Africell’s mandate to change Angola
Mobile operator Africell is the latest mobile network operator promising to transform a country’s economy by empowering citizens to join the new digitised economy. In this case its Africell Angola division has activated its Afrimoney mobile money system in Angola and launched services including mobile recharge, deposits, person-to-person transfers, bill payments and merchant payments. Despite its relatively strong economy and mature banking, The international Monetary Fund says Angola has lagged behind Africa in mobilising the potential economic contribution of ‘the unbanked’. However Africell came to Angola with a mandate to change its telecoms sector, said its founder Ziad Dalloul (pictured).
Afrimoney already operates in The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Experience in those territories has proved that mobile money can boost Angola’s economy by unlocking the unbanked population, it said. The Afrimoney mobile money platform will provide essential financial tools to many of the approximately 50% of Angolans who don’t have bank accounts, claims Angola’s newest mobile operator. Through their mobile phones, Afrimoney users can transfer, spend and earn instantly. To welcome new users, Africell Angola will offer new Afrimoney customers free person-to-person transactions and 100% bonus on all mobile recharges paid for using mobile money. In time, the Afrimoney platform intends to incorporate financial services including credit, saving and insurance.
Angola’s mobile money industry has more scope for growth than most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the GSMA, Angola has a very low mobile money adoption, activity or accessibility despite what the International Monetary Fund sees as a relatively strong economy and mature banking system. Other African nations gave mobile money received enthusiastic attention and investment, with over 150 services processing over $800bn worth of transactions in 2022 says the GSMA. Meanwhile Angola’s large unbanked population is disconnected from its formal economy.
Afrimoney will change this, promised Kátia Da Conceição, Director of Afrimoney Angola.
“Mobile money [benefits] those who rely on cash in low-income or marginalised communities,” said Da Conceição, “Reliance on cash causes problems. Afrimoney gives them a simple, safe alternative through through mobile phones.”
Mobile money’s financial inclusion has narrowed gender inequality elsewhere on the continent, since it gives women more control of their finances. Angola underperforms on many measures of financial inclusion, says the World Bank. The introduction of an effective mobile money service to Angola will remove this barrier to economic participation for millions and shrink the bankless divide. Sectors such as transport, currently held back by a dependence on cash, will be stimulated to create income opportunities for thousands of agents. It will also enable quicker direct payments to ordinary Angolans by the government and NGOs.
Africell started mobile network services in Angola in April 2022 and the launch of Afrimoney only a year later is a significant milestone, said Africell Group founder-CEO Ziad Dalloul. “Africell came to Angola with a mandate to change its telecoms sector,” said Dalloul. “Launching Afrimoney is a critical step in this strategy. Our network is designed to help customers be better connected, live more efficiently, and access a wide range of digital services. Mobile money has the potential to link everything together, and we expect it to have a huge impact on our business and Angola’s economy”.
Africell is the only US-owned network operator in Africa, with the U.S. government (through the US Development Finance Corporation, or DFC) its biggest external investor, as part of The White House Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa.