Africell’s mobile money service, ‘Afrimoney’, has opened its first ‘Payment Services Centre’ in Bairro Azul, Luanda.
Angola has a relatively under-developed mobile sector, and adption is slow compared to other comparable African countries. To mitigate a lack of consumer understanding and awareness, and the encourage more people to experiment with mobile money in their daily finances, Afrimoney has opened a physical agency to offer in-person support, advice and demonstrations.
Even in an age of apps, physical stores and human intractions remain crucial tools in building customer trust and ensuring that customers keep using products once they have tried them. The store removes barriers and inhibitions and gives Afrimoney customers in Luanda a dedicated environment in which to sign up and receive technical assistance.
This Payment Services Centre will also be a place where Afrimoney agents can settle, activate, reactivate and duplicate accounts, in addition to being set up to receive expressions of interest from those who wish to become Afrimoney agents or merchants.
The inauguration of the centre will accelerate Angola’s journey to financial inclusion by helping to further integrate the formal and informal economies. Afrimoney already has more than two million registered customers in Angola and transaction volumes are growing rapidly. The expansion of Afrimoney’s user base in Angola is part of Africell’s broader growth trajectory in the country. The brand launched telecommunications operations in 2022 andalready has more than five million subscribers to its voice and data services.
“For mobile money to succeed at scale, there need to be high levels of trust, awareness and understanding,’ explains Katia da Conceição, Managing Director of Afrimoney Angola. “Angola doesn’t have a long history of mobile money use, so our priority has been to develop these aspects. Our adverts, training an awareness campaigns are starting to bear fruit, and we’re excited that more and more Angolans are starting to feel the benefits of digital financial tools in their daily lives”.
For Gonçalo Routar Farias, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afrimoney, an important feature of this investment is its neat alignment with the Angolan Government’s Programme for the Reconversion of the Informal Economy (PREI).“In Angola, many people are not able to open a bank account due to lack of documents or access to banks”, he explains. “Afrimoney provides a vital entry point into the country’s financial system. The launch of the Payment Services Centre makes Afrimoney more accessible and contributes to the broader mission of improving financial inclusion in Angola”.