Africell Holding SAL is set to launch a new financial service in Angola this weekend, offering mobile money services to millions of unbanked individuals in the country. Despite being home to one of the largest economies in the region, Angola has lagged behind other Sub-Saharan African countries in terms of mobile payments adoption. Africell has invested over $150 million to build its mobile network in Angola and has already attracted 7 million customers since it started operating in the country in 2022. Its mobile money service, Afrimoney, has already been launched in the DRC, Gambia, and Sierra Leone and is now being rolled out in Angola.
According to Simon Andersson-Manjang, the company's head of mobile money, Angola's banking system is skewed towards higher-income earners, leaving around 50% of the population unbanked. Africell aims to address this issue by bringing more financial inclusion to the country with its mobile money service. Currently, Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for almost half of all the world's mobile-money accounts and over $832 billion of the $1.3 trillion total value of worldwide transactions last year, according to the GSMA.
In countries where Africell already operates, customers use its mobile money service to receive their salaries, pay bills, or transfer money to friends and family. The company plans to train around 10,000 customer service workers by the end of the year to support adoption in Angola. In addition, Africell is also in talks with Angolan banks to provide insurance and credit products in the mid-term, as well as with remittance players to provide international services in the future.
Africell was awarded Angola's fourth mobile phone license in 2020, allowing it to start up in the country. The firm closed its operations in Uganda after seven years in 2021 to focus on other markets, according to a spokesperson at the time. With its mobile money service, Africell aims to provide access to financial services for millions of unbanked individuals in Angola and help drive the country's digital and mobile-money payments forward.