Western executives are still asking the wrong questions about how Africans pay for things. Here is the answer, in hard numbers.
From East Africa's entrenched dominance to West Africa's explosive growth, the continent is rewriting the rules of financial inclusion.
A diversified economy, integrated value chains, and regional dominance make East Africa's powerhouse impossible to ignore.
By Dishant Shah While banks remain flush with capital, millions of African entrepreneurs access credit through trust-based systems that formal institutions fail to recognize. Across Africa,...
By Dr. Princess C. Mutisya “Africa has 33 currencies, yet none is accepted anywhere on the continent. I fly from Nairobi to Addis Ababa, show my...
By Farouk Mark Mukiibi Some corporate transactions announce themselves with fanfare. Others slip through quietly, their true significance buried in regulatory filings and footnotes. The Safaricom-Vodacom...
By Jastine Martine African businesses moved US$205 billion in cryptocurrency transactions last year. The figure is staggering, but the reason behind it is simple: waiting 45...
By Davida Ademuyiwa Africa is not lacking in ideas – it is overflowing with them. From bustling Lagos markets to remote villages in the Sahel, ingenuity...
By John Kourkoutas There’s a now-iconic image making the rounds online: a portable power adapter duct-taped to a flip-flop sandal. To many, it’s a punchline –...
By John Kourkoutas When most global executives think of payments in Africa, they picture underdeveloped banking systems, cash-dominated economies, and infrastructure gaps. But a closer look...
By Farhia Noor “When the young carry the drum, the village must dance.” Pan-Africanism is no longer confined to speeches at summit halls or inked declarations....
By Dishant Shah Africa is often portrayed through a narrow lens in the global media – focused on poverty, conflict, and instability. But this is far...
By Andrew Rugasira The Economist‘s recent article, “Africa Needs a Capitalist Revolution”, reflects their trend of oversimplified and paternalistic commentary on Africa. In May 2000, the...
A remarkable 59 percent of Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) is processed through M-PESA, the country’s leading mobile payment system. This translated into 20 billion transactions...
Reuters | Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money service went live in Ethiopia on Wednesday, in a boost to the Kenyan telecoms operator as it seeks to kickstart...
Uber and Safaricom have partnered to ease payment of trips by riders across Kenya through M-Pesa. This follows an earlier deal between the wireless carrier and...
AFP | Ethiopia’s central bank said on Thursday it had issued a mobile money licence to Kenyan telecoms giant Safaricom, the first granted to a foreign...
Kenyan wireless carrier opened a US$2 million operations center in the country’s capital, Nairobi to enhance its M-Pesa mobile money platform and prepare for launches into...
Kenyan banks, increasingly embattled by mobile money providers, are looking to wrestle control from industry leader M-Pesa
Bloomberg | Safaricom Plc., first-half profit jumped as the company reinstated charges on mobile-money transfers, Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa told investors Wednesday. Africa’s second-biggest company...
M-KOPA Solar, a pay-as-you-go energy provider to off-grid homes, has acquired financing worth Ksh1.9 billion (US$19 million) for expansion. In Kenya the cell phone is being...
Kenyan operator Safaricom has revealed that it has finalized the transfer of its mobile money M-Pesa platform servers to Kenya. According to the company, service outages...
Do not be surprised if you come across news that says e-commerce is dramatically spreading its wings in Africa. There is no doubt digital commerce is...
Technology company Uber will explore the possibility of integrating the M-Pesa mobile payment service into its smartphone app service. However, the Company cannot disclose when this...
Kenyans transacted US$13 billion on mobile money in the first 6 months of this year as new players joined the sector according to the latest Central...
Vodafone’s hold on the African telecoms market is facing a new challenge from rivals seeking to compete directly with its dominant M-Pesa mobile money platform. Three Tanzanian...
When things turned ugly after Kenya’s 2007 elections, an unlikely group of heroes, young African coders, developed a platform that used cellphones and the Internet to...
Kenya’s shilling hovered below the 88 per dollar level on Thursday with market participants reluctant to push the currency to weaker levels. This is after the...
Mobile technology is helping provide better, more sustainable water supplies in Africa, where a third of hand pumps don’t work at any given time, BBCnews reports. In a...
A new report has urged African governments to emulate Kenya in supporting the development of mobile banking and electronic commerce to increase financial inclusion. The Africa...
The Kenyan banking sector has been more resilient on stock performance compared to its Nigerian counterparts. “The reason why the Kenyan banks stock price share performances...
The rivalry between Kenya’s top two telecommunications companies, Safaricom and Airtel may finally come to an end if the stringent conditions set by sector regulator,...
Traditional mobile money transfer companies in Kenya could be headed for tight competition if other large volume traders are given licences to enter the field. Kenya’s...
Digital trends specialist, Tomi Ahonen, believes mobile data will be the black gold of 21st century, and it remains the next sure frontier for companies. Speaking...
By Bitange Ndemo Kenya is a frontrunner in technology and communications, but it must not slacken pace: the next decade will throw up opportunities to succeed...
(Reuters) – When Abasiama Idaresit started a digital marketing firm in Nigeria’s bustling economic capital three years ago, he quickly learned how brutal life can be...
App developers at work in Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO/File Kenya’s fast-growing tech sector, dubbed the Silicon Savannah, already accounts for 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic...
Imagine a situation where your uncle in a remote village in Africa suddenly does not have to travel one day to reach a bank, only to...
Kenyan M-Pesa (mobile money) based transactions topped US$4.9 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to a report released by the country’s central bank...
Pursuant to amendments to the Customs & Excise Duty Act (Kenya) gazetted on 1st February 2012, leading integrated communications service provider Safaricom has effected an upward...
Elementary school children in Ethiopia with their inexpensive OPLC laptops. PHOTO/Petterik Wiggers/PANOS Schools in Africa are going digital—with encouraging results. Teaching at the Amaf school in...
The mobile phone has entirely changed the story of banking in Africa. Today a cellular phone is an all-purpose bank account, an Automated banking machine (ABM/ATM)...
Kenyans deposited US$8 billion into mobile money services for the year ending June 2012 – a 38 percent rise that revealed why the country’s government has...
Click a few keys, exchange a few numbers, and it’s done. With just a mobile phone and a registration with Safaricom, Kenya’s mobile service giant, you...
Mark Kaigwa speaking at the re:publica gathering in Berlin. PHOTO/File “Africa is writing history for all the right reasons now. The amount of innovation going on...
Registration for M-Pesa, Kenya’s dominant mobile phone money transfer service, increases the likelihood of having some savings by 20 percent, according to a new World Bank...
(Reuters) – Vodacom Tanzania, part of South Africa’s Vodacom Group, said on Friday it had boosted total users by a third last year and will spend...
