News & Views

Chipper Cash strengthens partnership with Visa

Connecting Africa News
11/6/2023

Financial services company Chipper Cash has announced an expanded strategic partnership with Visa to collaborate on card issuance and join forces across regulatory and functional areas.

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.

Interview: Econet Wireless Burundi CEO Nepias Njaravaza on growing mobile penetration

Connecting Africa Video
10/6/2023

Econet Wireless Burundi CEO Nepias Njaravaza spoke to Connecting Africa at the NOVACOM Africa Summit about ways to boost Internet penetration in Burundi and how fintech is assisting financial inclusion in the country.

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.

Interview: Telekom Networks Malawi CTO Lloyd Gowera on network expansion and 5G

Connecting Africa Video
9/27/2023

Telekom Networks Malawi CTO Lloyd Gowera spoke to Connecting Africa at the NOVACOM Digital Transformation Strategy Summit about the operator's network expansion strategy for 4G and plans for commercial 5G rollout for both the enterprise and consumer markets.

More African SMEs embracing digital payments – Mastercard

Connecting Africa News
9/26/2023

Africa's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are embracing the use of digital payments according to the latest Mastercard SME Confidence Index.

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.

Connecting Africa Podcast S2 Ep. 10 – Financial inclusion reality check

Connecting Africa News
8/28/2023

On the final podcast episode for season two, hosts Tobi Lafinhan, Paula Gilbert and Matshepo Sehloho discuss financial inclusion in Africa and whether fintech services like mobile money are making the impact they promise.

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.

Vodacom Q1 revenue jumps 37% on back of Egypt deal, weak rand

Paula Gilbert
7/21/2023

Vodacom Group revenue increased almost 37% to US$2 billion for the first quarter of the financial year, due to its addition of Vodafone Egypt and the rand's recent depreciation.

The 100 most influential African leaders in 2023

Africa Tech Perspectives
7/21/2023

A new report from Africa Tech Festival and Connecting Africa puts a spotlight on the top 100 African leaders in the telecoms and technology sector in 2023.

BOSS Money expands into Francophone Africa

Paula Gilbert
7/19/2023

Money transfer and remittance service BOSS Money is expanding into Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and the DRC.

Africa's fintech market to top US$65B by 2030

Paula Gilbert
7/11/2023

South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya are leading the way for Africa to become the fastest growing fintech market, with fintech revenues projected to grow thirteenfold to US$65 billion in 2030, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group and QED Investors.

Ericsson eyes mobile financial services growth in Africa

Paula Gilbert
7/7/2023

Swedish multinational Ericsson is pushing further into mobile financial services and working to improve financial inclusion for underserved Africans, especially women.

Connecting Africa Podcast S2 Ep. 8 – Empowering the African diaspora

Paula Gilbert
6/30/2023

In this episode the team speaks to Rahim Diallo, founder and CEO of fintech Jawudi, which is shaking up the money transfer space by using 20% of the profits from its remittance service to launch a fund to invest directly back into startups across Africa.

VodaPay super app adds free cash deposits for unbanked

Paula Gilbert
6/14/2023

Vodacom's super app VodaPay has now added a free cash deposit service to expand its reach to unbanked users in South Africa

IFC invests $157M in Safaricom consortium in Ethiopia

Paula Gilbert
6/12/2023

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing $157.4 million in Safaricom Ethiopia's consortium, along with a $100 million loan.

Cross-border payment solution LemFi expands to Kenya

Paula Gilbert
6/6/2023

Cross-border payment solution LemFi is expanding its services in Africa with a launch in Kenya.

Fintechs Centi, Centbee to launch blockchain-based remittances for Africa

Connecting Africa News
6/1/2023

Swiss fintech company Centi and global digital cash wallet Centbee are launching a new blockchain-based remittance service between Switzerland and Africa.

SA's MultiChoice to launch pan-African payment platform

Paula Gilbert
5/29/2023

South Africa's MultiChoice Group is developing an integrated payment platform for Africa in a joint venture with UK-based fintech company Rapyd and private equity firm General Catalyst.

Hot startup of the month: Pan-African fintech KamaPay

Matshepo Sehloho
5/26/2023

This month's hot startup is pan-African fintech KamaPay, which helps individuals and businesses make cross-border payments on the continent.

Digital banking group Tyme raises another $77.8M

Paula Gilbert
5/23/2023

Tyme has raised another US$77.8 million in a pre-series C capital raise, securing two new international investors, while South African flagship TymeBank's customers have reached 7 million.

MTN Cameroon mobile money unit gets PSP license

Matshepo Sehloho
5/19/2023

MTN Cameroon's fintech subsidiary Mobile Money Corporation (MMC) has been granted a Payment Services Provider (PSP) license.

Crypto enthusiasts react to Binance expansion in West Africa

Connecting Africa News
5/18/2023

Binance's peer-to-peer platform has recently expanded its reach in West Africa and local crypto enthusiasts have mixed feelings about the cryptocurrency exchange's growth in Africa.

