Video
How Africa made digital payments work without internet or banks
While much of the Western world is still tapping cards and debating which digital wallet to trust, Africa quietly built a digital payment revolution without internet, banks or smartphones.
How? By asking a simple question: Who needs a bank account when you have a phone?
In Africa, formal banking systems struggled to reach rural communities, so Africans turned to what they did have — mobile phones. Then, platforms like M-Pesa, MTN Mobile Money, and Airtel Money came to the rescue as financial lifelines.
Today, many African countries have skipped traditional banking entirely—no long queues. No forms. No internet.
Watch the video to learn how.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
