Thursday, November 21African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: Mobile Money

27Oct By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech, Main

New Research Suggests That Mobile Finance Can Help To Boost A Nation’s GDP

In countries where mobile money adoption is successful, GDP per capita growth could reduce poverty by around 2.6%. Successful deployment and adoption of mobile financial services is associated with positive GDP growth in developing markets, according to new research from Vodafone Group, Vodacom Group, Safaricom, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Mobile financial services help businesses reduce costs, access credit for investment, and connect with previously excluded consumers, all of which contribute to economic growth. The econometric modelling research [1] – which examined 49 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America – found that countries with successful mobile money services had an annual GDP per capita growth rate up to 1 percentage point higher than countries ...
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22Feb By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech

The biggest fintech trends changing the face of payments in emerging markets

Mark Dankworth, President Business Development Africa at Ukheshe, shares his thoughts on how mobile money, cross-border payments and ‘buy now, pay later’ are transforming the financial sector, particularly in emerging markets, for the better. Last year saw an unprecedented rate of change in the financial sector, with huge growth in the use of digital financial services. A report by CB Insights entitled ‘State of Fintech’ revealed that the third quarter of 2021 was the second highest on record for fintech financing, up by 147 percent year-on-year, and 2022 is looking like more of the same. Fintechs will continue to drive financial inclusion, assisting in the creation of an accessible and sustainable digital economy for all, particularly across developing nations. Africa’s large unbanked...
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16Dec By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech

Chimera Investment LLC invests $50m in Airtel Africa’s mobile money business

Further to previous announcements, most recently on 16 November 2021, Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces the introduction of Chimera Investment LLC as an additional investor in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (‘AMC BV’), through a $50m secondary purchase of shares from a subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc (the ‘Transaction’). AMC BV is the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations; and ultimately is intended to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of Airtel Africa’s fourteen operating countries. Chimera Investment LLC, through its subsidiary Chimetech Holding Ltd., now holds a minority stake in AMC BV alongside the other minority investors, w...
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17Nov By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech

Airtel Money drives efficiency for businesses through Airtel Africa Developer Portal

Airtel Money, the dedicated mobile money platform, is driving better efficiency for businesses to engage in seamless mobile money activity with its upgraded Airtel Africa Developer Portal. The portal, using several Open APIs and solutions, integrates remote payments with Airtel Money wallets, to provide greater ease of access for Airtel Money services across multiple business sectors and regions across the Continent. The portal enables Airtel Money to better respond to the rise in popularity around digital money services and ecommerce platforms across Africa. This highly secure and seamless portal was created especially for those merchants and e-commerce businesses  to create, discover and integrate into Airtel Money’s fast growing library of Open APIs. The APIs available on the portal al...
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12Nov By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech, Startups

Failing To Win

A new book from Burnet Media, Cape Town will inspire and guide the next generation of African entrepreneurs. Failing To Win by Mike Quinn is the authentic story of a uniquely African startup at the forefront of the continent’s fintech revolution. Inspired to become the “M-Pesa of southern Africa” after Kenya’s pioneering mobile money innovation, Zoona secured tens of millions of dollars in international investment and grew to serve two-million customers in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique while processing $2.5-billion in transactions. This is an ideal read for anyone doing business or investing in Africa, and in particular for purpose-driven entrepreneurs and impact or venture capital investors. ABOUT THE BOOK In 2009, Canadian entrepreneur Mike Quinn packed his backpack and moved to Lu...
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18Oct By Mark DankworthNo Comments
Fintech

Africa is leading the way in mobile money, and it will change banking as we know it

By Mark Dankworth, President International at Ukheshe Technologies Mobile transacting is fast becoming the golden egg of financial services – and nowhere more so than in Africa. According to the Global System for Mobile Communications’ (GSMA) 2021 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, the number of registered mobile money accounts grew by 12.7% globally in 2021 to 1.21 billion accounts – double the forecasted growth rate. Sub-Saharan Africa makes up the biggest slice of this pie on all fronts – number of accounts (548 million of the 1.2 billion accounts), transaction volume (27.4 billion of the 41.4 billion transactions) and transaction value ($490 billion of the $767 billion worldwide). Clearly, the continent is leading the charge when it comes to transacting via mobile phones....
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Affordable digital banking to revolutionise price-sensitive East African payments market
21Apr By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech, Kenya News

Affordable digital banking to revolutionise price-sensitive East African payments market

In a region still dominated by cash and mobile money options, like M-Pesa, new collaborations between fintechs are looking to capture the price-sensitive market with innovative, open-loop digital payment solutions in East Africa. According to Mark Dankworth, President International, Ukheshe Technologies, the region is poised for a surge in digital banking growth, with the likes of MCQR and virtual cards likely to make the biggest impact. This follows the Kenyan retail-tech startup, Tanda, leveraging Ukheshe Technologies’ cutting-edge Eclipse API to increase their digital banking offering in Kenya and East Africa to include QR payments, digital wallets and the issuing of physical and virtual cards. The move will empower Tanda agents and merchants throughout East Africa to implement 100,000 ...
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1Apr By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech

Airtel Africa’s Mobile Money Business Gains $100m Investment from Mastercard

Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces the signing of an agreement under which Mastercard, a leading innovator and global technology company in the payments industry, will invest $100m in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (“AMC BV”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc (the “Transaction”). AMC BV is currently the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations and is intended to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of Airtel Africa’s fourteen operating countries. The Transaction values Airtel Africa’s mobile money business at $2.65bn on a cash and debt free basis. Mastercard will hold a minority stake in AMC BV upon completion of the Transac...
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29Mar By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech

Mobile Money Accounts Grow to 1.2 Billion in 2020

GSMA has published last week its annual 'State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money'. It reveals a dramatic acceleration in mobile transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic as lockdown restrictions limited access to cash and financial institutions. The report found that the number of registered accounts grew by 13 per cent globally in 2020 to more than 1.2 billion – double the forecast. The fastest growth was in markets where governments provided significant pandemic relief to their citizens.   Providing more opportunities in the formal economy  To minimise the economic toll of COVID-19, many national governments distributed monetary support to individuals and businesses. The value of government-to-person payments quadrupled during the pandemic, with the mobile money industry working han...
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22Mar By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Fintech

The Rise Fund to invest $200 million in Airtel Africa’s mobile money business, at $2.65 billion valuation

Airtel Africa to explore potential listing of mobile money business within four years. Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, announced on 18th March the signing of an agreement under which The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform of leading alternative investment firm TPG, will invest $200 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (“AMC BV”),  a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc (the “Transaction”). AMC BV is currently the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations; and is now intended to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of Airtel Africa’s fourteen operating countries. The Transaction values Airtel Africa’s mobile money business at $...
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