#61: MFS Africa (Onafriq) - How the payments network hub is connecting telcos & financial institutions to increase interoperability across Africa and beyond

Overview:  Today, we’re going to talk about MFS Africa. We’ll explore the MFS Africa story across the following 5 areas:

1. African payments context
2. MFS Africa’s  early history
3. Product & monetization strategy
4. Competitive positioning & potential exit options
5. 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 [email protected]
• Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]
• 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 [email protected] with feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at [email protected]

Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at [email protected]

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