Orange and MTN launch pan-African mobile money platform

Two of Africa’s largest mobile operators and mobile money providers, Orange Group and MTN Group, today announced a joint venture, Mowali (mobile wallet interoperability), to enable interoperable payments across the continent. According to the two companies, Mowali will make it possible to send money between mobile money accounts issued by any mobile money provider, in real time and at low cost. 

Mowali will immediately benefit from the reach of MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money, bringing together over 100 million mobile money accounts and mobile money operations in 22 of sub-Saharan Africa’s 46 markets. Mowali is ready to enable interoperability between digital financial service providers beyond MTN and Orange operations and markets, to support the existing 338 million mobile money accounts in Africa.

Mowali is a digital payment infrastructure that connects financial service providers and customers in one inclusive network. It functions as an industry utility, open to any mobile money provider in Africa, including banks, money transfer operators and other financial service providers.

Officials from both companies say the objective of Mowali is to increase the usage of mobile money by consumers and merchants and that Mowali enables money to circulate freely between mobile money accounts from any operators in all countries.

From the customer’s point of view, this means one can pay or receive money anywhere from my mobile account regardless of the operator. The system likely to unlock further innovation in the digital financial space within the continent.

“By providing full interoperability between platforms, Mowali will provide an important step forward that will allow mobile money to become a universal means of payment in Africa. Increasing financial inclusion through the use of digital technology is an essential element in furthering the economic development of Africa, particularly for more isolated communities. This solution embodies Orange’s ambition to be a leading player in the digital transformation of the continent. By joining forces with another of Africa’s market leaders, MTN, we aim to accelerate the pace of this transformation in a way that will change the lives of our customers by providing them with simpler, safer and more advantageous services,“ said Stéphane Richard, Chairman & CEO of Orange.

“One of MTN’s goals is to accelerate the penetration of mobile financial service in Africa, Mowali is one such vehicle that will help us achieve that objective. Furthermore, co-operation and partnerships that help us accelerate the pace of development and overcome some of the scale, scope and complexity of challenges that society faces are key. This partnership with Orange is therefore an important step in helping us play a meaningful role in supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals related to eliminating extreme poverty and enhancing socio-economic development in the markets we operate in and beyond. Thus giving our customers access to a bright, digital future,” said Rob Shuter, Group President and CEO of MTN.

Mowali is coming at a time when Safaricom, arguably, Africa’s mobile money grandmaster, has trained its eyes on the rest of Africa. Similarly, Finserve a Fintech spin-off of Equity Bank has also started making inroads into the space with some innovative solutions that offer businesses and solution developers tools to innovate on their platform. The fintech space in Africa is getting very exciting and to others, competitive.

“Today, there are over 690 million mobile money accounts around the world. Mobile money services have become an essential, life-changing tool across Africa, providing access to safe and secure financial services but also to energy, health, education and employment opportunities. The creation of Mowali will help to further transform mobile financial services throughout the African region. It demonstrates the mobile industry’s continued leadership and commitment to driving financial inclusion and economic empowerment through industry collaboration. The GSMA is proud to support its development,” said Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA.