Ismaël Kouassi, Director for Côte d’Ivoire at PawaPay, emphasizes: “Our platform acts as a crucial facilitator, connecting businesses to Africa’s thriving mobile money economy.”
Ismaël Kouassi, the Côte d’Ivoire Director for PawaPay, a technology fintech specializing in African mobile money solutions, highlighted in a recent interview that the company positions itself as a technological enabler. PawaPay allows businesses, banks, and SMEs to seamlessly access various payment ecosystems through a single integration point. He explained that their core function involves streamlining payments, disbursements, transaction tracking, and the overall management of financial flows.
According to Kouassi, Côte d’Ivoire and the broader UEMOA region stand out today as some of Africa’s most dynamic areas for digital payments. This momentum is fueled by the widespread adoption of mobile money, modern infrastructure like the BCEAO’s interoperable PI-SPI platform, and a rapidly evolving financial landscape. The region is solidifying its status as a pivotal hub for fintech innovators. Kouassi also foresees that the synergy between traditional banks and mobile money services will be a primary driver of financial growth in the coming years, particularly benefiting SMEs. These businesses will gain access to an expanded range of financial services through enhanced digital flow integration. With this vision, PawaPay is committed to dismantling technical and operational barriers, thereby accelerating trade, investment, and economic integration across the African continent.
PawaPay presents itself as a payment infrastructure firm offering a singular integration, a unified dashboard, and consolidated treasury services across approximately twenty African nations. What exactly does this infrastructure role encompass? Where do your responsibilities end, and those of mobile money operators, banks, payment processors, or e-wallet issuers begin?
The simplest way to understand PawaPay is to view our company as a facilitator, enabling businesses to connect with Africa’s extensive mobile money economy. Mobile money is, without a doubt, one of the continent’s most vital financial infrastructures today. Data from the GSMA indicates that over $2 trillion flowed through mobile money services globally in 2025, representing a doubling of transaction value in just four years. This demonstrates that we are no longer discussing an emerging payment method but a fundamental component of African commerce.
Our mission is to grant businesses access to this robust ecosystem via a single, streamlined integration.
This could involve empowering a money transfer company to send funds directly to mobile wallets, assisting an internet service provider in collecting subscriptions, supporting an urban mobility platform in paying its drivers, or enabling digital enterprises to serve customers across multiple African markets. We provide the technological layer that orchestrates payments, disbursements, transaction monitoring, flow management, and reconciliation. Mobile money operators retain responsibility for customer accounts and the issuance of electronic money. Banks continue to provide banking services and safeguard funds, while regulators ensure market integrity and oversight. If mobile money serves as a key infrastructure powering African commerce, then PawaPay’s role is to make it effortlessly accessible to businesses across diverse markets.
PawaPay currently operates in 20 African markets. What was the initial strategy behind targeting these markets, and what criteria now guide your expansion?
From our inception, we focused on markets where mobile money already played a significant role in daily economic activity. Africa has pioneered some of the world’s most effective digital payment ecosystems, and we aimed to be present where businesses were already looking to engage with their customers via mobile money. Today, three factors continue to drive our development. The first is client demand. We closely monitor the markets where our clients are expanding and seeking to reach new consumers. Companies like Bolt, Yango, LemFi, and GiveDirectly operate across several countries, and their evolving needs naturally influence our priorities. The second factor is the strength of the local payment ecosystem.
We prioritize markets where mobile money, digital commerce, and financial services are increasingly central to the economy.
Finally, we place particular importance on the potential for long-term partnerships. Infrastructure development is a multi-year endeavor. Trust-based relationships with operators, financial institutions, and ecosystem players are critical. The objective isn’t merely to add more countries but to build a cohesive pan-African coverage that empowers businesses to operate on a continental scale.
Côte d’Ivoire, and the UEMOA region more broadly, are frequently cited as a future regional hub for fintech and finance. What makes this area particularly attractive for a pan-African payment infrastructure provider, and what elements truly set it apart?
I would argue that UEMOA is already one of Africa’s most significant regions for digital payments. West Africa processed nearly $500 billion in mobile money transactions in 2025 and boasts over 517 million registered mobile money accounts, making it the most active region globally in terms of operational services.
Within this dynamic landscape, Côte d’Ivoire holds a strategic position. It is the leading economy of the UEMOA, a major financial center in the region, and a market with over 28 million registered mobile money accounts and more than 13 million active accounts.
What is particularly noteworthy is the deliberate investment made in regional financial infrastructures. The interoperable instant payment platform (PI-SPI) implemented by the BCEAO serves as an excellent illustration of this commitment. By April 2026, over 80 institutions, including banks, electronic money institutions, and microfinance entities, were already connected. For both businesses and financial institutions, the quality of payment infrastructure directly determines their capacity to participate in economic activity. For a pan-African infrastructure like PawaPay, this represents a considerable advantage. A regulatory decision or a partnership forged in Côte d’Ivoire can potentially impact several countries across the region. The depth of the banking sector, the high adoption of mobile money, the entrepreneurial dynamism, and Abidjan’s geographical position as a regional economic center also contribute significantly to its unique appeal.
