Ismaël Kouassi, Côte d’Ivoire Director for PawaPay: “We are an enabler, empowering businesses to integrate with Africa’s thriving mobile money economy.”

Ismaël Kouassi, the Côte d’Ivoire Director for PawaPay, a cutting-edge fintech specializing in African mobile money solutions, highlighted in a recent interview that the company serves as a technological conduit. PawaPay enables businesses, banks, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to tap into various payment ecosystems through a singular integration point. He emphasized that their core mission revolves around streamlining payments, facilitating disbursements, monitoring transactions, and efficiently managing financial flows.

According to Kouassi, Côte d’Ivoire, alongside the broader UEMOA region, currently stands as one of Africa’s most dynamic hubs for digital payments. This momentum is fueled by the widespread adoption of mobile money, robust modern infrastructures such as the BCEAO’s interoperable PI-SPI platform, and a rapidly transforming financial landscape. The region is firmly establishing itself as a pivotal center for fintech innovators. Kouassi also projected that the synergy between traditional banking services and mobile money will be a primary catalyst for financial expansion in the coming years. This growth will particularly benefit SMEs, granting them enhanced access to financial services through improved integration of digital transactions. In line with this vision, PawaPay is committed to dismantling technical and operational obstacles, thereby accelerating trade, investment, and economic integration across the African continent.

You describe PawaPay as a payment infrastructure provider offering a single integration, a unified dashboard, and consolidated treasury management across approximately twenty African nations. What exactly does this infrastructure role encompass? Where do your responsibilities conclude, and where do those of mobile money operators, banks, payment processors, or e-wallet issuers begin?

The simplest way to conceptualize PawaPay is to view our enterprise as a facilitator, empowering businesses to seamlessly connect with Africa’s expansive mobile money economy. Mobile money has emerged as 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, marking a doubling of transaction value in just four years. This clearly demonstrates that we are no longer discussing an emerging payment method, but rather an indispensable component of African commerce.

Our primary function is to grant businesses access to this vibrant ecosystem via a single, streamlined integration.

This could involve enabling a money transfer company to dispatch funds to mobile money wallets, assisting an internet service provider in collecting subscriptions, supporting an urban mobility platform in compensating its drivers, or empowering digital enterprises to serve customers across multiple African markets. We deliver the technological layer that orchestrates payments, manages disbursements, tracks transactions, oversees financial flows, and handles reconciliation. Mobile money operators retain accountability for customer accounts and the issuance of electronic money. Banks are responsible for banking services and fund custody, while regulators ensure market integrity and oversight. If mobile money serves as a crucial infrastructure powering African commerce, our mission is to provide businesses with effortless access to it across diverse markets.

PawaPay currently operates in 20 African markets. What was the rationale behind targeting the initial markets, and what criteria now guide your ongoing expansion?

From our inception, we strategically 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 our aim was to establish a presence where businesses were actively seeking to engage with their customers through mobile money. Presently, three key factors continue to shape our growth trajectory. Firstly, client demand is paramount. We diligently monitor the markets where our clients are expanding and aiming to reach new consumers. Companies such as Bolt, Yango, LemFi, or GiveDirectly operate across multiple countries, and their evolving needs naturally inform our priorities. The second factor is the robustness of the local payment ecosystem.

We prioritize markets where mobile money, digital commerce, and financial services are increasingly integral to the economy.

Finally, we place considerable importance on the potential for enduring partnerships. Infrastructure development is a multi-year endeavor. Building trust-based relationships with operators, financial institutions, and other ecosystem stakeholders is fundamental. Our objective is not merely to add countries, but to construct a cohesive coverage that empowers businesses to operate effectively on a continental scale.

Côte d’Ivoire, and more broadly the UEMOA region, are frequently touted as future regional fintech and finance hubs. What makes this area particularly attractive for a pan-African payment infrastructure provider? What elements truly differentiate it?

