According to the newly-released State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money (SOTIR) 2025 by GSMA, a global organization unifying the mobile ecosystem, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) recorded 1.1 billion of the 2 billion mobile money accounts registered globally as of 2024.



The report underlines how mobile money has become a core component of economic life in the region. In 2023 alone, mobile money contributed approximately $190 billion to SSA’s GDP—up from $150 billion in 2022—demonstrating the sector’s growing economic influence.



The concept of mobile money, which allows users to store, send, and receive funds through their mobile phones, was first widely adopted in Kenya in the late 2000s with the launch of M-Pesa. Since then, it has expanded rapidly across East, West, and Southern Africa, filling a gap left by traditional banking systems, which often failed to reach rural or low-income populations.



“From an economic perspective, mobile money is now seen to be contributing to the GDP of many countries with a service in sub-Saharan Africa,” Ashley Olson Onyango, Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech at GSMA, says to FORBES AFRICA.



Onyango attributes the region’s leadership to a mix of enabling regulations, supportive national financial inclusion strategies, telecom investments in connectivity, and the availability of simple, affordable services.



In 2024, global mobile money transactions exceeded $1.7 trillion, with over 500 million monthly active users. East Africa, followed by Southeast Asia and West Africa, drove the growth in monthly activity. Within Sub-Saharan Africa, East Africa continues to lead in both adoption and innovation.



Beyond basic money transfers, mobile money providers are evolving into digital-first financial platforms. Many now offer credit, savings, and insurance products, often in partnership with underwriters and insurtech firms. Some providers have even secured licenses to offer insurance directly, particularly in East and Southern Africa.



Mobile apps have become instrumental to this evolution, enabling users to access a broader array of financial and third-party services. “Many providers are looking to transition into a one-stop shop for a range of financial services,” Onyango says, noting that external investment in mobile money companies has grown, thanks in part to improved profitability and rising revenues.



Global payment giants are taking notice. Mastercard, for instance, has recently signed partnerships with multiple mobile money providers operating across SSA.



Yet the industry faces challenges. Fraud remains a critical concern, and both regulators and providers are stepping up efforts to improve digital and financial literacy among users. By 2024, at least 60% of providers had implemented financial literacy initiatives.



International remittances are another area ripe for growth. Mobile-enabled transfers are typically cheaper than traditional channels, but inconsistent regulations across countries, according to Onyango, continue to limit cross-border expansion.

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Sub-Saharan Africa Dominates Global Mobile Money Landscape With 1.1 Billion Accounts, New Report Finds

<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>“We challenged the legality of the levy. LHRC supports the payment of tax but imposing a levy on top of [regular] taxes is not fair.”</blockquote></figure>



By Inaara Gangji



The government of Tanzania removed levies on electronic money transactions up to Tsh30,000 through banks and is once again reducing mobile money transaction levies up to 50% starting October 1, after public outcry. The decision was announced by the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, in Parliament on Tuesday.



“We discussed and reviewed a number of issues including reducing tax and levies’ burden on the people, encouraging the use of cash transactions, simplifying tax collection, and avoiding double taxation for both parties – that’s the sender and receiver,” he said.



The decision seeks to reduce the financial burden on low-income consumers, especially small businesses, women, and working-class people in rural areas who extensively use mobile money, and is a step towards better financial inclusion.



Mobile money is a key driver of socio-economic growth, and formalizes the economy, according to research by the GSMA.



Mobile money transaction levies were introduced in July 2021 by the government to reportedly finance social development projects, followed by the new electronic bank transaction levies from August 15 last year.



Following the introduction of the mobile money levy in 2021, the average transaction fee reportedly increased to three times the average fee for East Africa in July 2021. Cash out values reduced and many users and businesses as a result, as per reports, faced losses and moved away from using mobile money.



The levies were met with criticism from certain quarters, with stakeholders saying they were in fact increasing the burden on consumers. In August 2021, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) filed a lawsuit against the government.



“We challenged the legality of the levy. LHRC supports the payment of tax but imposing a levy on top of [regular] taxes is not fair,” says Anna Henga, Executive Director of LHRC in Tanzania, to FORBES AFRICA.



This is the third time levies have been amended to assist consumers with rising living costs.



Dr Nchemba said that the government will instead now reduce its expenditure. “Let’s cut tea, snacks, domestic, and foreign trips for the officials of our ministries as the President (Samia Suluhu Hassan) has instructed. Let’s cut training, seminars, concerts, workshops.”



Tanzania’s mobile money market reached a value of $54.5 billion in 2021 and had 33.2 million mobile money accounts, making the country the leader in the East African market with 44% of adults having access to banking through these services.



“We appeal to the government to completely remove the mobile money levy. Doing so will support economic growth and allow citizens to fully benefit from the huge benefits of mobile connectivity in Tanzania,” says Angela Wamola, the GSMA’s Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, to FORBES AFRICA.

