AfricaNenda Foundation has released the 2025 edition of the Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (IIPS) Report, which reveals a breakthrough year, characterized by record-speed national launches, bold continental policy action, and growing transaction volumes.
This, according to AfricaNenda, demonstrates that interoperable, real-time payments are becoming a reality across Africa.
According to the report, in 2025, AfricaNenda supported seven IIPS implementation and improvement initiatives on the continent, and helped bring two national systems live – proving that interoperable, real-time payment infrastructure can be deployed in months, not years.
These achievements, it said, reinforce a core message of the report: inclusive instant payments can be delivered faster and more cost effectively than previously assumed when strong central bank leadership and coordinated partnerships are in place.
“We have broken the myth that national payment systems must take three to four years to launch,” said Dr Robert Ochola, CEO of AfricaNenda Foundation. “In 2025, we moved decisively from preparation to execution. The technology works. The partnerships work. Local ownership is strong. And most importantly, the impact is real.”
AfricaNenda, for instance, supported the rollout of Liberia’s mobile money-based instant payment system in just 73 days – one of the fastest national deployments on the continent. The system began with government-to-person salary payments, enabling public servants to receive wages in under a minute, and has since expanded to person-to-person transactions. Since launch, the platform has processed nearly one million transactions totalling more than US$11 million, with zero downtime.
“Liberia’s experience shows that speed and quality are not mutually exclusive,” said Akinwale Goodluck, Deputy CEO of AfricaNenda. “When leadership and partnerships are aligned and execution is disciplined, transformation happens quickly.”
AfricaNenda also supported the modernization of eKash in Rwanda, scaling an open and inclusive model in the country – in collaboration with RSwitch, Rwanda’s National E-payment switch. The upgraded system transitioned to an open-source architecture designed for scalability and long term independence. The enhanced platform now processes approximately 1.5 million transactions per month – a 40 percent increase compared to 2024 – and includes microfinance institutions and savings cooperatives to extend access to underserved communities.
“Inclusive instant payments are about enabling participation,” said Sabine F. Mensah, Deputy CEO of AfricaNenda. “Every system we help launch or improve expands economic opportunity.”
In addition to the foregoing, AfricaNenda also made significant progress in advancing regulatory coordination for cross-border payments. In partnership with the African Union Commission, AfricaNenda progressed work on a proposed regulatory harmonization for cross-border payment services framework aimed at harmonizing regulatory frameworks to enable seamless cross-border instant payments.
Per the report, beyond national implementations, AfricaNenda continued to strengthen the broader payments ecosystem through advocacy, research, and capacity building.
The launch of its flagship State of Inclusive Instant Payments Systems (SIIPS) 2025 Report convened 180 participants in person, alongside virtual participants and thousands of livestream viewers, bringing together central bank governors, policymakers, and financial sector leaders to advance dialogue on interoperable and inclusive payment infrastructure across Africa.
AfricaNenda’s 2025 annual report emphasizes a central message: payments are not the end goal – they are the backbone of digital public infrastructure and a catalyst for economic growth. Approximately 400 million Africans remain unbanked across Africa. Inclusive instant payment systems enable governments to deliver salaries and benefits faster, help small businesses transact securely, and empower women and rural communities to participate in the digital economy.
“Strong payment infrastructure is not just a financial sector priority, it is a development imperative,” said Dr. Ochola. “When payments become instant, affordable and interoperable, economies move faster and inclusion becomes achievable.”
Building on 2025’s momentum, AfricaNenda’s 2026 priorities are to support at least three additional IIPS launches, expand financing partnerships to accelerate deployment, transform the SIIPS report into an impact evaluation tool measuring economic outcomes and launch of a virtual centre of excellence to share implementation blueprints and inclusive design tools.
“The journey has truly begun,” added Mensah. “Africa is poised for the next phase where instant, interoperable payments connect countries, empower communities and unlock growth at scale.”
Download Report here
