Wave Mobile Money recorded over 12 trillion CFA francs (USD 20.3 billion) transactions in 2022, according to figures unveiled by the US fintech at a workshop on digital payment development and user risk mitigation in Dakar. In the mobile money sector in Senegal, Wave is considered the leading provider with nearly 11 million active customers, including approximately 7.18 million active users, representing 90% of the adult population with an account at Wave Mobile Money. This undisputed breakthrough is behind the strong growth in transactions recorded in 2022.
To democratize digital payment services, Wave Mobile Money invested at least 100 billion CFA francs ($169 million), thereby reducing the cost of mobile money pricing by 75%. According to the fintech, “this represents around 130 billion CFA francs in savings made by Senegalese, particularly thanks to the free electronic payment services for the network of concessionaires of the Senegalese state: payment of electricity bills, water bills, toll fees, and the development of merchant payment in the large distribution.”
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“Until 2018, digital financial services on the Senegalese market were charged a minimum of 4%. However, the Wave Mobile Money product was built around the needs of the user and proposed a radically inclusive service, with several differential advantages, such as a simplified customer journey supported by innovative technology, diligent handling of claims to reinforce user confidence, and the most accessible costs, i.e., a money transfer at only 1% as well as free services such as deposit and withdrawal of money, bill payments, purchase of goods and services.” Wave reminds.
During the same year in the sub-region, there were approximately 133 million registered mobile money accounts in the region, representing an increase of 23 million accounts from the previous year. Approximately 54% of the combined adult population of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal actively use electronic money services. However, obstacles remain significant for easy access to digital financial services. According to the results of a survey conducted in 2019 by the Observatory of Financial Services Quality (OQSF) among digital financial services users (ESFIM), the main obstacles, according to the opinions of the users surveyed, are mainly related to poor network quality (17.1%), transaction insecurity (15.7%), high service costs (15.4%), and insufficient supply.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard