The pilot supports cross border intra African payments for individuals, merchants and traders

Onafriq Nigeria Payments Ltd, a payment service provider licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, has partnered with the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) to launch a pilot programme enabling wallet based outbound payments from Nigeria to Ghana

The service allows instant transactions fully in naira, without the need for hard currency conversion, and is delivered in collaboration with banks and mobile money operators.

Approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the pilot supports cross border intra African payments for individuals, merchants and traders. Small and medium sized enterprises are expected to benefit significantly, gaining access to a faster and more affordable way to transact with customers and suppliers across borders. The service is scheduled to run for a six month period starting on 1 December.

Through its collaboration with PAPSS, Onafriq is contributing to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area mandate, which promotes tariff free trade across its 54 member states. Within the partnership, Onafriq provides the mobile money infrastructure, supported by an ecosystem of more than one billion mobile wallets. PAPSS contributes its network of over 160 commercial banks, representing more than 400 million bank accounts across 19 African countries. Together, the two organisations are linking mobile money platforms and banking systems to enable smoother intra African transactions.

Africa’s payments landscape has traditionally been divided between bank led and mobile led markets, with limited interoperability between the two. This partnership is designed to remove those barriers. By connecting more than one billion mobile wallets and approximately 500 million bank wallets across the continent, the initiative enables cross border collaboration at scale.

The latest pilot builds on the existing partnership between Onafriq and PAPSS for inbound payments into Ghana, which was announced earlier this year.

“Our work with PAPSS shows what collaboration at scale can unlock—seamless, secure connections between banking systems and mobile money ecosystems. This is how we open bi-directional trade corridors, reduce costs for businesses, and give African enterprises the rails they need to trade with confidence in their own currencies. The vision is continental, but it starts with practical steps like this one,” said Mxolisi Msutwana, Managing Director Anglophone West Africa.

“Too often, African businesses and individuals see borders as roadblocks instead of opportunities. With this step, we’re challenging that mindset, giving Nigerians the ability to send value next door with the same ease as sending

a text message. Our vision is simple: make Africa’s borders invisible to payments. This pilot makes that a reality, moving us closer to a continent where payments don’t pause at the border,” added Ositadimma Ugwu, Chief Information Officer, PAPSS.

The new Nigeria to Ghana outbound payments capability follows the successful launch of the Ghana to Nigeria instant payments corridor earlier this year, reinforcing the shift towards local currency, instant and inclusive payment systems across Africa.

African telecoms and financial companies join global leaders on WorkL’s 2026 World’s Happiest Workplaces list.

Several African telecommunications and financial services companies have earned global recognition after being named among the World’s Happiest Workplaces 2026, published by employee experience platform WorkL

According to a recently released report by WorkL, the rankings draw on anonymous feedback from over one million employees across more than 120,000 organisations worldwide. Companies that score 70 or above in WorkL's 'Happy at Work Test' qualify for inclusion.

Africa’s telecommunications sector was particularly well represented, with Kenya’s Safaricom featuring alongside major global operators. South Africa also emerged strongly, with MTN Group, MTN South Africa and Vodacom South Africa all included in the telecommunications and publishing category. Beyond telecoms, Standard Bank was recognised in the financial services category, reinforcing South Africa’s reputation for workplace cultures that prioritise employee wellbeing, engagement and purpose.

Their inclusion places African companies alongside global industry leaders such as AT&T, Telefónica, Tata Communications, Disney and ING Bank, underlining the continent’s ability to compete on workplace satisfaction as well as commercial performance.

Measuring workplace happiness

WorkL’s World’s Happiest Workplaces rankings are based on its Happy at Work Test, a free and anonymous survey that takes employees less than ten minutes to complete. The assessment measures six areas that influence workplace happiness: wellbeing, job satisfaction, reward and recognition, information sharing, empowerment and instilling pride. The final list can be filtered by country, industry and category.

According to WorkL, organisations recognised on the list typically report higher productivity, lower staff turnover and reduced absenteeism.

Commenting on the 2026 results, WorkL founder Lord Mark Price said, "I’m delighted to publish the World’s Happiest Workplaces 2026 List today. Organisations who are recognised report higher productivity, lower staff turnover and lower sick leave as a result of employees being happier."

"Our research shows that nearly 50% of people are unhappy, anxious or depressed at work. It’s our mission to make the world’s workplaces happier, and it starts with acknowledging the ones who are doing a good job."

Vodacom acquires 20% stake in Safaricom, gaining controlling interest in Kenya’s leading telecom and fintech business

Vodafone Group’s African subsidiary, Vodacom Group Ltd, has agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Safaricom Plc, Kenya’s leading telecom operator

Under the deal, Vodacom will purchase 15% from the Government of Kenya for a cash consideration of €1.36 billion, (approx. US$1.48bn), and 5% from Vodafone for €0.45 billion, (approx. US$0.49bn). The total 20% acquisition is valued at roughly €1.81 billion, or US$1.97bn.

After completion, Safaricom’s ownership will be 55% by Vodacom, 20% by the Government of Kenya, and 25% by public investors, with the company consolidated by both Vodacom and Vodafone.

Strategic rationale

The acquisition allows Vodafone and Vodacom to gain controlling ownership of one of Africa’s most successful telecom and financial services businesses.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Safaricom is Kenya’s largest telecom company, with a market capitalisation of €7.7 billion. It owns a tower and spectrum portfolio in Kenya, along with M-Pesa, a world-leading fintech platform processing over 100 million daily transactions and serving 38 million customers in Kenya. Safaricom also holds a majority stake in Safaricom Ethiopia.

