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Each and every transaction done on the M-PESA platform is electronic and can therefore be monitored by Safaricom, which runs its own bank-grade anti-money laundering system. Even a cash-in or a cash-out operation has an electronic leg and is captured by the system. The Central Bank of Kenya gets regular reports on M-PESA transactions, as it does from other payment service providers.

Cash merchants are mainly super users, who resell their own working capital balances, with no more access to the M-PESA platform than any other customers, except that they have higher transaction limits.

Smartel Money or My Wallet TM   are financial technology products by Smartel Money Ltd. The company is a payments service provider allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the modern information technology platforms including the mobile and non-mobile platforms. Mobile Money or electronic money is defined by the Mobile Money Guidelines issued in 2013 by the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) as a payment instrument that contains monetary value that is paid in advance by the user to the mobile money issuer. The user of mobile money can make payments for goods and services to agents who accept the mobile money as payment.

Smartel Money goes live - Lesotho Times

“Through our digital platforms, we aim to make available a one stop solution to our customers in terms of funds transfer and with the inclusion of SimbaPay, our customers will now send money to friends and family across the world at the comfort of their mobile phones,” added Mr. Kantaria.

Through SimbaPay, Prime Bank customers will now be able to instantly and securely send money directly to bank accounts or mobile wallets across 15 countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia including India, United Kingdom, China (WeChat Pay), Germany, Uganda among others. Commenting on the partnership, SimbaPay’s Head of Operations Victor Karanja noted that the service will provide a seamless platform for Prime Bank’s customer base to send money abroad at the click of a button.

An Egyptian digital payments firm has quadrupled in value during the pandemic, helped by a government push to reduce citizens’ heavy reliance on cash. Investors and analysts are split on whether the stock rally has further legs.

A 300% rally from a mid-March low has boosted its market value to 20 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.3 billion). That puts Fawry among the country’s 10 most valuable companies alongside firms such as Telecom Egypt Co. and Elswedy Electric Co., which generate many times more revenue and profit.

A Kenyan-owned digital money transfer firm, SimbaPay, is taking not only the local but also the international money remittance sector by storm.The London-based firm, started with the aim of helping out Kenyans living in the diaspora pay bills through M-Pesa, has over the years grown into a full-fledged money transfer firm joining the likes of Western Union and MoneyGram in the market.Unlike conventional players, SimbaPay strives to make money transfer painless to both the sender and recipient.The tech firm allows citizens residing in the European Union to send money home instantly through its application.People with a bank account, debit or credit card use mobile phones or tablets to access the app and transfer money to recipients’ mobile money wallets such as M-Pesa or MTN mobile money or bank account.

“We are able to roll out new countries on our platform at a low cost which then allows us to pass on these savings to customers. We can do this due to our technology that allows transactions to be processed at breakneck speed with zero human interaction,” said SimbaPay chief executive officer Nyasinga Onyancha.The firm’s compliance and onboarding of customers is handled within the app, making it significantly easier for customers to sign up and start sending money to loved ones within minutes.

“We are able to roll out new countries on our platform at a low cost which then allows us to pass on these savings to customers. We can do this due to our technology that allows transactions to be processed at breakneck speed with zero human interaction,” said SimbaPay chief executive officer Nyasinga Onyancha.

The company will continue to develop and expand its offering to provide a range of product development and payments services.Kobus Ehlers, Firepay CEO, said: “Our team is looking forward to building out our payments platform to solve the real-world payments problems we have always focused on, and to provide customers with the best experience possible. We’re excited to work with Standard Bank in our mission to achieve this both in South Africa and across the continent.”

“We are excited about working more closely with the Firepay team and think that there is an excellent strategic fit between their capabilities and Standard Bank’s vision for a truly universal bank, both in South Africa and throughout the African continent,” said Wendy Pienaar, SBSA Head of Emerging Payments.“Firepay’s experienced team and industry know-how will be used to bolster Standard Bank’s emerging payments strategy,” she added.In addition to SnapScan, the Firepay team’s technology platform already enables payments for several clients, including WeChat and Masterpass.

“We are excited about working more closely with the Firepay team and think that there is an excellent strategic fit between their capabilities and Standard Bank’s vision for a truly universal bank, both in South Africa and throughout the African continent,” said Wendy Pienaar, SBSA Head of Emerging Payments.“Firepay’s experienced team and industry know-how will be used to bolster Standard Bank’s emerging payments strategy,” she added.In addition to SnapScan, the Firepay team’s technology platform already enables payments for several clients, including WeChat and Masterpass.

AgroCenta has hosted and provided over 500 farmer engagement sessions and trainings since launch. Skilled professionals deliver these sessions in farming communities and methodologies are continuously updated to reflect state-of-theart farming practices.

