From Dakar to Nairobi, Kampala to Abidjan, mobile money has become a lifeline for millions of Africans. What started as a tool for sending and receiving cash by phone has turned into the backbone of everyday finance, with telecom operators layering on new services that make Africa the world’s mobile money hub. The continent now accounts for more than half of global subscribers and two-thirds of transaction value.

Over the past 15 years, mobile money has become one of the most transformative forces in Africa’s financial system. The service, which allows people to send, receive, and store money with a mobile phone, has reshaped financial habits across the continent.

Traditional banking still struggles to reach many Africans—57% of the population had no bank account in 2021, according to the report Digital Banking in Sub-Saharan Africa by BPC and Fincog. Mobile money has filled much of that gap, expanding at a rapid pace.

Launched in Kenya in 2007, the service counted 57 million subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa by 2012. By 2021, the figure had risen to 621 million. In 2024, Africa reached 1.1 billion registered accounts, representing 53% of the global total, and processed 81 billion transactions worth $1.1 trillion, or 66% of worldwide value, according to GSMA.

What began as a simple money transfer tool has become a major industry. Mobile money now drives growth, expands financial inclusion, and creates socio-economic opportunities. From Nairobi to Dakar, Abidjan to Lagos, mobile phones have become pocket banks, reshaping access to financial services and making a measurable contribution to GDP and daily life.

Economic weight

The impact is no longer marginal. GSMA data show that in 2023, the combined GDP of countries offering mobile money services was $720 billion higher than it would have been without them. In sub-Saharan Africa, the sector’s direct contribution rose from $150 billion in 2022 to $190 billion in 2023. Regional disparities remain, but the overall trend is one of deepening economic influence.

Source: GSMA

“Mobile money had a greater impact on the GDP of West African countries than elsewhere on the continent. This is evident when comparing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Figure 12). In Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Liberia, mobile money contributed more than 5% to GDP. In East Africa, mobile money contributed more than 5% to the GDPs of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money’s contribution to GDP has been mixed. In Central Africa, Cameroon, Congo and Gabon each saw a contribution between 5% and 8%. In Southern Africa, where mobile money is less established, contributions to GDP generally remain lower than 5%. As mobile money use grows across Sub‑Saharan Africa, its impact on national GDP may also rise over time”.

Tangible social impact

Beyond the macroeconomic figures, mobile money is changing lives. In Mali, startup OKO, working with Orange Money, has helped more than 41,000 farmers buy index insurance against climate shocks. In Ethiopia, partnerships between Lersha, Telebirr, and M-PESA provide group loans and crop insurance to strengthen food security. In East Africa, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar kits, paid for via mobile, are accelerating rural electrification.

These examples show why GSMA links mobile money to 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, from poverty reduction and gender equality to education access.

The service has expanded far beyond transfers. Today, Africans can save directly from their phones, access credit, buy insurance, pay school fees and utility bills, and make merchant payments. This diversification has effectively turned mobile phones into pocket-sized banks for populations often living far from traditional branches. In 2024, every region of Africa recorded growth in mobile money usage.

Regional Overview of Growth in Africa (2024)

Market leaders

The rise of mobile money has spurred heavy investment from telecom operators, with a few clear leaders now dominating the market.

Orange

Launched in Côte d’Ivoire in 2008, Orange Money has grown into one of Africa’s biggest financial inclusion platforms, with 40 million active users and €164 billion in transactions recorded in 2024. The service, now present across 16 African markets, processes 25 million transactions a day.

Speaking at GITEX Morocco on April 15, 2025, Jérôme Hénique, then CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, said the value of Orange Money transactions more than doubled between 2021 and 2024, rising from €46 billion to €164 billion. The platform now channels up to €700 million in transfers each month. Orange has also expanded into savings and credit through Orange Bank Africa, which counted 1.7 million customers in 2024, alongside partnerships with local banks in markets where its own bank is absent.

MTN

MTN’s mobile money service has also expanded rapidly. By 2024, MTN MoMo reported over 63 million active monthly users across 14 of its 16 markets. Customers executed more than 20 billion transactions worth over $320 billion, according to the company. Like Orange Money, MTN MoMo offers a full suite of financial services including payments, e-commerce, insurance, loans, and money transfers.

Airtel Africa

Bharti Airtel’s African subsidiary reported 38 million Airtel Money customers in 2024, up 20.7% year-on-year across 14 markets. The platform offers money transfers, wallet payments, microloans, savings, and international remittances. It generated $837 million in revenue in 2024, a 32.8% increase at constant exchange rates compared with $692 million in 2023.

Vodacom Group

Vodacom, including its Safaricom unit, reported 87.7 million mobile financial services customers for the fiscal year ending March 2025. Its VodaCash and M-Pesa platforms, active across eight markets, processed $450.8 billion in transactions during the year, up 18.3%. Financial services revenue rose 17.6% on a normalized basis, representing 11.6% of group service revenue. Safaricom alone generated 22.6 billion rand from financial services.

M-Pesa, the cornerstone of Safaricom’s business in Kenya and Ethiopia, recorded revenue of 161.1 billion Kenyan shillings ($1.2 billion) from 37.1 million users.

Obstacles ahead

Despite mobile money’s sweeping impact on Africa’s economies and millions of lives, several challenges continue to hold back its full potential.

One is the persistent mobile ownership gap. In low- and middle-income countries, women are still 8% less likely than men to own a phone—a prerequisite for using mobile financial services. The gap varies by country: in Ethiopia, more than one-third of women still lack a handset.

The gender divide also extends to mobile money account ownership. GSMA data show that in most countries surveyed in 2023, little or no progress was made in narrowing the gap in 2024. In some, the divide has stagnated for a third straight year. In Senegal, account ownership is now almost universal for men, but more than a quarter of women remain excluded. Nigeria showed modest improvement: the gender gap shrank from 46% to 41%, with account ownership rising among both men and women in 2024.

Low levels of digital financial literacy also limit the use of advanced mobile money features. GSMA noted that in 2024, gender gaps persisted even for basic services such as deposits, withdrawals, and peer-to-peer transfers, as well as for ecosystem transactions and related financial products.

Among adults who had used mobile money, women in nearly every surveyed country were less likely than men to rely on the service. In Senegal, only 5% of women reported receiving wages or salary payments through mobile money, compared with 16% of men. In Nigeria, just 25% of women said they received client payments this way, against 41% of men. In Kenya, half of women respondents had made a merchant payment by phone, compared with two-thirds of men.

Source : GSMA

As global financial ecosystems become increasingly interconnected, the risk of fraud has risen. In many countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, mobile money has been affected by identity theft, insider fraud, cyberattacks, and fraud by agents. GSMA notes that each threat breaks down into specific types, such as social engineering, man-in-the-middle attacks, and malware.

Yet responses remain uneven. According to GSMA, more than 70% of mobile money providers say law enforcement is ineffective in tackling fraud due to limited technical skills, insufficient resources, and corruption. Regulators, meanwhile, are seen as only moderately supportive in the fight against mobile money crime.

An industry set to carry more weight

Mobile money is now recognized as a structural driver of Africa’s development. No longer just a tool for inclusion, it has become an integrated industry able to generate revenue, strengthen household resilience, and support strategic sectors such as agriculture and energy.

With transactions surpassing $1 trillion in 2024, mobile money has cemented itself as a pillar of Africa’s digital economy. Its future will rest on two priorities: achieving full international interoperability to make cross-border transfers seamless between telecom operators, and building greater trust through stronger regulation and tighter fraud prevention.