Mobile money growth continues across Africa. Two recent announcements, from IDT Corporation, a global fintech company, and from TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure company partnering with operator Safaricom, are the latest example of companies targeting consumers in Africa – and notably the remittance market.
IDT Corporation has announced the expansion of its BOSS Money app into Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The BOSS Money app now enables app users to send, receive, carry, and exchange money in multiple local currencies across Francophone Africa. The app also enables direct receipt of BOSS Money remittances within minutes from friends and family in the US.
IDT says the BOSS Money app aims to redefine the financial transaction landscape for individuals and small businesses in Francophone Africa, offering innovative solutions tailored to the unique needs and aspirations of the local communities.
Meanwhile, TerraPay and Safaricom plan to facilitate instant borderless payments. The partnership, through TerraPay's group company Mobex (Kenya), a licensed money remittance provider, will enable more than 30 million M-Pesa mobile wallet holders in Kenya to send real-time payments through TerraPay's interoperable network across all wallets in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Roll-out of the service in India and Nepal is expected in a few months.
Speaking about this new partnership, Ambar Sur, Founder and CEO, TerraPay says: "We believe this breakthrough collaboration with Safaricom will spur a world of new possibilities for mobile financial service operators to directly scale globally and provide customers with a choice to send payments in a secure, transparent and swift manner.”
He adds: “Our partnership with Safaricom will further boost our capabilities in providing an inclusive global financial ecosystem powered by our agile payments infrastructure and empower Safaricom customers with fast and affordable borderless payment options and access to TerraPay's widespread partner network of more than 7.5 billion bank accounts and more than 2.1 billion mobile wallets."
