MTN Kicks Off Inaugural Pan-African Fintech Summit, Charting Digital Finance’s Take-Off Across the Continent
MTN Group has launched its first-ever Pan-African Fintech Summit in Johannesburg, drawing 300 delegates from across the continent to accelerate digital financial services amid Africa’s booming mobile economy. The three-day event, running from September 9th to 11th, 2025, under the theme “Take-Off,” brings together fintech leaders, regulators, investors, and innovators to tackle scalability, policy hurdles, and cross-border integration. MTN Fintech CEO Serigne Dioum, who assumed the role earlier this year, described it as “a pivotal moment where innovation meets execution,” emphasizing the telecom giant’s pivot from mobile money to comprehensive ecosystems.
With MTN’s 297 million subscribers across 16 markets, the summit spotlights real-world breakthroughs like expanded MoMo platforms, AI-driven lending, and blockchain for remittances. Key sessions focused on regulatory alignment under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with panels featuring central bankers from Nigeria and Kenya discussing open banking standards. A standout announcement: MTN’s commitment to invest $200 million in fintech infrastructure by 2026, targeting underserved SMEs in rural areas. This builds on MTN’s existing footprint, where mobile money transactions hit $150 billion last year, per company reports.
For African entrepreneurs, this summit is a launchpad. It fosters partnerships that could slash transaction fees by 25% for cross-border trade, enabling a Lagos-based e-commerce startup to seamlessly pay suppliers in South Africa. Investors like those from the African Development Bank praised the event’s role in bridging funding gaps, with on-site deal announcements for three early-stage fintechs totaling $15 million. As Dioum noted, “We’re not just talking tech—we’re wiring prosperity.”
MTN’s bold summit underscores Africa’s fintech momentum, where private giants like MTN are driving inclusive growth. With revenues projected to reach $230 billion by 2025 (McKinsey estimates), events like this prove that collaborative innovation is the engine propelling the continent’s digital economy forward.
