Blogs

Mastercard, Onafriq partner to bring secure payments for SMEs

Matshepo Sehloho
4/15/2024

Global payments firm Mastercard and pan-African payments company Onafriq have partnered to bring secure payments to consumers and small and medium enterprises (SME) across the continent.

I&M offers free mobile money transfers to SMEs in Kenya

Matshepo Sehloho
4/11/2024

Pan-African banking group I&M is offering free M-Pesa and Airtel Money transfers to solo business owners.

Connecting Africa Podcast: S3 Ep. 2 – Nigeria's king of micro-payments

Paula Gilbert
4/5/2024

On this episode, we speak to Touch and Pay Technologies Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer Michael Oluwole about how the startup is digitizing and processing micro-transactions in Nigeria's transport sector and his aspirations to grow the service across the continent.

Paymentology looks to strengthen its African roots

Paula Gilbert
4/4/2024

Global issuer-processor Paymentology's CEO Jeff Parker spoke to Connecting Africa about the company's African roots and aspirations to work with more banks, fintechs and enterprises both on the continent and globally.

Africa to lead MFS growth in next five years – Ericsson and Juniper Research

Paula Gilbert
3/27/2024

A new report from Ericsson and Juniper Research predicts that almost half of all African mobile subscribers will use mobile financial services (MFS) by 2029 and African MFS transaction values will grow by 114% in the next five years.

MTN grows revenue, but naira slump pulls profit down

Paula Gilbert
3/25/2024

Pan-African telecoms operator MTN Group has reported a major drop in full-year profit as a sharp devaluation in the Nigerian naira pushed down the group's results.

West Africa has become mobile money powerhouse – GSMA

Paula Gilbert
3/20/2024

The GSMA's new 2024 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money shows that in 2023, over a third of new mobile money accounts globally were from West Africa and the region has doubled its overall number of mobile money accounts over the past ten years.

Kuda secures licenses in Tanzania and Canada

Matshepo Sehloho
3/19/2024

Nigerian digital bank Kuda has secured payment licenses in Canada and Tanzania, allowing it to offer remittance and multi-currency wallet services.

African governments must be enablers of innovation

Matshepo Sehloho
3/14/2024

Panelists at the Africa eGovernance Conference (AfreGov) urged African governments to become enablers and create environments that allow citizens to participate in the digital economy.

Kenya's central bank grants 19 digital lenders licenses

Matshepo Sehloho
3/7/2024

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has licensed a further 19 digital lenders, bringing up the total number of licensed Digital Credit Providers to 51 in the East African country.

Connecting Africa Podcast: S3 Ep. 1 – Trending topics in 2024

Paula Gilbert
3/5/2024

The Connecting Africa Podcast is back for season three. In this episode, we discuss startups and companies making their mark across emerging trends like social commerce, AI and smartphone affordability, and we venture into the hot topic of climate tech.

Mastercard, MTN Group launch virtual MoMo card for 13 African markets

Paula Gilbert
3/4/2024

MTN Group and Mastercard have launched a prepaid virtual bank card and a physical Mastercard companion card for MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) users across 13 markets in Africa.

MWC 2024: African telco deals

Paula Gilbert
3/1/2024

Connecting Africa has compiled a list of all the major deals that African operators announced at MWC 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.

Omdia View: January 2024

Guest Perspectives
2/23/2024

Highlights in January 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included a $200 million fintech deal between MTN and Mastercard as well as 5G network trials by Telecom Egypt – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

SA's iKhokha invests $105M in small businesses

Matshepo Sehloho
2/16/2024

South African fintech firm iKhokha has distributed more than 2 billion South African rands (US$105 million) in working capital to its small and midsized enterprise (SME) customer base.

Mastercard appoints new West Africa head

Matshepo Sehloho
2/15/2024

Global payments firm Mastercard has appointed Folasade Femi-Lawal as its new country manager and area business head for West Africa.

Safaricom users in Ethiopia tick up

Paula Gilbert
2/7/2024

Kenyan-headquartered Safaricom now has 9 million mobile customers in Ethiopia and just over 3 million M-Pesa users after a year of operating in the Horn of Africa nation.

