2022 was a fruitful year for West African mobile money providers (MMPs). GSMA’s new state of the industry on mobile money report, published last week, shows that the region is now leading the way in mobile money growth, surpassing East Africa in the number of new accounts registered in 2022.
“Activity rates in West Africa increased consistently between 2018 and 2022 and are now approaching Sub-Saharan African activity rates,” the report says.
“Not only are more people registering for mobile money accounts, but many who have signed up are actively using mobile money for their everyday needs – more than users have in previous years.”
While East Africa has historically been the region with the highest mobile money adoption – mainly due to Kenya’s M-Pesa success story – West Africa now leads the way, not only continent-wide but also globally, as the region’s global share of registered mobile money accounts has risen from 11% in 2021 to 33% in 2022.
Countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal emerge as mobile money leaders in the region. The growth has also led to job creation, with 4m more registered agents entering the market in 2022, compared to 212,000 in East Africa.
Despite this growth, East Africa still accounts for the continent’s largest mobile money market, with transaction values worth $491bn for 390m registered accounts in 2022, compared to $277bn for 290m registered accounts in West Africa. But the impressive growth of mobile money in West Africa makes it the region with the highest potential for businesses.
According to african.business. Source of photos: internet
