Nearly $1.432 trillion moved through mobile money accounts in Africa in 2025, up roughly 27% from 2024, according to figures from the GSMA’s State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, as reported by Ecofin Agency. It is the kind of number that sounds like the story is finished. It is not.
Globally, the same GSMA report series puts transaction value at about $2.1 trillion, with 2.3 billion registered accounts and 593 million monthly active users. Sub-Saharan Africa alone holds around 43% of the world’s active mobile money accounts. Africa is not a participant in this market. It is the market.
Registered is not the same as active
The gap the industry keeps returning to is the distance between accounts that exist and accounts that are used. Millions of wallets are opened and then sit still. The barriers are familiar and stubborn: identity and KYC requirements that lock out people without formal documents, the cost of smartphones and data, uneven agent networks in rural areas, and platforms that still do not talk to each other.
Growth in raw value can also flatter the picture. A smaller number of users moving larger sums, including business and bulk payments, can lift transaction value without meaning that more households have joined. That is why the next phase is less about sign-ups and more about frequency.
Why it matters for businesses
For anyone selling in Africa, mobile money is no longer an alternative payment method. In many markets it is the payment method. Businesses that treat it as a side option lose sales at the checkout, and businesses that build around it can reach customers who never had a bank account.
The remaining opportunity sits in three places: the underbanked, cross-border remittances, and interoperability. Cross-border transfers in particular are still expensive and slow, and that is where regional payment projects and fintech competition are concentrating.
The Eswatini read
In Eswatini, mobile money is how a large share of small businesses already get paid, from transport to informal retail. The practical lesson from the continental data is simple: adoption is not automatic just because the rails exist. Trust, cost and simplicity decide whether a wallet becomes a habit.
Sources
- Ecofin Agency, “Mobile Money in Africa: Strong Growth, but Adoption Still Falls Short” — https://www.ecofinagency.com/news-digital/3103-54286-mobile-money-in-africa-strong-growth-but-adoption-still-f
- GSMA, State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 — https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-for-development/gsma_resources/the-state-of-the-industry-report-on-mobile-money-2026/
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