Onafriq

Onafriq Access new markets. Scale beyond borders via our global omnichannel payments network of networks. Visit www.onafriq.com for more.

Access new markets and scale up beyond your borders through our global omnichannel payment network of networks. Let’s get in touch to see how we can unlock access for your business and customers.

As part of Ethiopia’s National Digital Payments Strategy, the Ministry of Finance recently took another step toward allo...
02/09/2026

As part of Ethiopia’s National Digital Payments Strategy, the Ministry of Finance recently took another step toward allowing interoperable government payments and a nationwide payments overhaul.

Through a fully interoperable ecosystem, all public institutions in Ethiopia will soon be able to accept payments from any regulated financial institution. This marks an advance from digital payments policy to real-world ex*****on and continues to build on the country's digital public infrastructure.

Learn more about this move in Ethiopia here: https://f.mtr.cool/iwvhell1y5

As part of our broader strategy to modernise pan-African payments, we’ve partnered with Privy to build regulated stablec...
30/07/2026

As part of our broader strategy to modernise pan-African payments, we’ve partnered with Privy to build regulated stablecoin infrastructure for our B2B partners, supporting a new generation of digital payment services.

For banks, fintechs and mobile money operators, our goal is to provide access to secure multi-modal wallets and more efficient movement of value across the continent, in line with regulatory frameworks.

We're excited about the possibilities for unlocking liquidity across African markets, and our partnership with Privy gives us a building block for faster settlement and treasury management.

Learn more in the comments.

If you've got family or friends in Liberia, today's the day to send a little extra love their way. Liberia marks 179 yea...
26/07/2026

If you've got family or friends in Liberia, today's the day to send a little extra love their way. Liberia marks 179 years of independence on 26 July as the first African nation to declare itself a republic. From everyone at Onafriq, happy Independence Day to the Liberian community at home and around the world.

Tag someone you're celebrating with today.

Rachel Balsham leads partnerships and growth at Onafriq, which means she spends her days thinking about how money actual...
23/07/2026

Rachel Balsham leads partnerships and growth at Onafriq, which means she spends her days thinking about how money actually gets from one person to another across African borders.

If you're working in another country, the funds you send to your family back home are known as remittances. But what happens when the country you're working in faces a major crisis?

Rachel sat down with Bloomberg's Next Africa podcast earlier this year to discuss how unrest in the Middle East – for example, the war in Iran – affects families in Africa who rely on remittances. Here are her insights:

🔹 Around 30% of the remittances our partners in Uganda and Tanzania receive come from the Middle East.

🔹 Since May, that flow has dropped noticeably.

🔹 For many households, that money is their only income: the difference between paying for school fees, healthcare, or food this month or not.

🔹 A drop like this doesn't stay contained; it shows up later in education, health and nutrition outcomes.

As global crises reshape economies, Rachel explained that understanding what remittances mean to households and countries that depend on them has never been more important.

Nelson Mandela was born on the 18th of July 1918, and every year on his birthday, South Africans honour his 67 years of ...
18/07/2026

Nelson Mandela was born on the 18th of July 1918, and every year on his birthday, South Africans honour his 67 years of service to humanity by giving 67 minutes in service to communities.

Celebrated around the world, and officially recognised by the United Nations, Mandela Day reminds us this year that "It's still in our hands to combat poverty and inequity".

If you are joining a volunteer event in your city today, remember: one person's act of service makes a difference.

However you give your 67 minutes today, they count. Given alongside everyone else's, they become one shared act of service.

Happy Mandela Day.

This week on : virtual assets, and why Rwanda's new law is a bigger deal than it sounds.A virtual asset is a digital re...
06/07/2026

This week on : virtual assets, and why Rwanda's new law is a bigger deal than it sounds.

A virtual asset is a digital representation of value that can be traded or used for payment, including cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. For a long time, most African governments saw them mainly as a risk to contain.

Rwanda just changed that. A new virtual assets law now sets out who can offer services, what the rules are, and what protections users have. It is one of the first frameworks of its kind in East Africa.

Our Country Director in Rwanda, Alain Rurangirwa, put it simply. "The bottleneck was never the technology. It was the legal foundation to allow innovation."

For everyday Africans, this is what changes. Without clear rules, virtual assets stay a space most people are wary of stepping into, because the cost of getting it wrong feels too high. A legal framework lowers that risk and brings these services into the open, with real protections behind them. The rest of Africa is watching.

What else would you like us to unpack? Let us know in the comments.

Last Thursday in Johannesburg, the opening panel at Stablecon Salons Africa spent the evening on one question: how close...
03/07/2026

Last Thursday in Johannesburg, the opening panel at Stablecon Salons Africa spent the evening on one question: how close is Africa's stablecoin market to being ready for everyday use?

Then our Group Chief Commercial Officer, Christian Bwakira, took that same question into a fireside chat of his own. His view: stablecoins already show up in how Onafriq builds with our partners today, and that's only growing.

Read where we stand: https://f.mtr.cool/knkxvtdery

On this day in 1960, Somalia stepped into independence.Two years later, on the very same date, Rwanda and Burundi follow...
01/07/2026

On this day in 1960, Somalia stepped into independence.

Two years later, on the very same date, Rwanda and Burundi followed. One square on the calendar now holds the pride of three nations.

From Kigali to Bujumbura to Mogadishu, and in every home around the world where these flags fly, today is for remembering how far each nation has come and dreaming about where it goes next.

Happy Independence Day! 🇷🇼🇧🇮🇸🇴

When the war in Iran broke out, migrant workers were exhausting their savings and emergency funds to keep the remittance...
30/06/2026

When the war in Iran broke out, migrant workers were exhausting their savings and emergency funds to keep the remittances flowing. But as Rachel Balsham, Managing Director, explained on Bloomberg's Next Africa podcast, they eventually had to reduce those flows.

For countries like Uganda and Tanzania, where our data shows that around 30% of the remittances we bring our partners from outside Africa come from the Middle East, this could have far-reaching consequences. What is even harder to answer is how long the effects last.

That uncertainty is concerning because remittances are not optional transactions. For many households, there is no substitute for that income.

"In the world that we live in today, people are forced to cross borders for stability, for prosperity, for opportunities that are not available in sufficient supply in their home countries, and the remittances they send are a way of sharing that prosperity back to families at home," Rachel said.

As global crises reshape economies, understanding what remittances mean to the households and countries that depend on them has never been more important.

Listen to the full episode: https://f.mtr.cool/hihyqngfnl

On Thursday, 25 June, Moses Marimira, our Director of Compliance and Group MLRO, and Cindy Sieberts, Manager: Banking an...
23/06/2026

On Thursday, 25 June, Moses Marimira, our Director of Compliance and Group MLRO, and Cindy Sieberts, Manager: Banking and FX, will be panellists at the Africa Payments & RegTech Forum in Johannesburg.

They will join industry leaders to explore two urgent questions shaping the future of payments in Africa: how the ecosystem can stay ahead of rising fraud risks, and how digital assets can be used responsibly within regulated payment systems.

Moses will join the morning panel on “Combating fraud in mobile money and wallet-based payments” to map out cross-industry signal sharing, real-time fraud controls, and collective responses to emerging threats like scams and account takeovers.

Cindy will join the afternoon panel, "Digital assets, stablecoins & tokenisation: Payments impact and regulation", where she will examine the role of stablecoins in settlement, remittances and treasury, as well as the importance of managing operational risk and building regulatory frameworks that balance innovation, consumer protection and market integrity.

Where to find them:
📅 25 June
📍 Marriott Hotel, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg

🕚 11:10–11:40
Moses Marimira
Panel: Combating Fraud in Mobile Money & Wallet-Based Payments

🕑 14:00–14:30
Cindy Sieberts
Panel: Digital Assets, Stablecoins & Tokenisation: Payments Impact and Regulation

See you in Johannesburg.


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