Nigeria’s cellular cash story is one in every of quiet transformation constructed not in glass towers, however by way of tens of millions of small each day transactions occurring throughout markets, bus parks, and neighborhoods.
What started as a push for monetary inclusion has now grow to be one of many nation’s largest fintech success tales, powered by smartphones and a fast-growing digital financial system.
As reasonably priced smartphones discovered their manner into extra Nigerian fingers, cellular wallets turned the best bridge between money and comfort. The outcomes have been staggering. Information from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) exhibits that cellular cash transactions hit N20.71 trillion($13.95 billion) in Q1 2025, a leap of 1,518% from N1.28 trillion in Q1 2021.
In keeping with an earlier report by Nairametrics, Donald Ubeh, Head of Threat and Compliance at PalmPay, says cellular cash operators have helped elevate Nigeria’s monetary inclusion fee to 74% in 2023, up from 51% in 2016. As we speak, over 1.5 million brokers are on the sphere, dealing with about 60% of all transactions and shifting greater than $1 trillion in 2023 alone.
Behind these numbers are the founders constructing the digital rails of Nigeria’s fee system visionaries, who noticed alternative the place banks noticed boundaries.
Methodology
On this function, we highlight homeowners of Cell Cash Operators licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the individuals reshaping how cash strikes throughout Africa’s largest financial system.
Though there are 18 licensed Cell Cash Operators (MMOs) in Nigeria, this record focuses solely on corporations with publicly verifiable information footprints, together with possession information, founding historical past, and regulatory documentation. Different licensed operators not featured right here both have restricted public disclosures or closed documentation relating to their firm possession and management constructions.
Leo Stan Ekeh is the proprietor of KongaPay, a licensed cellular cash operator below Konga Holdings, which he acquired by way of the Zinox Group. He bought Konga Holdings, together with the e-commerce platform Konga.com and its fintech arm, KongaPay from its unique founder, Sim Shagaya, in 2018.
Because the acquisition, Ekeh has reworked Konga into one in every of Nigeria’s most trusted digital commerce and fee ecosystems, driving innovation in e-commerce and monetary expertise.
- Ekeh holds a Bachelor’s diploma in Economics from Punjab College, India, and a postgraduate diploma in danger administration from the College of Nottingham, England.
- His academic background in economics and danger administration has knowledgeable his strategic method to enterprise development and expertise funding throughout Africa.
He has obtained quite a few nationwide honors, together with the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) and the Nationwide Productiveness Benefit Award (NPOM), in recognition of his pioneering contributions to Nigeria’s ICT and digital financial system.
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