Connecting Africa Podcast: S2 Ep. 7 – Gender-lens investing

Paula Gilbert
5/17/2023

In this episode, the Connecting Africa Podcast team speaks to Eloho Omame, co-founder of FirstCheck Africa, an early-stage VC firm investing in tech startups founded or co-founded by women.

Vodacom reports revenue growth despite headwinds

Paula Gilbert
5/15/2023

Vodacom Group reported strong financial growth for the year, despite facing headwinds from power supply issues in South Africa, startup costs in Ethiopia, supply chain challenges and higher interest and inflation rates.

Safaricom granted mobile money license in Ethiopia

Paula Gilbert
5/11/2023

Kenya's Safaricom has been granted the license to operate its mobile money service M-Pesa in its new territory of Ethiopia, as the Ethiopian rollout costs put strain on group earnings.

Podcast: Safaricom CIO George Njuguna on training Kenya's next million tech developers

Connecting Africa Video
4/27/2023

Safaricom CIO George Njuguna, the keynote speaker at East Africa Com in Nairobi, Kenya, sits down with Connecting Africa's Paula Gilbert to talk about Safaricom's vision for 2030 and how to build East Africa's digital economies while growing technology talent and digital skills.

Hot startup of the month: Cameroon's Agrix Tech

Matshepo Sehloho
4/21/2023

Cameroonian startup Agrix Tech is helping small-scale farmers to transition from subsistence farming to commercial farming and maximize their profits.

Mobile money transactions hit $1.26T in 2022 – GSMA

Paula Gilbert
4/20/2023

Total mobile money transaction values grew 22% in 2022 to US$1.26 trillion, according to the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2023, and there are 1.6 billion registered mobile money accounts globally, 781 million of which are in Africa.

Mukuru opens fintech drive-thru in Zimbabwe

Matshepo Sehloho
4/6/2023

South Africa-based fintech platform Mukuru has launched a drive-thru service for domestic and international money transfers in the Zimbabwean city of Harare.

Mobile money taxation threatens financial inclusion – Vodacom

Paula Gilbert
4/5/2023

Pan-African telecoms operator Vodacom is calling for relaxed taxation on mobile money across Africa in a new policy paper which claims fintech taxation could threaten financial inclusion.

Tanzanian fintech Nala pledges $1M investment after securing license

Matshepo Sehloho
3/28/2023

The Central Bank of Tanzania has granted fintech company Nala a Payment Service Provider (PSP) license to operate in the East African country.

Cost-of-living impacts Africa's remittance market – Western Union

Paula Gilbert
3/27/2023

The Global Money Transfer Index from Western Union details remittance inflows and outflows in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco in 2022, and consumer expectations for fintech in the future.

Huawei launches its Non-Stop Banking initiative

Matshepo Sehloho
3/24/2023

Chinese multinational Huawei has unveiled its Non-stop Banking initiative at the Intelligent Finance Summit 2023 in Cape Town.

Deep dive into East Africa's tech startup ecosystem

Africa Tech Perspectives
3/22/2023

New survey reveals a lack of access to investors, reliance on international VCs and global recession trends as the biggest barriers for East African tech startups to access funds.

M-Pesa Africa invests $2M in Shared Service Operations Centre

Paula Gilbert
3/22/2023

M-Pesa Africa has launched a Shared Service Operations Centre (SSOC) in Nairobi to support operations in Kenya and five other African markets.

Podcast: What's the Story? African tech startups score $3.3B in funding

Connecting Africa Video
3/17/2023

Connecting Africa's Paula Gilbert joins this Light Reading podcast to explain why the fintech sector is bringing in the most funding, which countries are leading the way for most funding and what these trends mean for the continent as a whole.

MTN SA sells device insurance business to Santam

Paula Gilbert
3/16/2023

MTN South Africa is selling its device insurance book, worth $21.7 million in annual gross written premium value, to insurance company Santam.

SA power cuts knock $38M off MTN Group earnings

Paula Gilbert
3/13/2023

Extensive power cuts in South Africa impacted MTN Group's earnings by R695 million ($38 million) as the operator plans to ramp up installation of more power backups for towers across the country.

Telkom SA partners with Clikatell to launch Chat 2 Pay

Matshepo Sehloho
3/10/2023

Chat Commerce company Clickatell has launched its Chat 2 Pay feature for South African telecommunication company Telkom.

Online shopping growing in South Africa – World Wide Worx, Mastercard

Paula Gilbert
3/10/2023

There was a 40% increase in the total number of people shopping online in South Africa between 2021 and 2021 according to a new study by World Wide Worx and Mastercard.

MTN revenue growth continues in Uganda, Rwanda

Paula Gilbert
3/6/2023

MTN has once again seen double-digit service revenue growth in its operations in the East African countries of Uganda and Rwanda.

MTN Ghana grows subscribers despite SIM registration impact

Paula Gilbert
3/1/2023

MTN Ghana grew mobile subscribers by 12.8% in 2022, to 28.6 million, despite having to cut over 5 million users in December who did not re-register their SIM cards under national rules.

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