Wave Mobile Money is stepping up its ambition to reduce Africa’s dependence on cash, leveraging a user base of more than 25 million monthly active customers across 11 countries as competition intensifies in the continent’s digital payments market.
The Senegal-founded fintech is positioning affordable mobile money services as a major instrument for expanding financial inclusion, enabling individuals and businesses to send and receive money and manage everyday payments without relying entirely on traditional banking infrastructure.
Its ambition to make Africa the world’s first cashless continent received fresh recognition at the Africa Financial Summit (AFIS) 2026 in Luanda, Angola, where the company won the African Disrupter Award for its contribution to transforming access to financial services. The award comes as African financial institutions and technology companies increasingly compete to capture transactions in markets where cash remains widely used, particularly among small businesses, informal traders and populations with limited access to conventional banking services.
Wave’s business model centres on making mobile financial services affordable and straightforward, with an emphasis on transparent pricing and a simplified user experience. The company has built a presence in 11 African countries, employing more than 4,000 people.
However, its growing user base also highlights the scale of the opportunity in Africa’s digital payments market, where expanding mobile connectivity has created opportunities for financial technology companies to reach customers underserved by traditional financial institutions.
At AFIS 2026, Wave used its position as a Diamond Sponsor to engage regulators, financial institutions and industry leaders on the future of financial services, including consumer protection, payment system interoperability and the role of emerging technologies in financial inclusion.
‘Making financial services affordable and simple to use can change what is possible for millions of people and businesses. This award recognises that ambition, as well as the work our teams do every day to make it a reality,’ said Coura Tine Sene, regional director and head of Public Affairs at Wave.
She said the company remained committed to working with regulators and industry partners to ensure that innovation translated into practical improvements in people’s daily lives.
Beyond mobile money transactions
Wave’s strategy also reflects a broader shift in Africa’s financial technology industry, where the next phase of growth may depend on moving beyond basic money transfers to deeper financial services, including savings, credit and merchant payments.
One of the areas discussed at the summit was the use of alternative data to improve access to credit for women entrepreneurs.
During the Women In panel, Sene examined how alternative credit assessment models could help financial institutions reach women who lack conventional credit histories.
Such models could potentially allow lenders to assess borrowers using non-traditional financial information. However, the discussions also highlighted the need for safeguards against gender bias and other forms of discrimination in automated credit assessments.
The issue is significant for Africa’s small-business economy, where many entrepreneurs operate outside formal financial systems and struggle to meet conventional lending requirements.
Wave also participated in discussions on stablecoins, payment traceability and financial supervision, reflecting the growing intersection between mobile money, digital assets and the regulation of increasingly interconnected payment systems.
Awa Gueye, public policy lead at Wave, participated in a session examining stablecoins and their place in the changing digital financial landscape, while El Hadji Malick Gueye, managing director of Wave Senegal, joined a roundtable on payment traceability, coordinated supervision and financial stability.
The discussions underscore the regulatory challenges facing mobile money operators as digital transactions expand across borders and financial systems become more interconnected.
For Wave, sustaining growth will require more than increasing the number of registered or active users. Building consumer trust, maintaining affordable transaction costs, expanding merchant acceptance and working within different regulatory environments will remain important to its expansion.
The company’s ambition to accelerate Africa’s transition towards cashless payments also faces structural challenges, including limited digital infrastructure, uneven financial literacy, affordability constraints and the continued preference for cash transactions in informal markets.
Regulatory cooperation will therefore be critical to the development of digital financial services, particularly as governments seek to encourage innovation while protecting consumers and maintaining financial stability.
At a side event hosted by AXIAN, Wave participated in discussions on how collaboration between regulators and financial service providers could support innovation, strengthen consumer protection and improve payment systems.
The company said its participation at AFIS reflected its commitment to engaging with the wider financial ecosystem to remove barriers to financial services.
With more than 25 million monthly active users, Wave has established a significant operating presence across 11 African countries. Its next challenge will be converting that reach into deeper financial participation and wider adoption of digital payments among individuals and businesses.
The African Disrupter Award provides recognition of its growth and business model, but the larger test will be whether affordable mobile money can help shift everyday economic activity away from cash and towards a more inclusive digital financial system.