Onafriq Partners With Ripple to Open Payments Corridors to Africa

Onafriq, formerly known as MFS Africa, has partnered with Ripple to boost the speed and efficiency of payments between Africa and several new markets.

With this partnership, Onafriq is using Ripple’s crypto-enabled payments technology, Ripple Payments, to open three new payments corridors, the companies said in a Tuesday (Nov. 7) press release.

Customers of PayAngel in the United Kingdom, Pyypl in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Zazi Transfer in Australia can now make remittance and business payments to recipients in 27 countries in Onafriq’s pan-African network, the release said.

“These connections are set to enable fast, secure and low-cost remittances at scale between Africa and the rest of the world, and represent a bold first step for our crypto strategy to leverage blockchain technologies to amplify our impact on people and businesses on the continent,” Onafriq founder and CEO Dare Okoudjou said in the release.

The partnership will eliminate lengthy transfer times, unreliability, excessive cost and other problems traditionally associated with cross-border payments, according to the press release.

Onafriq’s payment hub connects more than 500 million mobile wallets in 40 African countries and operates across more than 1,300 payment corridors on the continent, the release said.

Ripple, uses blockchain and cryptocurrency to address pain points in cross-border payments, per the release. It serves customers in more than 55 countries and six continents with payout capabilities in more than 70 markets.

The new collaboration will expand the reach of Ripple’s solution in Africa, Aaron Sears, senior vice president of global customer success at Ripple, said in the release.

“Connecting our partners PayAngel, Pyppl and Zazi Transfer with Onafriq over Ripple Payments will bring the benefits of faster and more cost-effective cross-border payments to individuals seeking to send money into Africa from around the world,” Sears said.

More and more payment solutions that facilitate the steady flow of currency in and out of mobile wallets will emerge, driving an uptake in cross-border transactions not just within Africa, but also helping to connect “Africa to the world or the world to Africa,” Okoudjou told PYMNTS in an interview posted in June 2022.