Mobile Money

African MobileMoney

Operating area	Africa

Mobile Money is a mobile payments system based on accounts held by a mobile operator and accessible from subscribers’ mobile phones. The conversion of cash into electronic value (and vice versa) happens at retail stores (or agents). All transactions are authorised and recorded in real-time using SMS.

In 2009, GSMA made a grant to Safaricom to support the development of a social transfer payment project via M-Pesa.

M-PESA was developed by Vodafone and first deployed by its Kenyan affiliate Safaricom. In May 2012, there were over 15 million customers of M-PESA in Kenya.

Countries having a Mobile Money Presence

Current Mobile Money Presence in African Countries

Currency ISO Country Currency XOF Benin CFA franc BWP Botswana Pula XOF Burkina Faso CFA franc BIF Burundi Burundi franc XAF Cameroon CFA franc XAF Chad CFA franc CDF Democratic Republic of the Congo Congolese franc EGP Egypt Egyptian pound ETB Ethiopia Ethiopian birr XAF Gabon CFA franc GHS Ghana Ghanaian cedi XOF Guinea-Bissau CFA franc XOF Ivory Coast CFA franc KES Kenya Kenyan shilling LSL Lesotho Loti LRD Liberia Liberian dollar MGA Madagascar Malagasy ariary MWK Malawi Malawian kwacha XOF Mali CFA franc MRO Mauritania Ouguiya MUR Mauritius Mauritian rupee MAD Morocco Moroccan dirham MZN Mozambique Mozambican metical NAD Namibia Namibian dollar XOF Niger CFA franc NGN Nigeria Naira RWF Rwanda Rwandan franc XOF Senegal CFA franc SLL Sierra Leone Sierra Leonean leone SOS Somalia shilling ZAR South Africa South African rand SDG Sudan Sudanese pound SZL Swaziland Lilangeni TZS Tanzania Tanzanian shilling XOF Togo CFA franc TND Tunisia Tunisian dinar UGX Uganda Ugandan shilling ZMW Zambia Zambian kwacha ZWD Zimbabwe Zimbabwean dollar(No longer in use)