PawaPay, a UK based fintech providing mobile payment solutions across Africa, has surpassed three billion mobile money transactions, reaching its latest billion payments in less than nine months as businesses increasingly adopt mobile money for commerce and cross border operations.
The company said it now processes about five million transactions daily and has handled more than €10 billion in payments since its launch in 2020. Through a single API, PawaPay connects businesses to nearly 50 mobile money operators across 20 African countries, enabling merchants to accept and disburse payments without building separate integrations for each market.
Chief Operating Officer, Jamie Steell, attributed the growth to rising smartphone adoption, cheaper internet access, a youthful population and the rapid digitisation of commerce across the continent. He noted that mobile money, once dominated by person to person transfers and remittances, is increasingly being used by businesses to collect payments and serve customers across multiple markets.
The milestone reflects broader industry trends, with mobile money continuing to expand across Africa. While countries such as Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon and Uganda are driving strong growth on PawaPay’s network, the company is also eyeing deeper expansion into Nigeria, which remains one of Africa’s largest digital payments markets. Steell said Nigeria presents significant opportunities, although its fintech led payment ecosystem differs from the telecom operator driven mobile money models common in East Africa.