In the six months ending 30 September 2025, Safaricom’s service revenue in Kenya grew 9.3% year-on-year, supported by strong M-Pesa revenue growth of 14%.

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group CEO, said, “In line with our focus on growth, this is an opportunity to gain a controlling shareholding in a highly successful African business in an attractive market. We have enjoyed a successful partnership with Safaricom since 2000, including the co-development of M-Pesa, which has brought wide-ranging financial inclusion to millions of customers.”

Arrel launches modular remittance APIs

Arrel has introduced a new suite of DAPL (Digital Asset Platform) APIs aimed at remittance operators, offering a modular approach to building and scaling cross-border payment infrastructure

The APIs enable operators to activate individual infrastructure modules, deploy them as needed, and scale capacity in line with transaction volumes rather than committing to fixed, bundled platforms.

The offering is targeted at regulated or regulation-ready remittance startups, as well as established operators looking to open new corridors, improve existing flows, or modernise cross-border payment systems without locking into inflexible, enterprise-style infrastructure solutions.

Remittance services typically depend on a mix of liquidity access, compliance frameworks, treasury management, and settlement mechanisms. As transaction volumes grow and new corridors are added, each of these elements introduces additional operational complexity and cost. DAPL has been designed to support operators that require multiple infrastructure components operating across currencies, jurisdictions, and volumes.

Within DAPL, remittance infrastructure is broken down into core building blocks that are generally required from the outset of any remittance operation. These include multi-currency liquidity access, connectivity to exchanges and liquidity providers, transaction monitoring and compliance tools, treasury controls, settlement logic, and local payout rails for each corridor. The platform also includes a routing layer capable of executing across multiple liquidity venues through a single integration, without the need for an internal order management system. In addition, remittance operations often rely on pre-funded accounts across currencies and corridors, which ties up working capital and increases exposure to FX and liquidity risk as activity expands.

Traditionally, these components are sourced from multiple providers, each with its own commercial terms, technical integrations, regulatory reviews, and operational processes. In many cases, they are delivered as bundled platforms with fixed pricing, minimum volume thresholds, and long-term contracts that apply regardless of actual transaction activity. Maintaining pre-funded balances across markets further compounds capital allocation challenges.

DAPL addresses this by acting as a digital asset orchestration layer that separates infrastructure components and makes them available through standardised APIs. Arrel, which was established in Mauritius, developed the platform to give remittance operators an alternative to single-stack, bundled infrastructure models.

The APIs are grouped into four main functional areas.

The first focuses on liquidity and currency access. These APIs provide programmatic access to liquidity across multiple exchanges and providers through a single integration. Operators can access settlement currencies including USD, EUR, ZAR, XAF and XOF, along with corridor-specific currencies where available. Stablecoins are supported as a settlement option, supported by reconciliation and reporting tools.

Liquidity and venue integrations include Binance, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, CEX.IO, LMAX, Deribit, Gate.io, HTX, Indodax, Kraken, KuCoin, Luno, OKX, Poloniex, VALR and Xago. Settlement is supported on blockchains such as Arbitrum One, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Bitcoin, Stellar and Tron. Custody options include Fireblocks and native MPC wallets, while compliance tooling is integrated through Chainalysis for KYT and Sumsub for KYC and KYB.

The second functional area covers compliance and transaction monitoring. These APIs embed compliance checks directly into remittance flows, exposing KYT, AML, and KYC or KYB processes. Screening results, risk signals, and audit records are available programmatically, and compliance rules can be applied at the transaction level across supported corridors.

The third area addresses treasury and settlement orchestration. These APIs allow operators to configure treasury wallets, approval workflows, and settlement rules across connected venues. Capabilities include real-time balance visibility, automated fund movements, FX exposure monitoring, and policy-driven approvals, all managed through a central orchestration layer.

The fourth functional area focuses on local rails and corridor execution. Through integrations with regulated local partners such as Xago, the APIs enable payouts and settlement into domestic banking and payment systems without requiring operators to establish bilateral banking relationships in every corridor. Additional payout integrations can be added while maintaining a consistent orchestration, monitoring, and audit framework.

Looking ahead, Arrel plans to expand the platform to include integrations with telecom operators and mobile money aggregators. This would allow remittance workflows to connect with mobile-based payment systems, particularly in peri-urban and remote regions where traditional banking access is limited.

Alongside individual APIs, Arrel also offers modular infrastructure bundles built on these functional areas. Operators can deploy a Core Remittance Bundle covering liquidity routing, compliance monitoring, and treasury orchestration, and then add Corridor Bundles linked to specific payout rails and local requirements. These bundles are designed for usage-based deployment rather than fixed platform commitments.

Under this approach, expanding into new corridors is handled incrementally. Each new corridor typically requires adding a payout integration and applying local rules, while the underlying liquidity, compliance, and treasury infrastructure remains unchanged.

Arrel is a member of the Circle Alliance, signalling alignment with institutional stablecoin infrastructure standards. Working with regulated partners such as Xago, the APIs are intended to operate within established financial and supervisory frameworks.

By offering modular APIs and configurable infrastructure bundles, Arrel presents an alternative model for deploying cross-border remittance infrastructure. Operators can align infrastructure usage and capital allocation with actual transaction activity, supporting corridor-by-corridor expansion while maintaining a consistent orchestration and monitoring layer. This approach is particularly relevant in African markets, where remittance corridors and payout mechanisms differ widely across countries and regions.