Africa’s multi-purpose app, ayoba, in partnership with MTN, has reached a milestone of over 10 million monthly active users in its second year of operation
The ayoba platform aims to harness growth in the African digital economy by breaking down barriers such as limited access to the internet and digital services, low smartphone penetration, lack of locally relevant content and affordability.
“We celebrate this milestone and are pleased that through ayoba we can provide access to affordable communications so that millions of people across our markets can enjoy the benefits of a modern connected life”, says MTN Group digital and fintech officer, Serigne Dioum.
“MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategy is to drive digital and financial inclusion across Africa, via ayoba we intend to reach 100 million monthly active users by 2025, ensuring more people reap the social, economic, and developmental dividends of being online,” concluded Serigne.
In 2021, ayoba received the ‘Best OTT Brand of the Year’ accolade at the Marketing World Awards and recently was awarded the ‘Best Mobile App’ from Bonteh Digital Awards. Ayoba has also hosted two hackathons this year, with the aim of guiding young developers on micro-app development.
Commenting on the achievement, ayoba chief executive officer, Burak Akinci said, “Our progress in 2021 has been considerable, growing in excess of 4 million users. This is a clear sign that the African market really enjoys ayoba, and we are here to stay. This growth is also due to the hard work of our team, and of course, the loyalty and enthusiasm of our users, who are always our first priority. We look forward to even bigger growth in 2022, as we see progress from the new features, content and general improvement that will be launching throughout the year.”
ayoba offers users access to digital media services through channels, micro-apps and payment solutions, embedded within a single African 'Super' app. With over 180 content channels ranging from sports, news, music, artists, health and wellness, careers, fashion, beauty, education and travel – a huge increase from the 128 at the start of the year.
In addition, users now have access to a range of 35 micro-apps, including MTN Online School (SA) and MTN MoMo (Ghana).
MTN said that they have also identified the gaps in the African market heightened by the pandemic, particularly in terms of the literacy of subscribers. Through the education micro-app available in ayoba, MTN has launched numerous channels with key strategic partners focused on specific areas of education ranging from entrepreneurial education to country-specific curriculum content for students, which include educational explainer videos on topics ranging from math, science and storytelling.
