{{Short description|Mobile payment system}} {{Infobox interbank network | name = African MobileMoney | logo = | area = Africa | members = | atm = | foundation = | owner = | website = }} '''Mobile Money''' is a mobile payment system based on accounts held by a mobile operator and accessible from subscribers' mobile phones. The conversion of cash into electronic value (and vice versa) happens at retail stores (or agents). All transactions are authorised and recorded in real-time using SMS. in the year 2007, M-PESA was launched.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Njuguna |first=S. Ndung’u |title=A Digital Financial Services Revolution in Kenya: The M-Pesa Case Study |url=https://aercafrica.org/old-website/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AERC-MPesa-Case-Study.pdf |journal=}}</ref> thumb|MTN Mobile Money agent's stand in Ghana In 2008, a Ugandan software developer named Ronald Egesa of Mobitrix Uganda Ltd was reported by the leading newspapers to have developed the country's first mobile phone bank that he called SmartCash <ref>SmartCash{{cite web|title=SmartCash|url=https://allafrica.com/stories/200811170173.html}}</ref> It was reported to be a network independent service.
In 2009, GSMA made a grant to Safaricom to support the development of a social transfer payment project via M-Pesa.<ref>M-PESA{{cite web|title=M-Pesa|date=18 September 2012 |url=http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programmes/mobile-money-for-the-unbanked/mmu-examples/m-pesa}}</ref>
M-PESA was developed by Vodafone and first deployed by its Kenyan affiliate Safaricom. In May 2012, there were over 15 million customers of M-PESA in Kenya.<ref>{{Cite web |title=M-Pesa celebrates reaching 50 million customers |url=https://www.vodafone.com/news/services/m-pesa-celebrates-reaching-50-million-customers |access-date=2025-10-20 |website=Vodafone.com}}</ref>
==Countries with a Mobile Money Presence==
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Current Mobile Money Presence in African Countries<ref name="GSMA List">{{cite web|title=Mobile Money|url=http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programmes/mobile-money-for-the-unbanked/insights/tracker|website=GSMA|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> ! style="width:2em;" |Currency ISO!!Country !!Currency |- |XOF||{{flag|Benin}}||CFA franc |- |BWP||{{flag|Botswana}}||Botswana pula |- |XOF||{{flag|Burkina Faso}}||CFA franc |- |BIF||{{flag|Burundi}}||Burundi franc |- |XAF||{{flag|Cameroon}}||CFA franc |- |XAF||{{flag|Chad}}||CFA franc |- |CDF||{{flag|Democratic Republic of the Congo}}||Congolese franc |- |EGP||{{flag|Egypt}}||Egyptian pound |- |ETB||{{flag|Ethiopia}}||Ethiopian birr |- |XAF||{{flag|Gabon}}||CFA franc |- |GHS||{{flag|Ghana}}||Ghanaian cedi |- |GNF||{{flag|Guinea}}||Guinean franc |- |XOF||{{flag|Guinea-Bissau}}||CFA franc |- |XOF||{{flag|Ivory Coast}}||CFA franc |- |KES||{{flag|Kenya}}||Kenyan shilling |- |LSL||{{flag|Lesotho}}||Lesotho loti |- |LRD||{{flag|Liberia}}||Liberian dollar |- |MGA||{{flag|Madagascar}}||Malagasy ariary |- |MWK||{{flag|Malawi}}||Malawian kwacha |- |XOF||{{flag|Mali}}||CFA franc |- |MRO||{{flag|Mauritania}}||Mauritanian ouguiya |- |MUR||{{flag|Mauritius}}||Mauritian rupee |- |MAD||{{flag|Morocco}}||Moroccan dirham |- |MZN||{{flag|Mozambique}}||Mozambican metical |- |NAD||{{flag|Namibia}}||Namibian dollar |- |XOF||{{flag|Niger}}||CFA franc |- |NGN||{{flag|Nigeria}}||Nigerian naira |- |RWF||{{flag|Rwanda}}||Rwandan franc |- |XOF||{{flag|Senegal}}||CFA franc |- |SLL||{{flag|Sierra Leone}}||Sierra Leonean leone |- |SOS||{{flag|Somalia}}||shilling |- |ZAR||{{flag|South Africa}}||South African rand |- |SDG||{{flag|Sudan}}||Sudanese pound |- |SZL||{{flag|Swaziland}}||Swazi lilangeni |- |TZS||{{flag|Tanzania}}||Tanzanian shilling |- |XOF||{{flag|Togo}}||CFA franc |- |TND||{{flag|Tunisia}}||Tunisian dinar |- |UGX||{{flag|Uganda}}||Ugandan shilling |- |ZMW||{{flag|Zambia}}||Zambian kwacha |- |ZWD||{{flag|Zimbabwe}}||Zimbabwean dollar |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Vodafone Category:Payment systems Category:Telecommunications companies of Kenya Category:Communications in Tanzania