👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – MTN eyes banking licence in SA

MTN’s MoMo eyes banking licence in South Africa

MTN’s mobile money service, MoMo, is eyeing greater autonomy in South Africa. 

The company is aiming to secure a banking licence from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to operate independently. Currently, MoMo relies on African Bank as its sponsor.

SARB is developing a regulatory framework to enable fintechs and non-banking entities to directly access the national payment system. This move is designed to promote financial inclusion for the millions of South Africans who remain unbanked.

A banking licence would empower MoMo to offer more comprehensive and affordable financial services. While the service already supports basic transactions like payments and transfers, a full banking licence would allow it to expand its offerings.

Already, MoMo South Africa has garnered significant traction, with 11 million registered users and 3 million active ones. The service has also been at the forefront of financial innovation, becoming the first non-banking entity to offer PayShap, a real-time payment service. Additionally, its partnership with MasterCard has enabled the launch of MoMo virtual cards across 13 African countries.

Read About Moniepoint’s Impact on Pharmacies

Do you remember what you bought the last time you visited a pharmacy? Data from Moniepoint’s pharmacy case study reveals it was likely a painkiller. Click here to discover how Moniepoint is enabling access to healthcare through payments and funding for community pharmacies.

Since the revision of listing rules to include startups, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) has struggled to attract startups to its platform. 

Earlier this year, the CEO of NGX, Jude Chiemeka, mentioned that a few startups were considering listing on the exchange. 

The startup-starved NGX is poised for a breakthrough as Tizeti, a Y Combinator-backed internet service provider, is planning to go public. This comes two years after Tizeti initially announced its intention to become a publicly traded company. 

Listing on the NGX will help Tizeti access more investors, raise funds in naira, and reduce the pressure to deliver high returns due to naira devaluation.

The company—which reportedly has generated over $7.8 million in revenue—will be the first Nigerian startup to list on the NGX. “We have started that journey but are focused now on the launch of our fibre broadband service. We will share more information on the IPO shortly,” Temitope Osunrinde, Vice President for Marketing at Tizeti Networks told TechCabal without sharing the timeline for the IPO.

Many Nigerian startups are reluctant to list on the NGX, citing inefficiencies in the marketplace for raising capital despite its great run in 2023. Some African startups opt to list on foreign exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ despite the higher cost of listing. This preference is attributed to access to a broader investor base, global visibility and better automation that makes it easier to manage listings and transactions. However, these ventures have yielded limited success stories.