By: Charles Abuede
Airtel Africa Plc, which provides telecoms services across 14 countries in Africa said on Thursday that it has entered into a strategic business partnership with MoneyGram, in a joint venture that will allow nineteen million Airtel Money subscribers to route any MoneyGram transfers from an international destination directly into their mobile wallets.
In a disclosure signed by the group company secretary, Simon O’Hara and accessed by Business A.M on the website of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company disclosed that through the partnership with MoneyGram, a global leader in cross-border payments and money transfers, Airtel Money customers overseas will be enabled to instantly push funds directly to an Airtel Money mobile wallet conveniently.
Airtel Africa CEO, Raghunath Mandava, commenting on the joint partnership, said: “We are delighted to work with
MoneyGram to provide millions of customers with fast, secure and convenient options to receive and send money as well as access their funds from a vast distribution of exclusive kiosks, agents and branches at their convenience.
“This is a significant step forward in our ambition to transform lives through greater financial inclusion and empowerment across the continent. Maximizing access to global remittances is a key part of this – even more so given the disruption and economic hardship faced by many as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the CEO further noted.
Also speaking on the new strategic partnership with Airtel Africa, John Gely, head of MoneyGram Africa, said: “This partnership with Airtel will enable millions of consumers instant access to our global platform to receive money from over 200 countries & territories without having to even step outside”.
According to the statement sent to the Nigeria Stock Exchange, the companies revealed that this latest partnership is in line with Airtel Africa’s strategy of expanding the range and depth of its mobile money
offerings to drive customer growth and market penetration.
Particularly, the partnership with MoneyGram builds on the momentum of existing partnerships on ground with Mastercard and Western Union. Airtel disclosed that this combined with the newly announced extension of the joint venture with WorldRemit will further step up the growth of our mobile money services.
