Africell launches Afrimoney mobile money platform in Angola

Africell Holding SAL announced the launch of new financial services over the just concluded weekend in Angola. The mobile network operator is behind the Afrimoney mobile money platform aimed at availing instant digital transactions for the target market. It intends to integrate financial services related to saving, credit, and insurance. For a start, it will offer its new customers with free person-to-person transactions.

Angola’s mobile money industry

Angola is one of the largest economies in Africa. Indeed, IMF has placed it in the fourth position after Nigeria, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Even so, it lags behind other sub-Saharan African countries with regard to mobile money usage.

The African country has about 35,000 people. However, about 50% of the population is still unbanked. Africell sees this as an opportunity to advance the country’s mobile money industry. This has birthed the Afrimoney platform in the nation; about a year after the underlying company - Africell Holding SAL launched mobile network services in Angola.

According to Africell’s CEO, “Africell came to Angola with a mandate to change its telecoms sector. Launching Afrimoney is a critical step in this strategy…Mobile money has the potential to link everything together, and we expect it to have a huge impact on our business and Angola’s economy”.

Over the years, sub-Saharan Africa has grown to be one of the largest players in the broad global mobile money industry. In 2022, the region accounted for $832 billion of the reported $1.3 trillion worth of global transactions as highlighted by GSMA.

For instance, in Kenya, Safaricom and the broader east Africa has revolutionized monetary transactions since its launch in 2007. West Africa has also recorded a steady increase in the usage of mobile money platforms in recent years.

Having identified the potential that lies in Africa and Angola in particular, Africell has invested over $150 million to build its mobile money network in Angola. Its efforts are already bearing fruits, attracting about 7 million customers since it commenced its operations in the country in 2022. It already runs successful operations in other African countries including Sierra Leone, Gambia, and DRC.