• Kinshasa hosted the Digital Africa Summit 2025, sponsored by Visa, focusing on digital transformation and connectivity.

• Visa introduced "Visa Pay," a solution promoting interoperability between bank accounts and mobile wallets in the DRC.

• A GSMA report presented at the summit projects significant growth in the Congolese digital market by 2029, despite ongoing challenges.

Kinshasa hosted the Digital Africa Summit on September 18, 2025, a continental event dedicated to digital transformation and connectivity opportunities. The event, organized in partnership with Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) and Invictus Global Media Group, received sponsorship from Visa, a global leader in digital payments.

Sophie Kafuti, Visa’s general manager for DR Congo, unveiled Visa Pay, a payment solution built with mobile and financial service operators. She said the product aims to integrate banks, government, merchants and telecom operators into one ecosystem.

“We offer a simple and secure solution that enables payments or transfers between bank accounts and mobile wallets such as Orange Money or M-Pesa, fostering real interoperability,” Kafuti said.

The summit brought together government officials, technology firms, investors and private sector leaders from across Africa. Discussions addressed telecoms’ strategic role in economic development, infrastructure costs, smartphone penetration, fiscal barriers and inclusion challenges in DR Congo.

Angela Wamola, GSMA’s head of Africa, presented a report titled Driving Economic Growth Through Digital Transformation in DR Congo. The report said the country’s digital economy could generate nearly 9.8 trillion Congolese francs in additional GDP and attract 9.7 million new unique mobile internet users by 2029.

Despite this potential, GSMA warned of persistent hurdles. The mobile sector continues to struggle with limited network coverage, expensive services, low affordability for large parts of the population and a tax regime seen as too heavy.

This article was initially published in French by Ronsard Luabeya (Kinshasa)

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum