[DIGITAL Business Africa] – AfricaNenda and GIMAC are presently partners. AfricaNenda, is an organization specializing in financial inclusion in Africa and GIMAC (Groupement Interbancaire Monétique de l’Afrique Centrale) is the Economic Interest Group facilitating financial inclusion through the supervision and implementation of interoperability in CEMAC.
On September 19, 2023, two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Yaoundé, specifically in the new premises situated in Bastos. The location is opposite the ACEP Bastos microfinance and is not far from the Chinese embassy. This collaboration marks the beginning of a hopeful partnership for the advancement of digital finance in Africa.
The Memorandum of Understanding between AfricaNenda and GIMAC aims to facilitate collaboration in areas related to digital payments, transfers, interoperability, and financial inclusion.
These diversified areas of intervention are structured around three key activities:
– Improving the use case for merchant payments to drive economic growth and digital financial inclusion;
– Conducting an assessment to measure the impact of interoperability in the region, a critical factor in streamlining digital payments;
– And finally, the integration of QR codes into the merchant network to improve the ease and security of transactions.
AfricaNenda and GImac argue that these activities are crucial for the economic development of the region and for the transformation of the African financial landscape.
Through this agreement, AfricaNenda is committed to providing leading technical expertise, as well as capacity building, to support joint efforts to drive innovation in digital payments in Africa.
AfricaNenda‘s technical expertise combined with GIMAC‘s reputation in the digital payments sector will, according to both organizations, have a significant impact on the development of digital payments in the region.
According to Akinwale Goodluck, Deputy Managing Director of AfricaNenda, this is the organization‘s first project in the region. “We expect tremendous results that can help increase financial inclusion in this same region, where nearly 20 million people are still excluded from financial services. AfricaNenda is committed to making a significant impact in this regard and our partnership with GIMAC is an important step in the right direction,” says Akinwale Goodluck.
Valentin Mbozo’o, the General Director of GIMAC, believes that this partnership will enable the group to expand its reach in CEMAC by providing digital financial services to underprivileged social groups. To achieve this, GIMAC plans to enhance the quality and monitoring of its interoperable mobile services within the GIMACPAY ecosystem.
“Services which today, thanks to USSD technologies among others, have a higher penetration rate, thus increasing financial inclusion in CEMAC. This is the opportunity to once again materialize the instructions of the Governor of the BEAC relating to the promotion of Digital Financial Services in CEMAC”, declared the GM of GIMAC.
AfricaNenda
AfricaNenda is a team of African experts that aims to promote financial inclusion by implementing instant payment systems through digital financial services. Its approach is to provide public and private sector players with technical expertise and the capacity to remove barriers to digital payments. They aim to enable all Africans to carry out digital financial transactions transparently and at a low cost, wherever they are on the continent by 2030.
GIMAC
The Interbank Electronic Payment Group of Central Africa is an economic interest Group with capital increased to 99.2% by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). The main mission of GIMAC is to implement the Interbank Electronic Payment System (SMI) of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).
The Group diligently works towards promoting, providing, supervising, and regulating the seamless integration of electronic payment services throughout the CEMAC region, via the convergent ecosystem of GIMACPAY. This platform offers a comprehensive suite of interoperable payment services, including card, mobile, and transfer options, to its 93 Participants, which comprise Central Banks, credit institutions, national public treasuries, microfinance establishments, payment institutions, mobile money operators, and aggregators.
GIMACPAY is a quick and inclusive platform that connects over 35 million active wallets in CEMAC. It enables holders of GIMAC or international bank cards to enjoy card and mobile services through the ticket of its participants.
From January to August 2023, we learned from GIMAC, that GIMACPAY processed 7.5 million transactions without major incidents for a cumulative amount of 377 billion CFA francs.
The convergent ecosystem has allowed GIMAC to process over 33 million transactions worth 1,400 billion CFA francs since 2015.
By Digital Business Africa
