Business
Digital finance
CC BY-SA 4.0
Mobile money for small businesses in West Africa: basic concepts
Mobile money overview for SMEs in West Africa: providers, regulation in Ghana, merchant use cases, and common fraud risks.
Country:Pan-African
Language:English
Published:2024-11-19
Audience:SMEs, traders, students
Mobile money services allow users to store value (e-money) on a mobile phone account and to send, receive, deposit and withdraw funds via a network of agents. Major providers in West Africa include MTN Mobile Money (MoMo), AirtelTigo Money and Telecel Cash (Ghana); Orange Money and Wave (Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire); and several others. In Ghana, mobile money is regulated by the Bank of Ghana under the Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019 (Act 987).
For small businesses, mobile money enables: receiving customer payments without cash handling; paying suppliers; accessing credit through merchant transaction history; and bulk salary payments. Many providers offer Merchant accounts (with lower fees on customer-to-merchant transfers) and Merchant SoftPOS QR codes. Risks include fraud via SIM-swap and social engineering; users should never share their PIN.
Keywords
mobile money
MoMo
SME
Ghana
West Africa
fintech
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