Mobile Money – the early days

The year is 2005. Dare Okoudjou, a young Benin national living in France, reads a short Financial Times article about MTN and Standard Bank launching MTN Banking, one of the first mobile banking applications in the world.

I thought this was something really ground-breaking and decided I wanted to work on it,’ he recalls. This spark ignites a passion within him, leading him to join MTN Group’s strategy team in Johannesburg in 2006, eager to revolutionise mobile financial services across Africa.

MTN Banking, while innovative, wasn't quite hitting the mark with the unbanked population it aimed to serve. As Dare reflects, ‘MTN Banking was way ahead of its time, but it had a number of fundamental drawbacks: those with bank accounts didn’t need another account, and those without accounts just wanted a simple money transfer solution. MTN Banking was losing money.’

This realisation sparked a period of deep introspection and analysis within the team, seeking a solution that truly addressed the needs of the unbanked.

‘I did my best in helping MTN think through this; over two-and-a-half years, many major decisions were made. We recommended that the joint venture [with Standard Bank] wasn’t something that could scale and that we had to undo some of it. Then we had to figure out what would scale and get the company behind it. It was a great experience doing something new, building momentum around it, through thick and thin, and eventually seeing it move forward.’

Looking back, what made the experience truly unique was the fact that MTN at that time was laser-focused on the growth and operational efficiency of the traditional airtime business.

‘It sometimes felt like a distraction, some sort of pet project,’ Dare admits, recalling the initial scepticism and doubts about Mobile Money's financial viability. Yet, he and his team persevered, fuelled by an unwavering belief in its potential to transform lives across the continent.  

At one meeting of the executive committee, Dare sketched out the potential impact of what would become known as Mobile Money. He estimated that it could be worth the equivalent of some 4% of the Group’s then revenue – about as valuable as SMS.

Not everyone on the exco was convinced but most did see benefits over and above the immediate financial bottom line. One major benefit most agreed on was that Mobile Money would reduce churn, lower distribution cost and support the group’s agenda of inclusion. ‘But no-one at the time thought it would become a massive thing.’

A believer

One person who firmly believed Mobile Money could become a ‘massive thing’ was the late Christian de Faria, at the time the MTN executive in charge of West and Central Africa.

‘He took it upon himself to make this happen,’ says Dare, ‘suspecting that it could have a much larger long-term impact.’ Making Christian’s mission easier was the relatively low capital investment required to explore Mobile Money – a mere fraction compared to the billions spent on erecting towers and expanding the telecom network.

To spearhead this initiative, Mobile Money champions were appointed in each of the nine West and Central African countries where MTN operated: Abiodun Ogunlabi in Nigeria, Bruno Akpaka in Ghana, Peter Nzebile in Cameroon, Noel Koffi Kouame in Côte d’Ivoire, Sylvie Bouraima in Benin, Prisca Poaty in Congo Brazzaville,  Aissatou Diallo in Guinea Conakry, Samelia Dempster in Liberia and Dara Lourenco in Guinea Bissau.

A workshop at the Novotel Hotel in Accra, Ghana, a day after the final of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations (which MTN sponsored), marked a turning point. On that fateful day in February, a decision was made to go live with transactions by September that year.

Dare, reflecting on the whirlwind that followed, remembers, ‘We formed a team to make this happen, and we all did weekly and monthly reports. Christian insisted that I not miss a meeting and so, because I was based in Johannesburg, I clocked up 120 commercial flights just in 2008. I once went to the movies and was so accustomed to getting on an aircraft that, after I sat down, I automatically tried to put on my seatbelt.’

Despite their tireless efforts and the best intentions, regulatory issues - particularly in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon - caused delays. However, the perseverance paid off, and in early 2009, Uganda and Rwanda became the first countries to launch and experience the convenience and empowerment of Mobile Money.

A new industry is born

It wasn’t immediately apparent that Mobile Money was, in fact, going to be bigger than anyone, Dare included, had initially anticipated. ‘But by the end of the year, it became clear that a whole new industry was being born,’ says Dare.

MTN mobilised a team of about 150, collaborating with external partners to refine and expand the service. The project gained momentum with the support of key figures like Khumo Shuenyane, MTN’s then Group Executive for mergers and acquisitions and strategic partnerships, who recognised its potential to drive economic growth and empower individuals and was instrumental in driving group enthusiasm for Mobile Money.

By 2009, with Mobile Money up and running (but by no means flying), and after less than four years at MTN, ‘burning some bridges and breaking through walls, just to get it done’, Dare believed that his job was done and decided to move on.

However, the true impact of his work would soon become evident. In 2017, Mobile Money experienced explosive growth, transforming the financial landscape across Africa. By 2023, it had become a lifeline for 72.5 million people across 16 countries, processing over US$270 billion in transaction value, rewarding Dare’s and MTN’s belief in this once new-fangled idea.

Reflecting on this incredible journey, Dare says ‘There’s no doubt that MTN played a big role in leading the mobile money industry... There was M-PESA but that was just a Kenyan story.

‘To the question of whether you could make mobile money work elsewhere, across Africa, MTN proved that you could. As we saw with Mobile Money, MTN can be complicated when coming together on an idea, but once it does come together, it’s a machine; it’s always been really good at executing. For MTN, the issue wasn’t whether it was 4% of revenue; it was an opportunity to drive inclusion, a unique opportunity to kick start a whole industry, serving hundreds of millions of people across Africa and now beyond; we were very privileged to have had that opportunity.’

The success of Mobile Money is a testament to MTN's unwavering commitment to innovation, financial inclusion, and social impact. It's a story of how a simple idea, nurtured with passion and perseverance, can revolutionize an entire continent. Mobile Money has not only empowered individuals and businesses but has also played a pivotal role in driving economic growth and reducing poverty. It is a shining example of how technology, when harnessed for good, can create a brighter future for all.

Today, Dare is the CEO of Onafriq, a company dedicated to connecting disparate mobile money platforms across Africa. A ‘platform of platforms’ that delivers access to more than 500 million wallets across Africa and that has a dozen offices on the continent, United Kingdom, China and the United States. Dare founded Onafriq to string together these emerging closed-loop schemes so that one day someone with a mobile money account somewhere in Africa could transact with any person or business across the continent and around the world.