Mastercard invests $200M into MTN fintech, MoMo offers loans via JUMO

Paula Gilbert
2/6/2024

Mastercard is investing $200 million into MTN Group's fintech business, and MTN's mobile money platform MoMo has partnered with banking tech company JUMO to launch short-term loans in South Africa.

Vodacom, Airtel Africa see strong financial services growth

Paula Gilbert
2/2/2024

Pan-African operators Vodacom and Airtel Africa reported strong third-quarter results this week, with financial services revenue growth a highlight for both telcos.

Global 'funding winter' hits African tech startups

Paula Gilbert
1/29/2024

Disrupt Africa's latest African Tech Startups Funding Report shows that investment into startups fell 28% to US$2.4 billion in 2023, as the global "funding winter" began to bite.

Kenya's Turaco aspires to insure 1 billion lives

Matshepo Sehloho
1/26/2024

Kenyan-based insurtech Turaco spoke to Connecting Africa about how it aims to provide uninsured African communities with affordable insurance options.

Four African cloud startups to watch in 2024

Matshepo Sehloho
1/25/2024

Connecting Africa has compiled a list of four cloud-powered startups that have been making an impact on the lives of the communities they serve and are worth watching in 2024.

Safaricom's M-Pesa experiences second outage in January

Matshepo Sehloho
1/24/2024

Safaricom has confirmed that its mobile money platform M-Pesa has been experiencing outages mainly impacting its paybill services and bank-to-M-Pesa transfers.

Moniepoint: AI is changing fintech for the better

Paula Gilbert
1/23/2024

Moniepoint Founder and CEO Tosin Eniolorunda spoke to Connecting Africa about how artificial intelligence (AI) is positively changing the fintech market in Africa.

Hot startup of the month: Kenya's eBiashara

Matshepo Sehloho
1/22/2024

Connecting Africa's hot startup this month is Kenya's eBiashara, a supply chain finance platform that offers scalable cloud solutions to its customers.

Vodafone, Microsoft partner to move M-Pesa to the cloud

Paula Gilbert
1/16/2024

Vodafone and Microsoft have announced a $1.5 billion, ten-year strategic partnership across Europe and Africa, which includes housing mobile money platform M-Pesa on Azure and enabling generative AI services.

Bolt Kenya adds feature to stop offline trips

Matshepo Sehloho
1/12/2024

Ride-sharing platform Bolt in Kenya has introduced a new feature on its app called 'Driver Asked to Pay Off-the-App' to discourage riders from taking trips offline and paying off the app.

Ericsson targets fintech growth through MTN partnership

Paula Gilbert
1/10/2024

Swedish multinational Ericsson is looking to grow its mobile financial services (MFS) business in Africa even further through an extended partnership with pan-African operator MTN.

Cellulant Group CEO Akshay Grover resigns

Matshepo Sehloho
1/5/2024

Kenyan-based payments company Cellulant is parting ways with Group CEO Akshay Grover.

Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's Enricher

Matshepo Sehloho
12/20/2023

Connecting Africa's hot startup is Nigerian Enricher, a halal wealth management platform that enables individuals and corporates to grow their wealth while adhering to the principles of Sharia law.

Cassava Tech Talks Ep. 4: More than mobile money

Paula Gilbert
12/14/2023

In the latest Cassava Tech Talks podcast we discuss financial inclusion in Africa and how the ecosystem is evolving beyond just mobile money. Guests are Darlington T Mandivenga, CEO of Sasai, and Kalvin Bahai, principal economist at GSMA Intelligence. #sponsored

SA's Everything.Insure is digitizing, demystifying insurance

Paula Gilbert
12/8/2023

South African insurtech platform Everything.Insure is trying to shake up the insurance market and help 'demystify' insurance for consumers through its digital marketplace.

Onafriq aims to create digital pathways for Africa

Matshepo Sehloho
12/6/2023

African fintech platform Onafriq believes its on a journey to become an omnichannel, multichannel digital platform for African consumers to connect to the rest of the world.

Airtel Zambia, Zanaco Bank enable mobile money for school fees

Matshepo Sehloho
12/1/2023

Airtel Zambia has partnered with Zanaco Bank to provide bill muster services on the Airtel Money platform.