I would assert 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, positioning it as 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 in UEMOA, a major financial center for 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 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 dictates their capacity to participate in economic activity. For a pan-African infrastructure like PawaPay, this presents a substantial advantage. A regulatory decision or a partnership forged in Côte d’Ivoire can potentially influence several countries across the region. The depth of the banking sector, the high adoption rate of mobile money, the entrepreneurial dynamism, and Abidjan’s geographical position as a regional economic nucleus also contribute significantly to its unique appeal.

When a Francophone African bank collaborates with a payment infrastructure like PawaPay, what tangible benefits does it realize beyond mere technical access to mobile payments? How might this impact client acquisition, service costs, liquidity management, compliance, fraud prevention, or the offerings extended to SMEs?

The foremost point to emphasize is the complementary nature of banks and payment infrastructures. Banks remain central to settlement, liquidity management, compliance adherence, client relationships, and comprehensive financial services. This fundamental role remains unchanged. What is evolving, however, is the increasing prominence of mobile money within 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 unequivocally “bank and mobile money.” An infrastructure like PawaPay empowers banks to connect with multiple payment ecosystems through a singular connection. This enhances visibility over financial flows, simplifies treasury management, and broadens their capacity to serve their clientele. This is particularly relevant for SMEs, many of which already collect payments via mobile money. Banks that can seamlessly integrate these flows into their service offerings can deliver greater value to these growing enterprises.

How do you envision the evolution of the mobile money ecosystem over the next five years? Will growth drivers primarily be merchant payments, mass disbursements, government payments, e-commerce, B2B, savings-credit, or cross-border usage?

One of the most intriguing phenomena today is that growth is simultaneously originating from multiple segments. Consumer adoption is already widely established across numerous markets.

In the UEMOA region, 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 exemplify this dynamic. Studies indicate their volume increased by over 40% in 2025, making this segment one of the most vibrant within the ecosystem. This evolution reflects a deeper reality: mobile money is progressively becoming an everyday tool for commerce. We observe this trend across digital services, internet subscriptions, transportation, education, retail, and many other sectors. Cross-border payments are also set to continue their ascent as African businesses expand their operations across 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 perceived as a significant indicator for African cross-border payments. What, in your opinion, does it reveal about the progression of regulatory cooperation among 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 underscores a fundamental and increasingly apparent trend across the continent. African regulators acknowledge that commerce, investment, and the digital economy are becoming profoundly integrated, and that regulatory collaboration can foster economic growth while upholding necessary safeguards. The Ghana-Rwanda agreement serves as one illustration. The harmonized framework of UEMOA provides another example. While the approaches differ, they convey the same reality: economic activity now extends far beyond national borders. A single, universally applicable model is unlikely to emerge, but the growing willingness to collaborate, share experiences, and construct common frameworks represents a very positive development for African trade and investment. Ultimately, Africa will require more mechanisms for mutual recognition and regulatory harmonization to bolster the growth of cross-border payments.

It is clear that Africa will ultimately need enhanced mechanisms for mutual recognition and regulatory harmonization to support the expansion 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 foundational elements are already in place. Mobile money adoption is robust. Financial institutions continue to invest in digital infrastructures. Initiatives like PAPSS, PI-SPI, and various regional interoperability programs demonstrate a collective ambition to enhance connectivity. The next crucial step hinges on increased collaboration among operators, banks, infrastructure providers, and regulators. The objective should not solely be to accelerate payments.

The overarching goal must be to bolster commerce, trade, and economic participation across the entire continent.

When businesses can more easily serve customers in multiple countries, when consumers have a broader array of options, and when financial institutions access a larger regional market, the entire ecosystem reaps the benefits. However, technology alone will not suffice. It will also be essential to address complex 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 significant value?

Our role is fundamentally about friction reduction. Whenever an enterprise seeks to expand into multiple African markets, it inevitably encounters significant technical, regulatory, and operational complexities. An infrastructure provider like PawaPay simplifies this expansion process.

We empower businesses, banks, and fintechs to rapidly access multiple markets through 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 regionally and even continentally. The most profound value we can generate is to accelerate the flow of funds, services, and economic opportunities throughout Africa. In our perspective, the next phase of African financial development will not only be digital but also profoundly pan-African in scope.