Africa's Mobile Money Industry Bets Big on Deeper Usage
21 October 2026
Platforms Seek to Diversify Revenue, Offer Greater Financial Inclusion
Haruna of Mobile Money Limited Ghana revealed in September his platform's daily transaction volume surpasses 26 million, more than doubling from year ago figures, yet admits an energy gap remains between high frequency and deeper usage. Less than 0.3% of Ghana's 3.4 million MoMo users actively save or invest through his platform.
Komba Malukutila, Mobile Money Zambia executive, echoed this view: "Getting liquidity to and from our accounts, the experience of onboarding, and being able to go beyond transactions into savings, credit, and investing are key differentiators in competing for the long-term customer."
As consumer and merchant acceptance expands, so too does the maturity of services offered.
Where it Matters
Mobile lending is still nascent, executives indicated. Smaller consumer loans have proliferated but more productive sectors are being targeted, executives said.
It isn't just the telcos: M-KOPA, a pay-as-you-go technology provider, has served 10 million customers and deployed $2.1 billion in credit across Africa. The Nairobi-based firm uses digital payment data from smartphone purchases to underwrite microloans and expand financial services digitally.
MTN Fintech Vice President Serigne Dioum urged the industry to collaborate, noting: "We have reached a critical mass of adoption and can now leverage that to deepen the product suite." He called for greater cooperation across operators, banks, fintechs, and regulators to build a stronger digital finance infrastructure.
Tools for the Next Growth Spurt
Delegates identified open finance, interoperable networks, QR payments, and cloud infrastructure as opportunities to enhance offerings at lower cost. "As we scale, an open innovation model will encourage competition, specific sector growth, and innovation," Dioum concluded.
Safaricom's M-Pesa has rolled out savings and credit products such as M-Shwari in partnership with NCBA and the Fuliza overdraft. It grew its Kenyan mobile merchant base 71.9% to 3.2 million year-to-date.
But with post-pandemic spending rebounding, operators see an opportunity to move further into investments, business solutions, and micro insurance.
M-Pesa's lending platform served 9.6 million users in 2025 and disbursed $3.6 billion in loans. Lending, savings and merchant services account for 46% of Safaricom's global financial services arm.
What it All Means
Mobile money transaction volumes in Africa grew 29% to 29.8 billion in 2025, figures released by the MNOs show. Yet executives are striving beyond this, seeking greater participation in adjacent financial services.
Underbanked and unbanked customers represent around two-thirds of Africa's population, offering a sizable market opportunity. 350 million unregistered adults, many at the bottom of the pyramid, cannot open a bank account, according to the World Bank.
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The International Monetary Fund defines mobile money as "a stored value account linked to a mobile phone number, using a network of agents to enable cash-in and cash-out, and a range of payment services.". Crucially, it is a peer-to-peer transfer network multiple layers beneath the broader digital money transfer and payments ecosystem.
Gauging the Maturity of Mobile Finance
But beyond payments, capping the growth of digital finance presents a chicken-and-egg problem. Mobile lenders market their online-only, underwritten and near-instant approval process, but thrifty spending habits across large segments of Africa can constrain growth.
Instead, cited a rival digital lender, "true family planning for the majority of region bystanders is saving, not impulse spending, making microloans an imperfect substitute."
Another contended that accelerated longevity—of both customers and firms—could reverse fortune, as well as "the increase in service roads, coffee bars and other features that encourage deeper usage of our closest towns."
One useful benchmark: MoMo data shows households are saving 10% to 20% of transaction volumes, versus 2% to 5% less than a decade ago.
Underwriting My Kingdom for A Lender
Yet the key growth variable—onboarding and underwriting—remains challenging. Digital lenders use alternative data such as transaction history, phone records, handset indicators and usage patterns to estimate repayment likelihood. But the variance and dispersion of these datasets can be an obstacle.
Between every fifth or sixth approval, only 40% to 50% of first-time customers of our microloans are approved, noted one, requesting anonymity.
Similarly, Odunayo Eweniyi, founder of digital lender Didimoney, expressed frustration being rebuffed 2 to 3 times for payroll and merchant-to-customer loans. "After five applications, [bank underwriters] may not even realize I am a legitimate business."
On the operator side, Safaricom's M-Pesa has greatly expanded its agent network, from 75,000 in 2022 to 200,000 last year, giving it broad coverage underpinning a more diverse service offering.
Going Forward
So while operators voice confidence in pirouetting the mobile ecosystem from small consumer microloans to greater financial inclusion in Africa, it will be telling if earnings follow suit.
Digital finance models powered by mobile money have matured over the past decade, from peer-to-peer payments to small loan:"location, route and feedback" going beyond basic mobile technology to fuel economic growth across unbanked societies. But the next steps will require more than breaking the traditional mould, ideologues believe.