Leading international digital money transfer company, WorldRemit, in partnership with MFS Africa has launched a new international mobile money service in five African countries. This would make it easier to send and receive money across the continent. This innovation brings WorldRemit services to five new countries via Airtel in Niger and Malawi, Orange in Madagascar, Vodacom in Mozambique, and MTN in Guinea.
MFS Africa is one of Africa’s largest digital payments hub. It connects over 180 million mobile wallet systems, banks, money transfer operators and merchants on the continent through a single API. It also enables real-time, cross-border and cross-network transactions.
WorldRemit currently handles money transfers from the US, UK, European and Asian countries to over 45 African countries. Using the app or website directly from phones, allows overseas users to send money to these Africa countries instantly with low cost, at any time. It saves customers time and money as they don’t need to visit a money transfer agent to send funds home to their loved ones.
Commenting on the latest addition, Andrew Stewart, Managing Director of WorldRemit for the Middle East and Africa said, “WorldRemit is committed to supporting financial inclusion across Africa by enabling the unbanked populations to receive money directly into their mobile wallets, without the need for a bank account. Our partnership with MFS Africa helps us accelerate our financial inclusion mission while expanding our footprint across the continent.”
Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa, added that “Our mission at MFS Africa is to bring down the costs of remittances into and within Africa, and we achieve that by leveraging the power of mobile money and digital payments. WorldRemit is known as a leader among the new generation of digital-first money transfer operators, and we’re thrilled to be a partner in their expansion strategy. We are looking forward to growing our networks together to help reach more users with more affordable and accessible remittance services.”
With its transfers to Africa growing by 80 percent year-on-year, WorldRemit transfers more than $1.6 billion annually to the region. The company has an extensive pan-African distribution network including bank, mobile money and cash pick-up points. WorldRemit also has an agreement with instant messaging service WhatsApp to notify people in real-time when they have been sent money.
By Tobiloba Ishola