When a Francophone African bank collaborates with a payment infrastructure provider like PawaPay, what tangible benefits does it observe beyond mere technical access to mobile payments? How can this partnership influence client acquisition, service costs, liquidity management, compliance, fraud prevention, or the offerings tailored for SMEs?
The first point to emphasize is the inherent complementarity between banks and payment infrastructures. Banks remain central to settlement, liquidity management, compliance, customer relationships, and broader financial services. This fundamental role remains unchanged. What is evolving, however, is the increasing prominence of mobile money in the daily economy.
According to the GSMA, transfers between bank accounts and mobile wallets reached approximately $167 billion in 2025.
Flows in the opposite direction are reaching comparable levels. Therefore, the future is not about “bank or mobile money,” but decisively about “bank and mobile money.” An infrastructure like PawaPay empowers banks to access multiple payment ecosystems through a single connection. This enhances visibility over financial flows, simplifies treasury management, and expands their capacity to serve their clientele. This is particularly relevant for SMEs, many of whom already collect payments via mobile money. Banks that can seamlessly integrate these flows into their suite of financial services can offer greater value to these growing enterprises.
How do you envision the evolution of the mobile money ecosystem over the next five years? Will the growth drivers primarily be merchant payments, mass disbursements, government payments, e-commerce, B2B transactions, savings-credit, or cross-border uses?
One of the most compelling phenomena we observe today is that growth is simultaneously stemming from multiple segments. Consumer adoption is already well-established in many markets across Africa.
In the UEMOA, the financial inclusion rate surged from 56% to 71% between 2018 and 2022, primarily driven by digital financial services and mobile money.
Merchant payments perfectly illustrate this dynamic. Studies indicate their volume increased by over 40% in 2025, positioning this segment as one of the ecosystem’s most vibrant. This evolution reflects a deeper reality: mobile money is progressively becoming an everyday tool for commerce. We see this trend across digital services, internet subscriptions, transportation, education, retail, and numerous other sectors. Cross-border payments will also continue their upward trajectory as African businesses increasingly operate in multiple markets. Mobile money is no longer a niche product; it has transformed into an essential infrastructure for African commerce.
The mutual recognition agreement for licenses between Ghana and Rwanda was seen as a significant indicator for African cross-border payments. What does this reveal, in your opinion, about the evolving regulatory cooperation between African jurisdictions? Is this a precedent that can be widely replicated, or is it an advancement still highly specific to certain conditions?
I believe it reflects a fundamental trend that is becoming increasingly apparent across the continent. African regulators are recognizing that trade, investment, and the digital economy are growing more integrated, and that regulatory cooperation can bolster economic growth while maintaining necessary safeguards. The Ghana-Rwanda agreement is one such example. The harmonized framework of the UEMOA is another. While the approaches differ, they convey the same reality: economic activity now extends far beyond national borders. There will likely not be a single model applicable everywhere, but the growing willingness to collaborate, share experiences, and construct common frameworks represents a very positive evolution for African trade and investment.
Ultimately, Africa will require more mechanisms for mutual recognition and regulatory harmonization to sustain the growth of cross-border payments.
Many stakeholders envision a future fluid and interoperable African payment network. What, in your view, is the realistic path toward achieving this goal? What prerequisites must be met as a priority?
The encouraging aspect is that the primary foundations are already in place. Mobile money adoption is robust. Financial institutions continue to invest in digital infrastructure. Initiatives like PAPSS, PI-SPI, and various regional interoperability programs demonstrate a shared ambition to enhance connectivity. The next step hinges on increased collaboration among operators, banks, infrastructure providers, and regulators. The objective should not solely be to accelerate payments.
The objective must be to support commerce, trade, and economic participation across the entire continent.
When businesses can more easily serve customers in multiple countries, when consumers have more options, and when financial institutions access a larger regional market, the entire ecosystem benefits. However, technology alone will not suffice. It will also be necessary to address issues related to currency management, compliance, fraud prevention, and the governance of payment networks.
What role can infrastructure companies like PawaPay play in supporting the growth of a regional hub such as Côte d’Ivoire? Where can you create the most value?
Our role is to reduce friction. Whenever a business aims to expand into multiple African markets, it encounters significant technical, regulatory, and operational complexity. An infrastructure provider like PawaPay simplifies this expansion.
We empower businesses, banks, and fintechs to rapidly access multiple markets via a single, unified platform.
For a regional hub like Côte d’Ivoire, this translates into increased investment, greater innovation, and more businesses capable of operating on a regional and even continental scale. The greatest value we can create is to accelerate the circulation of funds, services, and economic opportunities across Africa. In our view, the next phase of African financial development will not only be digital; it will also be profoundly pan-African.
