#61: MFS Africa (Onafriq) - How the payments network hub is connecting telcos & financial institutions to increase interoperability across Africa and beyond
Description
Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about MFS Africa. We’ll explore the MFS Africa story across the following 5 areas:
- African payments context
- MFS Africa’s early history
- Product & monetization strategy
- Competitive positioning & potential exit options
- Overall outlook.
This episode was recorded on Jan 29, 2023
Companies discussed: Onafriq (MFS Africa), Safaricom (M-Pesa), Opay, Flutterwave, Paystack, MTN, Airtel, Orange, Chipper Cash, Ecobank, Safaricom, Homesend, TransferTo, MasterCard & Visa
Business concepts discussed: Financial interoperability, mobile money (agency banking), banking regulation, acquisition strategy, payment processing, payment gateways & closed-loop payment networks
Conversation highlights:
- (09:50 ) - Africa payments context and background
- (20:26 ) - MFS Africa founding and early history
- (22:06 ) - Founder background
- (31:40 ) - Fundraising and early growth
- (38:44 ) - Partnerships and M&A
- (1:02:15 ) - Product Strategy
- (1:06:30 ) - Monetization Strategy
- (1:13:59 ) - Competition and Options for Exit
- (1:28:51 ) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
- (1:34:00 ) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
- (1:47:00 ) - Recommendations and small wins
Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:
- Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com
- Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com
- Recommendation: Be Happy 35 Powerful Methods for Personal Growth & Well-Being. Talks about practices for a positive mental health. Fun short read that you can refer to time and time again
- Small win: Birthday celebrations with friends in Miami, NYC & SF. It was epic!
Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:
- Recommendation: Accidental Gods by Anna Della Subin
- Small win: I read 3 books in January
- Other content: Afrobility Chipper Cash episode , Inside the MFS Africa acquisition of Beyonic & Follow me on Goodreads
Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback!
Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com
Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com
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