On July 5, in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s mobile operator Orange drew out a report of its actions in front of the press to commemorate the ten-year history of its Mobile Money service in Cameroon. On the occasion, Emmanuel Tassembedo, the director of Orange Money Cameroon, stated that Orange’s Mobile Money service records monthly cumulative transactions of 800 billion FCFA in 2021, or 9600 billion FCFA ($16.8bn) each year. This is nearly double Cameroon’s budget for fiscal year 2021.

“When I say cumulative transaction values, I mean deposits and withdrawals, money transfers, bill payments, salary payments, and all merchant payments, etc. We do about 3 million transactions per day. With interoperability with Gimac launched in July 2020, after a pilot phase that lasted more than six months, we can clearly see that the cumulative value of transactions, whether on the side of Cameroon or other countries in the sub-region where we can send or receive money, more than 70% of transactions go through Orange Money, ”said Emmanuel Tassembedo.

MTN’s Shares

In other words, other participants in the market, such as MTN Mobile Money, would only control 30% of transactions. According to the CEO of Orange Cameroon, Orange Money has positioned itself at the center of financial transactions for businesses and individuals in Cameroon. Orange Money, according to Frédéric Debord, has 7 million payment accounts and over 60,000 merchant and distribution partners.

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MTN, Orange’s primary competitor in the Mobile Money service, takes this alleged market dominance with a lot of caution. MTN Mobile Money has 10 million customers and 168,000 points of presence around the country, (including 108,000 merchant points and 60,000 distribution points). 

“We are the source of all revolutionary items (NFC, supermarkets, etc.). Even though they have more active customers than we do, they have always followed us,” a source inside the company said. 

The Orange Money service was launched in 2011 in collaboration with the International Bank of Cameroon for Savings and Credit (Bicec), a current subsidiary of the Moroccan BCP that got authorisation to issue electronic money from the Bank of Central African States (Beac). Orange Money Cameroon, a firm founded in 2019, has filed a request for license to expand its activities “in complete autonomy” in areas such as microcredit.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer