Mastercard and MTN Group Fintech have entered a multi-market agreement aimed at fostering a new era of collaboration to provide millions of individuals and small businesses across Africa with digital tools for secure mobile payments. This initiative seeks to expand access to the benefits of a cashless digital economy.
Under this partnership, Mastercard’s advanced technology and capabilities will support MTN’s goal of becoming Africa’s largest fintech platform for merchants and consumers.

This collaboration will impact 13 markets in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Republic of Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.
Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President of Market Development EEMEA at Mastercard, expressed the company’s pride in partnering with MTN to facilitate digital commerce for millions in Africa. Ajmal highlighted the potential benefits of mobile money solutions for SMEs, including seamless commercial operations, wider payments acceptance, access to affordable credit, and secure digital tools.
Africa, with over 1.3 billion people, sees only about 43% of its population banked, with over 90% of all payments made in cash. However, 45% of the population has mobile money accounts. Over the past five years, Mastercard and MTN have collaborated to support various mobile money programs across Africa, aiming to bring more individuals into the financial mainstream.
“When there is a mutual vision – in this case to bring access, progress, financial inclusion, and prosperity to people – the road to partnership is a simple one. We look forward to working with Mastercard as a partner that is also committed to the enablement of more people and businesses through the collaboration into best-in-class apps, superior user experiences, safe transactions, secure remittances, new use cases, and expanded acceptance,” said Serigne Dioum, Group CEO, MTN Fintech.
The collaboration seeks to enhance local digital payment infrastructure, facilitate potential transaction growth, and promote financial inclusion by providing MoMo wallet users with virtual and physical Mastercard companion cards, empowering SMEs with payment acceptance solutions, and expanding the reach of mobile money remittance services domestically and internationally.
Mastercard’s commitment to bringing 1 billion people and 50 million SMEs into the global digital economy by 2025 is exemplified through partnerships with telecommunications network companies like MTN.