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Tanzania Amends Controversial Levies On Electronic Money Transactions

The former CEO of First National Bank (FNB), Michael Jordaan, is launching a new app-driven bank early next year. He says Bank Zero will not inflict exorbitant fees on consumers.
“It is possible to create a mobile bank at a much lower cost than the traditional banks… If we can stimulate a savings culture in South Africa, as well as help individuals and businesses to waste less money on bank fees, it will help the economy grow,” he says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2016/11/01/banking-at-your-fingertips/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Banking At Your Fingertips</a>
Jordaan has worked in the banking sector for over 20 years and will need all his experience as he becomes a competitor of his former employers.
The idea came about three years ago, over a good bottle of wine with his co-founder Yatin Narsai, who is the former head of retail at FNB. The two were inspired by the app-driven businesses such as Uber and Airbnb.
<div id="attachment_35972" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35972" class="wp-image-35972 size-medium" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1.jpg 1365w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Micheal Jordaan. Photo Provided.</div>
“We hope to solve many of the everyday problems that individuals and businesses still have when making payments or investments,” says Jordaan.
They spent the last year applying for a banking licence with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). This year, they are working on integrating the bank into the South African payments system.
In 2014, Jordaan launched MonteGray Capital to invest in disruptive start-ups. Now, his own business is set to shake up the banking industry.
“It has been an incredible privilege to start with a blank sheet of paper and develop a bank from first principles. We will have no legacy technology and no reliance on income streams that should not exist, like electronic banking fees. The functionality of the app will be far richer than any bank we have seen locally or abroad,” he says.
Though, like most banks, Bank Zero will have an app and a card, it will not have a branch.
“Branches are old-fashioned. If you could design a bank from scratch you would never think of doing it around paper and bricks and mortar. Just like WhatsApp and Facebook don’t have branches, the bank of the future will be mobile&#8230;” he says.
In addition to South Africa’s big four banks – FNB, Standard Bank, Absa and Nedbank – Adrian Gore’s Discovery is launching a bank later this year. Is there room in South Africa for another bank?
“South Africa has 33 banks and the sector is highly sophisticated and competitive. The fact that [South Africa’s] bank fees are high in international comparative terms means that there is still a lot of room to lift the competitive intensity,” says Jordaan.
To differentiate itself, Bank Zero will only cater to those with smartphones and tablets.
Jordaan is intent on making his bank technologically innovative. He learned this lesson the hard way when he was chairman of Mxit. The messaging app was blown out of the water by WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
“It is a powerful lesson why businesses must build for the future rather than hang on to the past. That is why Bank Zero will be built for smartphones and tablets, rather than for dumb phones.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/homepage/2017/06/27/cash-falling-fashion-will-disappear-forever/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Cash is falling out of fashion – will it disappear forever?</a>
“In a few years the only phones that will be sold will be smartphones. Today there are entry-level smartphones available for less than $40 but this could still halve in three years,” he says.
If Jordaan had his way, in the near future, brick-and-mortar banks will be as redundant as those dumb phones.

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Banking On Technology: New Mobile Bank Set To Launch

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Tayo Oviosu is a trained engineer with a penchant for venture capital and private equity. His journey to spearhead Nigeria’s first mobile money company and foremost mobile money transfer service has been long and winding.
Oviosu was born and raised in Lagos, then moved to the States in 1994, aged 16. He earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Southern California. Later, he began with a couple of start-ups where his entrepreneurial spirit was born. Regardless, he went to work for Deloitte Consulting where he led a number of system integration projects. The thirst in Tayo was far from quenched and stirred him to seek formal business knowledge at Stanford University, where he obtained his MBA.
While at Stanford , the thought of moving back to Nigeria drifted through Oviosu’s mind.
“Many people had warned me that Nigeria was still too much about who rather than what you knew,” he says.
This was a major deterrent for him and instead, he started thinking of what he wanted to do long-term.
“I concluded, I wanted to help build an ecosystem of early stage venture capital in Africa, help build entrepreneurs and see businesses come to life,” he says.
Oviosu thought of ways to marry his tech background with these lofty aspirations and this led to his next venture with one of Silicon Valley’s priced tech houses, Cisco Systems, where he helped develop strategies for businesses’ investments in Africa. This project brought him back to Africa. As an early stage venture capitalist, experiences with colleagues and business partners—while carrying out the project in South Africa—drew his entrepreneurial fantasies closer to Nigeria.
“I get a real kick out of bringing ideas to life,” he says.
In 2008, Oviosu took up the gauntlet and returned to Nigeria. Loaded with ideas, he joined Travant Capital Partners, a private equity firm, within which he executed investment strategy in West Africa and also spent time identifying opportunities within the Nigerian market.
A few months into his involvement with Travant, Oviosu knew the time was now.
“I was more convinced about Nigeria and the opportunities that are present in this country more than ever,” he says.
Of all these opportunities, one particular issue stood out for him—having to carry cash, to make payments and transactions, was rather frustrating. This led to the quick realization that there was very limited access to financial services in the country.
A huge number of Nigerians are unbanked, but an estimated 60 million of the country’s 160 million people, have mobile phones.
“This got me thinking—what if the phone became the primary means of electronic transactions,” he says.
That is where the mission to bank the unbanked, for profit, started.
Oviosu raised seed capital from friends and family, while he nursed the idea and hunted for the right people.
“Learning to navigate and operate in Nigeria is indeed, an art, one I’m still yet to master. However, if you’re passionate enough about a course, you will overcome any hurdles,” he says.
Oviosu’s passion did the trick and in 2009, Pagatech, the company that was to make his fortune, was born, a direct consumer mobile payment service. Its first product offering, Paga—a direct to customer mobile service—was launched in February 2011. The service allows users to send cash, pay bills and make payments using the cellphone or the internet.
“I’m extremely motivated about what I can see Paga doing for Nigeria and that inspires my team and I to overcome any frustration that may come along,” he says.
“When I’m not working or thinking Paga, I enjoy listening to good music and dancing away. I’d like to be remembered as a fun guy.”
With more than 200,000 transactions, since it launched, 153,342 users and $16 million in transaction volumes, Paga has taken off like a rocket and there seems to be no stopping Oviosu now.

Tag: Mobile Money

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Sub-Saharan Africa Dominates Global Mobile Money Landscape With 1.1 Billion Accounts, New Report Finds

Tanzania Amends Controversial Levies On Electronic Money Transactions

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