital rails” to “stable economic engines,” we need more than apps.

• Interoperability & open standards. Fintech platforms, banks, regulators must agree on shared protocols. SMEs shouldn’t be locked into a single ecosystem.
• Transparent pricing & fair fees. Digital services must be affordable and predictable, not exploitative over time.
• Solid infrastructure. Reliable power, broadband, especially outside megacities, needs serious investment. Otherwise, digital tools will remain an urban luxury.
• Tailored SME credit products. Lenders need to trust digital histories and build flexible credit that matches SME cash flow cycles.
• Digital literacy & support for underserved entrepreneurs. Training, especially for rural and informal entrepreneurs, to ensure access isn’t limited to the urban, educated elite.
• Regulatory clarity and consumer/SME protection. Data protection, fair-use terms, oversight against fraud, these must be standard.
• Holistic economic reforms. Currency stability, inflation control, reliable supply-chain infrastructure, these foundational issues can’t be ignored.

What the Next Five Years Could Bring, if We Get It Right

If we address these gaps, the next half-decade might truly change SME finance in Nigeria:

• Cloud-based “business operating systems”, invoice to payment to payroll to credit in a single workflow.
• Embedded credit and supply-chain financing tailored to SMEs’ cash flow realities.
• Real-time payments are becoming the default, even for micro-transactions and informal economy players.
• Data-driven loan underwritings, allowing micro-businesses to grow without collateral.
• Greater formalisation, more SMEs in the tax net; better regulation; more visibility for policy-makers.
• Growth of SMEs beyond survival mode, longer-term capital investment, expansion, jobs creation.

But if we don’t fix current weaknesses, there’d be high costs, infrastructure gaps, platform lock-in, this digital transition risks becoming another layer of friction, not liberation.

A New Financial Skeleton, But Are We Building a True Body?

Digital finance in Nigeria has built a sturdy skeleton. Payments flow, accounts exist, many SMEs operate online. That is progress. Profound progress, even.

But a skeleton alone does not make a human being. For actual economic inclusion, for SMEs to grow securely and sustainably, we need flesh, muscles, stable credit, fair pricing, infrastructure, regulation, inclusion for the marginalised.

I believe digital finance brings a huge turnaround. But a promise alone isn’t enough. If we’re honest, we must ask: are we building a new financial fate for SMEs or simply repackaging old systems with a shinier interface?

Because if we don’t fix the in-depth structural problems, the only thing we’ll have done is made inefficiency look digital.

The post Mobile Money | Cloud Banking: Has Digital Finance Really Changed the Game for SMEs? appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The upgrade, dubbed Fintech 2.0, moves Africa’s second-largest mobile money service to a cloud-native architecture, allowing it to process 6,000 transactions per second at launch, with the potential to double as demand rises.

“The scheduled M-PESA upgrade was successfully completed and all services fully restored. All M-PESA services are now available. We look forward to serving you better and providing you with seamless experiences,” the telco said in a tweet.

The migration addresses long-standing limitations. The previous system, operating near a 4,500-transactions-per-second ceiling, left little room for growth. Fintech 2.0 leverages microservices hosted on Huawei Cloud, enabling Safaricom to update individual components without taking the platform offline, a major step for reliability and speed.

Sources familiar with operations say engineers are monitoring live transactions to detect irregularities, a process expected to last several days. Other insiders indicate that the operator now aims to accelerate integrations with banks, fintechs, and developers, opening the door for new APIs, merchant credit products, and cross-border payment solutions.

M-PESA handles more than 21 billion transactions annually, serving over 50 million users across Africa, including payments, remittances, credit, and e-commerce. The upgrade is expected to strengthen its operations as a regional financial backbone, particularly for small businesses and cross-border trade, aligning with goals under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Competition is getting higher. Airtel Money and other digital-first fintechs have steadily expanded, putting pressure on M-PESA’s top place. The upgrade is not just a technical improvement, but aims to maintain leadership across the market.