Orange walks away from Ethio Telecom acquisition

Paula Gilbert
11/28/2023

French telecoms operator Orange Group has decided not to buy a minority stake in Ethiopian state-owned operator Ethio Telecom.

Orange launches super app 'Max it' for Africa

Paula Gilbert
11/24/2023

Telecoms operator Orange has launched its own super app, called Max it, in five African countries with plans to roll it out across its operations in Africa and the Middle East.

ATF 2023: African startups win big

Matshepo Sehloho
11/20/2023

The Africa Tech Festival held last week in Cape Town, South Africa, saw African startups winning accolades for their innovative skills as well as technological prowess.

Vodacom interim revenue boosted by Egyptian acquisition

Paula Gilbert
11/13/2023

Vodacom Group saw a 35.5% bump in half-year revenue spurred by its investment in Vodafone Egypt last year.

M-Pesa registers 1.2M customers in Ethiopia

Matshepo Sehloho
11/10/2023

Mobile financial services platform M-Pesa has registered 1.2 million members in Ethiopia since the mobile money service started in August.

Orange eyes more African 5G launches in 2024

Paula Gilbert
11/8/2023

Orange Middle East and Africa CEO, Jérôme Hénique, told Connecting Africa that the group plans to launch 5G services in most of its African operations by the end of 2024, with Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire first in line.

Vodacom SA, Old Mutual to offer personal loans

Paula Gilbert
11/2/2023

Telecoms operator Vodacom is expanding its lending business to now offer personal loans in South Africa through a partnership with credit provider Old Mutual Finance.

Vodacom makes A2X listing, Safaricom acquires M-Pesa Holding

Matshepo Sehloho
10/19/2023

The Vodacom Group has announced that it will officially trade as a secondary listing on the A2X stock exchange at market open on Oct. 26, 2023, while Safaricom has acquired M-Pesa Holding fully.

SA's Bank Zero launches app-based business banking

Paula Gilbert
10/3/2023

South African digital bank, Bank Zero, has made the move into commercial banking, taking on traditional banks in the market with its zero monthly fees proposition.

MTN SA launches MoMo business wallet, remittance service

Paula Gilbert
9/29/2023

MTN's Mobile Money platform (MoMo) has announced more services in South Africa including a business wallet, a streamlined payments feature and international remittances.

Interoperability key for mobile financial inclusion – AfricaNenda

Paula Gilbert
9/20/2023

AfricaNenda Deputy CEO Sabine Mensah believes that increased interoperability in Africa's fintech sector and more policy harmonization will aid financial inclusion.

Kenyan President pitches Silicon Savannah investment to Silicon Valley

Matshepo Sehloho
9/18/2023

Kenyan President William Ruto met several American tech CEOs during a US-Kenya business roadshow last week to pitch Kenya as an investment destination.

African fintechs raised $2.7B since 2021 – Disrupt Africa

Paula Gilbert
8/29/2023

Disrupt Africa's 'Finnovating for Africa' 2023 report found that the number of African fintech startups grew 17.7% over the past two years and they raised more than $2.7 billion in funding.

Safaricom launches M-Pesa in Ethiopia

Paula Gilbert
8/17/2023

Mobile financial services platform M-Pesa is now officially live in Ethiopia, three months after Safaricom Ethiopia was given a license to operate mobile money in the country.

Mastercard to buy stake in MTN's $5.2B fintech business

Paula Gilbert
8/14/2023

MTN Group announced that Mastercard plans to become a minority investor in its fintech business, which the pan-African telco values at $5.2 billion.

Connecting Africa Podcast S2 Ep. 9 – Financial literacy & wealth creation

Paula Gilbert
7/27/2023

The Connecting Africa Podcast team spoke to Bamboo co-founder and CEO Richmond Bassey about his fintech app, which is giving Africans global investment opportunities and promoting financial literacy to help grow the wealth of the continent and its people.

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Africa Tech Festival 2024

November 11-14, 2024
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Uber's Marjorie Saint-Lot on inclusion and sustainability in Africa

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Omdia View: February 2024

By Omdia Analysts

Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO. Airtel also launched a new wholesale connectivity business while MTN and Huawei are planning a joint Innovation Technology Lab in South Africa – that and more in this month's Omdia View.