This strategic partnership has a dual mission: to bolster financial inclusion and drive economic development in the island nation.

In a significant milestone, MFS Africa has become the inaugural aggregator to go live with the mobile money division of Telma, Madagascar’s leading Mobile Network Operator (MNO) with a dominant 70% market share.

This collaboration enables the seamless transfer of remittances from Europe, the US, and the UK into Madagascar.

Additionally, the partnership streamlines MNO-to-MNO remittances to Madagascar from other African regions.

Nika Naghavi, Group Head of Growth at MFS Africa, explained the significance of this partnership, stating, “Providing financial services to Madagascar has long been regarded as costly and challenging due to its predominantly rural landscape and infrastructural limitations. This means that consumers in the country have been historically underserved by traditional financial institutions.”

Madagascar currently boasts over 10 million mobile money accounts, surpassing the number of traditional bank accounts.

More than a third of the population now can use mobile money for a wide range of financial transactions, including bill payments, peer-to-peer transfers, savings, and borrowing.

The collaboration between MFS Africa and Mvola promises to simplify the process of international money transfers into Madagascar, making it more accessible to the population and driving financial inclusion.

It also underscores the growing importance of mobile money services in serving the financial needs of a wide range of consumers, particularly in regions with unique challenges and opportunities, such as Madagascar.