In modernising its infrastructure, Safaricom positions M-PESA as a more agile, scalable, and partner-friendly platform. This change reflects the vision first backed by late CEO Bob Collymore, who framed the company’s future as a platform play rather than a closed service. 

With digital payments growing ever more competitive, Fintech 2.0 could enhance mobile money in Africa.

The post Fintech 2.0: Safaricom M-PESA Upgrade Boosts Mobile Money Performance Across Africa appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This appointment comes on the heels of Wave’s recent $137 million debt funding round aimed at scaling its operations in both new and existing markets. 

Having recently entered the Cameroonian market, Wave is positioning itself to compete for market share with already established telecoms like MTN and Orange in the country. 

The company currently operates in eight African countries, including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon.

Ndjodo is a digital financial services specialist with over two decades of experience in both local and international management roles. His career spans the telecoms, oil, and consulting sectors, and he previously served as MTN Cameroon’s Senior Mobile Money Manager.

Wave officially entered Cameroon through a strategic partnership with Commercial Bank Cameroon (CBC).

Authorised by the regional banking regulator, Cobac, the partnership allows CBC clients to perform cash deposits, withdrawals, pay bills, receive international transfers, buy airtime, and move money between mobile wallets and bank accounts.

In his new role, Ndjodo is tasked with sustainably establishing Wave’s presence in Cameroon and positioning the fintech to tap into the country’s fast growing and competitive financial services market.

The post Wave Appoints Ex-MTN Exec as Country Manager for Cameroon appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This strategic move addresses the unique financial landscape of the region, where a significant portion of the population still remains unbanked.

This integration will further Unlimit’s offering for Tanzanian businesses, with their solution enabling access to a comprehensive suite of national, regional and global payment methods. 

It will also provide merchants access to a vast new customer base of M-Pesa’s 60 million, Mixx by Yas’ 20 million and Airtel Money’s 41.5 million users, simplifying transactions and minimising customer churn, while helping to create a smoother and more inclusive payment experience.

Tanzania is quickly emerging as a regional digital payments hub, with the annual transaction value of its mobile money market now exceeding $80 billion.

This shift comes as cash payments become less common and total digital transaction volumes surge, with Unlimit recording a 76% increase between 2023 and 2024.

“Tanzania is one of the fastest-growing economies of the decade, and it’s now entering a new era of digital payments maturity,” said Irene Skrynova, Chief Customer Officer at Unlimit. 

“By continuously expanding our services and integrating dominant local payment methods, we ensure that both banked and unbanked users are fully supported. This positions us to seamlessly enable international brands to enter and scale in this thriving market, while empowering Tanzanian businesses to connect with their target audiences effortlessly.”

The expansion of Unlimit’s services in Tanzania follows their successful launch into the nation in Q2 2024, with the receipt of their Bank of Tanzania licence and the opening of a regional office. 

The integration of these mobile-money services expands Unlimit’s existing Tanzania offerings and underscores its commitment to supporting merchants with a wide range of payment options across Africa. 

These include local and international cards across Africa, such as Visa and Mastercard, and Verve in Nigeria; mobile money solutions such as M-Pesa and Airtel Money in East Africa; USSD payments in Nigeria; as well as bank transfers through all regional banks.

The post Unlimit Integrates M-Pesa, Airtel Money to Tap into Tanzania’s $80bn Mobile Payments Market appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Revealed in World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 report, 40% of adults in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) saved money formally in 2024, a 16 percentage point surge since 2021, the fastest growth in over a decade. 

Sub-Saharan Africa, home to the world’s most active mobile money users, recorded a 12-point jump in formal savings, reaching 35% of adults.

In Nigeria, Mobile money operators, including OPay, PalmPay, and Paga, processed transactions valued at ₦71.5 trillion between January and December 2024, according to Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) data. 

This represents a 53.4% increase from ₦46.6 trillion recorded in 2023, stressing how mobile-based financial services are penetrating both urban and rural populations.

