Airtel Money Africa has extended its partnership with mobile money payments provider pawaPay to enable licensed international money transfer operators to deliver instant remittances across seven African markets.
Airtel Money Africa, the mobile money arm of Airtel Africa, has announced a new partnership with pawaPay to enable cross-border transactions for licensed International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) in seven African countries.
The integration will allow IMTOs to send funds directly into the mobile wallets of more than 161 million Airtel Money customers in Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, and Tanzania. According to Airtel Money Africa, the collaboration leverages pawaPay’s infrastructure, which processes over four million transactions daily and maintains 99.9% uptime.
The move builds on five years of collaboration between the two companies in domestic mobile money services.
“We’re pleased to expand our partnership with pawaPay to advance international remittances across Africa,” said Ian Ferrao, CEO of Airtel Money Africa. “Their proven reliability and commitment to African consumers make them an ideal partner. This integration empowers IMTOs to securely connect with Airtel Money’s growing footprint, delivering real-time payments that support financial inclusion and economic growth.”
The expansion aligns with Pawapay’s mission to simplify payments for businesses in Africa. “Remittances are pivotal,” noted pawaPay CEO Nikolai Barnwell. “Deepening our relationship with Airtel Money allows International Money Transfer Operators to leverage our world-class infrastructure for seamless cross-border payments.”
Remittances Crucial for Africa’s Digital Economy
Remittances are a lifeline for millions of African households as they provide essential support for daily living, education, healthcare, and entrepreneurship. The World Bank estimates that remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa reached $23,9 billion in 2024. Mobile money increasingly plays an important role due to its convenience, security, and reach.
The Airtel Money–pawaPay partnership directly addresses the fragmentation and inefficiency that often affect cross-border payments in Africa. The integration removes intermediaries and has the potential to lower costs and improving speed for recipients and it enables direct wallet-to-wallet transactions,
Regional Impact
The seven launch markets, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, and Tanzania, are all countries where mobile money penetration is growing rapidly. In many of these nations, a significant portion of the population remains unbanked, making mobile wallets a primary channel for receiving funds.
For example, Uganda and Tanzania have some of the highest mobile money transaction volumes in East Africa. Further south, Zambia and Malawi are seeing double-digit annual growth in digital financial services adoption. Gabon and Congo Brazzaville are strategic for connecting Central African remittance corridors even though they have a smaller user base.
By embedding pawaPay’s payment processing capabilities directly into Airtel Money’s system, licensed IMTOs can offer recipients a faster, more reliable experience without requiring them to visit physical collection points.
The integration could also be beneficial for African fintech startups who can take advantage of the reliable and scalable remittance rails to build value-added services on top of the inflows.. Some of these services may include micro-lending, savings products and insurance.
Also Read: Airtel Partners with Mastercard to Launch Airtel Money GlobalPay Card in Uganda