Lending through a pandemic COVID-19 has prevented them settling into Kenya, where there are no less than 50 digital lending platforms competing for an adult population that is over 80% financially included.  Reports of predatory lending have increased red tape in the East African country. A newly gazetted directive bars digital lenders from reporting defaulting borrowers below certain amounts to credit bureaus, among other rules.  It increases the time it will take for a new entrant like Carbon to comfortably express its various services. “We haven’t really had a chance to test the engine,” Dozie says, but they have given out enough loans to calibrate their algorithm. In Nigeria, they have reduced lending to shore up against the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, revising the repayment schedule for 9,016 loans. However, Dozie says they are currently at more than half the level achieved last year, in value and volume. Another profitable year ahead? Carbon’s products need overall improvement, in responding to customer complaints (see responses to this tweet) about deductions, and notification lags, among others. The pandemic’s impact on the Nigerian economy could have an effect on the company’s bottom line. Profit in the next report might as well be less impressive than what this year’s report contains. “It will be easier to beat [this year’s] numbers in naira terms, but we are all at the mercy of macroeconomics on the dollar terms,” Dozie says. He says they will report whatever happens, as part of a long-term pitch to customers who, he believes, will be impressed by an honest expression of financial strength. Otherwise, focus remains on leveraging other strategic moves from 2019, notably the acquisition of payments startup Amplify.  The latter’s intellectual property has gone into developing an SME platform, as well as in developing Carbon Express, a smartphone keypad button that can be used for instant transactions within any app. Carbon acquired Amplify particularly for this feature and their engineering. Maxwell Obi, one of Amplify’s two co-founders who joined Carbon as part of the deal, has left the company, but the others have been instrumental in building valuable aspects like an iOS app.

Another value-adding space is credit reporting. Carbon doesn’t produce the reports; they source from partner bureaus, and make them available to customers. 

In an audited report published this week, Carbon, the Nigerian fintech company, declared that it made the naira equivalent of $312,905 in profit after tax in 2019. 

A uniquely integrated international fintech ecosystem that allows customers to make online money transfers using mobile money, bank account transfers, and cash pick-up services. We built Africa’s first truly global super app to help drive our ‘financial inclusion for all’ vision. A multi-service technology platform that brings together digital payment solutions, on-demand services, instant messaging, and digital media services in a single, easy-to-use mobile application. In some of our key markets across Africa, we have been able to drive financial inclusion from under 10% to 70-80% through solutions that have helped to create thousands of jobs and business opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

It combines instant messaging, social media and mobile payments into one App which will be available for download on Google Play and iOS app stores from 1 August 2019. A similar social payments platform model is already active in Asia, where payment apps are bundled with e-commerce, chat and ride-hailing services offered by firms such as Alibaba and Tencent in China. Imagine a WeChat of Africa!

Bismart is a Kenya-based insurance aggregator, allowing its users to compare and buy various insurance products from multiple companies. The business was started in 2017. Founder Eunice Maina answers our questions.1. Give us your elevator pitch.Bismart is an online insurance marketplace where insurance firms list their products and customers are able to compare the policies. We recently introduced a feature that allows our users to compare policies based on other customers’ reviews – similar to what hotel booking platforms offer. We bring much-needed transparency to the insurance industry, which increases insurance literacy and awareness, especially for the youth. The insurance companies pay us a commission for every customer who buys through the Bismart platform.

A prime example of a digitally savvy WiT cohort member is Bismart Insurance, a web insurance aggregator based in Kenya. Channelling a solution-oriented shift to digital, Bismart Insurance was set up to address and resolve key pain points customers faced when purchasing insurance, including a lack of disclosure of essential information and the absence of a consolidated platform for insurance products. Coupled with its participation in the first WiT Kenya cohort and vision to expand into the digital insurance market, Bismart Insurance efficiently scaled its operations and saw over 100 purchasers by the end of 2017.

While other platforms are a one-size-fits-all, Ethiopay isn’t. We support the unique payment needs of Ethiopians including payments for school fees, telecom, utility bills and other needs that are close to your heart.

A consortium of international financial investors comprising the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund (“EAEF”), Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”, acting on behalf of funds it advises) and the MENA Long-Term Value Fund (“MENA LTV”) (together, the “Consortium”) today announced it has acquired a majority stake in Fawry, the leading electronic bill presentment and payment platform in Egypt at a purchase price valuing the company at EGP 773 million, approximately US$ 100 million.Headquartered in Cairo, Fawry provides users with a secure electronic bill presentment and payment services solution, connecting consumers, merchants, governments and financial institutions on a consolidated gateway that is accessible through multiple channels, including Point of Sale (POS) machines, ATMs, post offices, online and through mobile wallets.  Since its establishment in 2009, Fawry has been at the forefront of electronic payments in Egypt, providing pioneering, innovative and convenient payment solutions to its customers. The company today processes over one million transactions a day and operates a network of over 50,000 collection points in 300 cities and suburbs across the country.

Through the digital platforms, Prime Bank aims to make available a one stop solution to its customers in terms of funds transfer. With the inclusion of SimbaPay, the customers will be able to send money to friends and family across the world using their mobile phones.

To access the service, customers will need to login to the bank’s mobile banking app – PrimeMobi, then click on International Money Transfer icon on the homescreen. After confirming the amount to be sent, the sender’s bank account will be debited, and money credited to the beneficiary instantly.