“Digital finance can convert this potential into reality,” said Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group. “We’re helping countries get their people access to new or improved digital IDs, modernising payment systems, and removing regulatory roadblocks—so that people and businesses have the financing they need to innovate and create jobs.”

Even with these advances, the global unbanked population is at 1.3 billion adults. Shockingly, more than half of this figure, around 650 million people, are concentrated in just eight countries: Nigeria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Pakistan.

Women account for 55% of the unbanked globally. The poorest households are also disproportionately excluded, with 52% of the unbanked population drawn from the lowest 40% income bracket. Education is a factor too, 62% of unbanked adults have only primary-level education or less.

Interestingly, mobile technology could help narrow this gap. The World Bank found that approximately 900 million of the unbanked own a mobile phone, and over half of them, about 530 million, have smartphones, showing potential for future financial access through digital channels.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money is the main driver of financial inclusion. Today, 15% of adults globally own mobile money accounts, a figure much higher within Africa. The region continues to lead in mobile wallet usage globally.

Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, highlighted the progress: “More people than ever have the financial tools to invest in their futures and build economic resilience, including women and others previously left behind. This is real progress.”

For women in LMICs, account ownership has nearly doubled over the past decade, rising from 37% in 2011 to 73% in 2024. Globally, account ownership among women now stands at 77% compared to 81% among men.

Regional breakdowns reveal sharp contrasts:

• In Sub-Saharan Africa, account ownership increased from 49% in 2021 to 58% in 2024.
• South Asia now reports 80% account ownership, with India leading, 90% of both men and women there now own financial accounts.
• Middle East and North Africa saw account ownership climb to 53%, up from 45% in 2021, though formal savings remain at just 17%.
• East Asia and the Pacific lead with smartphone ownership at 86% and account access at 83%.

In Nigeria specifically, fintech and mobile money platforms are driving financial access into underserved markets. Operators like OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint are expanding transaction volumes and also opening millions of mobile wallets for the financially excluded.

However, phone ownership gaps are a challenge. Only nine LMICs report mobile phone ownership below 65%, yet disparities persist among women and the poorest households. In South Asia alone, over 300 million women remain without mobile phones, with affordability noted as the primary reason.

Real-time digital payment systems like India’s UPI and Brazil’s PIX are being spotlighted as models that could help bridge financial access gaps. These systems enable low-cost, instant transactions, offering blueprints for African and other LMIC policymakers.

In the words of the World Bank: “The impact that mobile phones and the internet are having extends not only to account ownership, but also to potentially productive uses, including saving formally and making or receiving digital payments.”

In summary, mobile money has become an important tool for financial inclusion across Africa, especially in Nigeria. But the digital divide means millions are still locked out of financial systems.

The post W’Bank: Mobile Money Drives 40% Formal Savings in Developing Nations but 1.3bn Adults Still Unbanked appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Designed to scale its operations across existing and new markets, even as many African startups struggle to raise capital, this is a 100% debt which makes the deal unique.

Led by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and backed by development finance institutions such as British International Investment (BII), Finnfund, and Norfund, the new capital will fuel Wave’s working capital needs and infrastructure growth. 

These funders are turning to debt instruments to support high-impact ventures, a change driven by global macroeconomic pressures and declining venture capital inflows into Africa.

Wave, already active in eight West African countries including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia, and most recently Cameroon, is aiming to boost its footprint and possibly move into Central and East Africa. 

While no roadmap has been published, the company’s ongoing recruitment and regulatory conversations in those regions hint at what’s coming.

Wave’s co-founder and CEO, Drew Durbin, captured the company’s urgency: “I’m thrilled about this funding, it means we can help even more people by delivering the best possible product at the lowest possible price.”

Founded in 2018, Wave is bolstering access to finance. The firm has reached over 20 million active users monthly and manages a sprawling network of more than 150,000 agents across the continent. 

In a region where telecom giants like Orange, Free, and Expresso still charge between 5% to 10% per transaction, Wave’s fixed 1% fee for peer-to-peer transfers has become its strongest weapon.

Deposits and withdrawals are free. For bill payments, users pay nothing, merchants carry the cost. It’s a commendable, consumer-first approach that has helped Wave capture the trust of micro-entrepreneurs and women who now use its services to manage finances, save consistently, and gain independence.

Accessibility also drives Wave’s model. Even those without smartphones can use QR cards linked to their accounts, ensuring the platform serves both digital natives and low-income earners equally.

Wave’s business model has turned heads well beyond the continent. In 2021, it became Francophone Africa’s first unicorn with a $1.7 billion valuation following a record-setting $200 million Series A round. Stripe, Sequoia Heritage, and Founders Fund led that funding.

Despite global challenges and past internal restructuring, including a 15% staff cut in 2022, Wave has stabilised with a team of 3,000 employees. The company continues to report strong operational performance and deeper integrations with local banks and utility providers. 

Its long-term goal is to build a full-stack financial infrastructure that can underpin both consumer payments and institutional financial services.

Wave is also the only African startup listed in Y Combinator’s Top 50 revenue-generating companies in 2023 and 2024, showing enduring profitability in a tough investment environment.

For institutions like Finnfund, the real value lies in the impact. According to their data, 80% of Wave users report an improved quality of life, less stress around money, more savings, and a sense of control over their finances.

Wave is showing that mobile money in Africa doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated, and with this fresh round of funding, it’s obvious the company isn’t done yet.

The post Wave Raises $137 Million Debt Funding to Expand Mobile Money Footprint in Africa appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This is primarily in response to Uganda’s National Payment Systems Act 2020 and is an important part of the MTN Group’s strategy to enhance value from its fast-expanding financial technology services.

The National Payment Systems Act 2020 explicitly requires mobile money operators to establish distinct legal entities for their financial services. 

The Act states, “A payment service provider, other than an entity solely established to issue electronic money, a financial institution or microfinance deposit taking institution, that intends to issue electronic money shall establish a subsidiary legal entity for that purpose.” (Section 48(1)). 

Again, it prevents telecom operators from using airtime as a substitute for money, clarifying that “An electronic money issuer shall not— (a) count or issue airtime as electronic money; or (b) use airtime for permissible transactions.” (Section 55(2)). 

These stipulations necessitate a clear demarcation between mobile money and traditional telecom services.

This restructuring also aligns with the “Ambition 2025” strategy of the Johannesburg-listed MTN Group. 

The group is creating standalone fintech entities across its key African markets, including Ghana and Nigeria, to unlock new value, attract investors, and ensure solid regulatory adherence. 

For instance, MTN Ghana launched “New FinCo” in May 2025, and MTN Nigeria established MoMo PSB under a Payment Service Bank licence.

The proposed transaction will see MTN Mobile Money Uganda transferred to a new, independent entity. This new company will be owned by MTN Group Fintech Holdings B.V. and a trust established to represent the interests of MTN Uganda’s minority shareholders. 

The separation aims to enable both the mobile money and telecommunications businesses to pursue their respective growth paths independently within the East African market.

MTN MoMo already holds a strong footprint, particularly across West and Central Africa, with approximately 14 million active subscribers in Uganda alone. 

The mobile money services ascertained commendable growth in the first quarter of 2025, with revenues increasing by 18.4% to reach $70.8 million (Ush 255.6 billion). This financial performance stresses mobile money’s growing significance as a revenue driver, at times even surpassing traditional telecoms revenues in key regions.

The formal approval for this separation will be sought from shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) scheduled for 2nd July 2025. This meeting will be conducted in a hybrid format, allowing for both physical and electronic participation. 

If approved, the transaction will result in MTN MoMo ceasing to operate as a direct subsidiary of MTN Uganda. 

Even with this internal restructuring, MTN Uganda’s listing on the Uganda Securities Exchange, where it has been an actively traded stock since its 2021 initial public offering, will not be affected. 

The transaction is subject to final regulatory and shareholder approvals.

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