8 African mobile money services that aren't M-Pesa

Rather, let's look at other key mobile money products across the rest of the continent, as well as some up-and-coming, ones-to-watch that will be demo'ing at DEMO Africa in Nairobi later this month.

Zimbabwe's EcoCash

According to Econet, almost two-million Zimbabweans do all their business using EcoCash transfers and the service "moves millions of dollars every day from urban to rural areas" which has helped to "revitalise the rural economy."

The one-year-old mobile money transfer service from Econet Wireless announced in August that it had linked with all the commercial banks in Zimbabwe.

...Mozambique's mKesh

MKesh offers Mozambique's unbanked a suite of financial services, such as saving and transferring money, without a traditional bank account. It was launched last year by financial institution Carteira Móvel, which is 70%-owned by the state mobile operator, Moçambique Celular (mCel).

...According to the company, it doesn't require a minimum balance and there are no service fees.

Paralleling M-Pesa and EcoCash, the service aims to broaden access to safe financial services across Mozambique, reducing the need for customers to travel far distances with cash, and allowing money to reach rural areas more easily.

...Easywallet in Nigeria

Nigeria's been a bit late to the mobile money market thanks to lack of clarity over the implementation of regulation around the licensing of mobile money providers. Telco Etisalat teamed up with FirstBank of Nigeria in February this year to provide mobile money services to Nigerian consumers.

...in September Etisalat launched Easywallet, a SIM-based interface that allows customers to access their choice of mobile money and bank accounts.

...Kenya's PesaPal

Unsurprisingly a host of services have sprung up around Vodacom's runaway mobile money success, M-Pesa. One of these is PesaPal, which Forbes named one of the top 20 tech startups in Africa in February 2012. PesaPal closes the loop between M-Pesa and the internet, by allowing Kenyans to buy and sell online using M-Pesa, as well as Zap and credit cards.

New kids on the block

Another M-Pesa spin-off, CrowdPesa is currently in beta and offers a location-based mobile service to allow users to find their closest M-Pesa agent, financial institution or retail outlet.

...IPay is a payments processing service and payment gateway that includes credit and debit cards, M-Pesa, Airtel Money and yuCash. It allows merchants to receive payments in-store and online. The service is currently live in Kenya with plans to expand to Uganda and across East Africa.

Lipisha allows small businesses to receive non-cash payments and micro-money, including, you guessed it, M-Pesa.

...OzinboPay is setting out to be the PesaPal for West Africa. It's a mobile payment gateway that allows merchants to make and receive payments online and offline via mobile money. The service is currently operating in Ghana and plans to expand to Nigeria soon.

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