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FAQ

See a list of frequently asked questions below. Should you have further questions, please contact us.

The central idea behind an instant and inclusive payment system is that the ability to send and receive low-value payments at any time, free of charge or at very low cost, facilitates the use of transaction accounts and serves as a gateway to other financial products and services. Instant and inclusive payment systems must adhere to certain key principles, including the use of:

  • Secure, real-time and irrevocable transactions

  • A low-cost fee structure, leveraging a “payment as utility” model

  • An open-loop system, with a network that connects mobile network operators, fintechs and other financial services providers

  • Pro-poor governance and scheme rules that include equal ownership opportunities for a range of digital financial service providers

For more information on instant and inclusive payment systems, please refer to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor’s (CGAP) Building Faster Better: A Guide to Inclusive Payment Systems.

AfricaNenda was created to help achieve universal African financial access by 2030. Broad-based stakeholder consultations with public sector institutions, private sector digital financial service providers, technical assistance partners and other key stakeholders on the continent played a critical role in informing the structure and mission of AfricaNenda.

As a pan-African institution, AfricaNenda has the capacity to support projects located anywhere on the African continent, including projects of both national and regional scope.

AfricaNenda will support any instant and inclusive payments project that is aligned with instant and inclusive payment system design principles, helps to promote financial inclusion and requires AfricaNenda’s support to succeed.

Projects may be implemented by a variety of partners, including central banks, regional economic communities and banking/payments associations or councils.

AfricaNenda collaborates with standalone private sector actors if they are involved in an engagement that AfricaNenda is already supporting.

AfricaNenda is able to assist in identifying funding from a mix of public, private and multilateral actors. AfricaNenda's own services are provided free of charge.

A three-person leadership team guides AfricaNenda’s activities. This leadership team directs AfricaNenda’s overall strategy while regional payments experts advocate for, shape and help launch instant and inclusive payment system projects across Africa. AfricaNenda also hires project facilitators on a rolling basis to support specific deployments and handle project management operations. An Advisory Board of six to eight members oversees staff, and approves AfricaNenda's strategy and activities.

AfricaNenda’s Advisory Board is responsible for providing guidance on key decisions that ensure AfricaNenda meets its objective of growing instant and inclusive payment systems in Africa as a tool to expand financial access.

AfricaNenda was founded as an independent actor that mobilises the African payments ecosystem and acts as an open hub for African digital payments knowledge and expertise. AfricaNenda's objective is to support the development of instant digital payments systems, rather than specific funders, technologies or approaches. AfricaNenda is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is incubated by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

AfricaNenda plays no role in ownership or operations of digital payments systems. Rather, it provides advisory and technical support to deployments owned and controlled by local, national and regional actors.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) is a non-profit organisation that currently advises on and manages more than $400-million in annual giving by individuals, families, corporations and foundations. Founded in 2002, RPA has grown into one of the world’s largest philanthropic service organisations and has facilitated more than $3-billion in grantmaking to more than 70 countries. RPA currently serves as a fiscal sponsor for more than 100 projects, providing governance, management and operational infrastructure to support their charitable purposes. RPA is serving as an incubator and secretariat for AfricaNenda. It provides operational support and guidance for AfricaNenda’s programmatic activities.

AfricaNenda has been established with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (, but it is an Africa-based and African-led entity with processes and systems separate from the foundation.

ADFI is a blended finance vehicle providing funding for digital financial inclusion projects across Africa, including instant and inclusive payment system deployments. There are complementarities between AfricaNenda and ADFI, and it is possible that projects supported by AfricaNenda may be funded in part by ADFI.

There is no formal relationship between AfricaNenda and the Mojaloop Foundation. Mojaloop is an open-source software platform to help build interoperable, low-cost digital payment platforms. It can serve as an enabler to scale up instant and inclusive payment system deployments.