MFS Africa Review: Africa’s Largest Digital Payments Gateway

MFS Africa Limited is a fintech company operating Africa’s largest digital payments gateway. The MFS Hub is connected to over 320 million mobile wallets and over 20 million bank accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide affordable and interoperable cross-border, cross-currency, and cross-network digital payments. The company specializes in mobile payments, insurance, micro-lending, international money transfers, virtual cards, eCommerce, and p2p cross border mobile money transfer.

What’s Special About MFS Africa Limited

  • It connects over 300 million mobile wallets and over 20 million bank accounts across 27 countries in Africa
  • It enables cross-border, cross-network digital payments
  • It allows micro loan/insurance/utility providers to collect payments using mobile money, website, MFS Africa app, or USSD menu
  • With MFS Africa, online traders can collect funds from shoppers and subscribers
  • Its clients include global merchants, remittance companies, global development organizations, banks and financial service providers

MFS Africa Products and Services

MFS Africa connects the unbanked and underbanked and service providers to provide access to simple, secure, and affordable mobile financial solutions in Africa. MFS Africa offers the following features and services:

Payroll

MFS Africa offers access to payroll and expenses solutions through mobile e-wallets or bank accounts. Their Beyonic API plugs into any software solution, allowing you to fund in any currency.

Microloans

If you are a loan provider, you can use MFS Africa to easily collect loan repayments from your international and domestic clients using mobile money. The same applies to borrowers (they can send payments using mobile money). Here, you choose the currency you want to use for settlement and funding.

Virtual Visa Cards

MFS Africa has a Virtual Card platform where you can create, manage, and distribute single-use, multi-use, or non-reloadable MFS Africa Visa cards to your clients or employees.

Insurance Services

Clients can use the MFA Africa’s API to collect premiums and pay claims using mobile money, bank transfers, or cash pick-up methods in any currency. You can access and manage both collections and payments or you can choose to keep them separate.

Regional and International P2P

MFS Africa facilitates person-to-person transactions in more than 30 countries in Africa. MFS Africa API is used by many banks, MTOs, and MNOs to provide subscribers with international payment options.

Utility Providers

As a utility provider, you can use MFS Africa API to collect utility payments from your customers. You can use any MFS Africa payment option that can be accessed from a website, MFS Africa app, or USSD menu.

Payment Platforms

If you have a payment platform and you want to provide mobile money payment solutions in Africa, MFS Africa’s API can easily plug into your code and you’ll get webhook notifications when payments are complete.

Merchant Marketplace

With MFS Africa, you can collect funds from shoppers, subscribers, loan recipients, and utility customers. You can also access and manage these funds from one portal in a single currency or various local currencies.

Bulk Payments

You can make bulk payments to multiple vendors or beneficiaries through MFS Africa’s API which you can integrate to or their easy-to-use Beyonic portal. You can pay them via mobile money, cash pick-up, or bank transfers.

NGO Disbursements

NGOs and global development organizations use MFS Africa’s API to pay beneficiaries in any currency. You can send payouts to many countries with mobile money, bank transfers, cash pick-up, and airtime disbursement.

MFS Africa Countries

MFS Africa countries including Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Zambia, Lesotho, Gabon, Malawi, Niger, Tanzania, Rwanda, Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, Chad, Ghana, Benin, Senegal, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

MFS Africa Fees

Unfortunately, MFS Africa has not published fees for its services on the website. If you are interested in their products, please contact them directly for their pricing structure at support@mfsafrica.com.

MFS Africa’s Partner Mobile Network Operators and Investors

Through its partnership with major mobile network operators, MFS Africa connects more than 300 mobile wallets and millions of bank accounts across Sub-Saharan Africa through a single API. These major Mobile Network Operators include Safaricom, MTN, AirtelTigo, Orange, Econet, and Vodafone.

MFS Africa has received funding from several investors to ensure that they have adequate finances to carry out its services across Africa. These investors include AfricInvest, Allan Gray, LUN Partner Group, Equator Capital Partners, Endeavor Harvest, FSD Africa CommerzVentures, Goodwell Investments, and Endeavor Catalyst.

MFS Africa has also partnered with international money transfer companies such as WorldRemit, PayPal, Xoom, Moneygram, Paysend, TalkRemit, Alipay, Rapyd, and UnityLink.

MFS Africa Customer Support

If you can’t find the information you are looking for on MFS Africa website, the company has a reliable customer service. For any question concerning their services or integration, contact them via email at support@mfsafrica.com. For general enquiries, email the company at info@mfsafrica.com. If you are looking for card solutions for your business, reach out to MFS Africa’s support team on cards@mfsafrica.com.

Is MFS Africa Secure?

Since MFS Africa operates in many African countries, it ensures that its security is top-notch. MFS Africa has been adhering to country-specific licensing and regulatory requirements of its partner mobile network operators. However, a shift in regulations and MFS Africa’s business model requires that MFS Africa ensures its own compliance. As such, it adheres to global and local compliance standards. It is licensed by FSC (Mauritius) and FCA (UK/Europe).

MFS Africa Alternatives

If MFS Africa does not meet your company’s needs, these are other options you can look into:

Final Thoughts on MFS Africa Ltd

MFS Africa forms the foundation for the growth of digital financial services as it enables companies and organizations in Africa to receive payments. It is making borders matter less by providing solutions for cross-border, cross-currency, and cross-network person-to-person and person-to-business payments through a single API.

Based in Mombasa, Kenya, Daisy is our African expert writer and researcher specilising in banking, cryptocurrency, and general personal finance issues in Africa. Daisy is a graduate of Chuka University in Nairobi, Kenya.