Africa’s financial landscape is being radically reshaped by mobile money, with platforms like MTN MoMo, under the stewardship of Richard Yego as Chief Executive, driving the vision of a truly connected, borderless continent.
This message of transformation was powerfully delivered on Friday by Hellen Kirungi, the Senior Manager for BankTech at MTN MoMo, during the 2025 Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit.
Kirungi highlighted how MoMo has evolved from a bold belief in 2009 into a massive, transformative platform that is not just facilitating payments, but also actively dismantling traditional financial and geographic barriers for millions of Ugandans.
MTN MoMo as a Transformative Ecosystem
According to Kirungi, “MTN MoMo is now a comprehensive financial ecosystem supporting diverse needs, driving empowerment, and fostering productivity across multiple sectors.” She told the Summit that the platform’s expansion includes:
Credit Access: Providing timely credit solutions to individuals and businesses, thereby impacting Uganda’s socio-economic transformation.
Instant Merchant Settlements: Ensuring businesses receive payments immediately, enhancing cash flow and trade, which boosts investment in the country.
Investments: Enabling customers to participate in investment opportunities, thereby not only contributing revenue to the national economy but also enabling job creation.
Essential Payments: Facilitating critical services like school fees and utility payments, plus remittances from abroad, which contribute foreign currency to the national treasury.
Kirungi captured the essence of this speed and convenience with a compelling scenario, saying, “A mother sends money to her child abroad, and before she even puts the phone down, the funds have arrived. That is the power to be borderless.”
Removing Barriers, Expanding Opportunities
Kirungi noted that the true impact of MoMo’s transformation is seen in how it removes geographic obstacles and saves critical time for individuals across different segments of the economy in the following ways:
Rural Empowerment: Farmers in far areas like Lira can now get paid instantly for their produce, ensuring immediate liquidity.
Diaspora Support: Workers in places like Dubai and the United Arab Emirates can send money home in seconds, directly supporting their families without the delays and high costs of traditional remittances.
Global Commerce: Customers can shop seamlessly in international destinations like Dubai Duty Free, using only their mobile phones, demonstrating MoMo’s reach beyond continental borders.
Building Bridges Where Borders Once Stood
This borderless reality, according to Kirungi, is being constructed through strategic collaboration. She stressed that MTN MoMo is actively building bridges through partnerships with innovators across the continent, enabling instant payments between countries.
This network, she pointed out, allows funds to flow effortlessly: “from Tanzania to Uganda, Dubai to Kampala, and beyond.”
The message from the summit was unequivocal: “Africa’s financial future is digital and its digital future is borderless.”
She concluded by emphasising that MTN MoMo is determined to ensure that every barrier is removed, and every opportunity is expanded, positioning the mobile phone as the definitive tool for economic participation in the new, connected Africa.