At an industry engagement hosted at the MTN Experience Centre in Morningside, MTN made one thing clear: MoMo is no longer being positioned as just a mobile money platform. It is being rebuilt as a broader fintech ecosystem designed specifically for South Africa’s informal and independent economy.
Unlike many African countries, where mobile money succeeded because traditional banking infrastructure was limited, South Africa presents a very different challenge. The country already has a mature banking system, strict financial regulations, and highly competitive fintech players.
During discussions at the event, Dr Nkosi Kumalo, an MTN executive explained that one of the biggest reasons MoMo struggled previously was because the company initially attempted to apply a fintech model that worked in several African markets directly into South Africa. “That model cannot simply be copied and pasted into South Africa,” he explained. “South Africa already has banks, financial infrastructure, and different consumer behaviour. MoMo here has to be built differently for it to truly benefit South Africans.”
That shift in thinking appears to be driving MoMo’s third launch strategy. According to MTN, MoMo now has over 8 million users in South Africa. The company is now focusing less on simple peer-to-peer transfers and more on integrating digital payments into everyday township and SME economies, from paying bills and purchasing online services to enabling small businesses to transact digitally.
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South Africa’s informal economy is estimated to contribute between 5% and 25% of GDP depending on the sector being measured, with spaza shops and informal retailers alone generating billions of rand annually and supporting millions of livelihoods across the country. Traditional trade channels, including spaza shops and independent retailers, generated an estimated R170 billion in FMCG sales during 2025. MoMo’s collaboration with organizations such as Sphazamisa, Sanlam, and initiatives linked to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including DIME and Wakanda-related youth innovation platforms, signals a more ecosystem-driven approach focused on financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, and youth participation in the digital economy.
Rather than competing directly against traditional banks, MTN appears to be targeting the spaces where millions of South Africans still operate outside fully digitized financial systems. Can MoMo can successfully build trust, accessibility, and practical value within South Africa’s informal economy? If successful, MTN’s third attempt at MoMo could become less about mobile money, and more about digitising South Africa’s independent economy from the ground up.