Orange Money Logo

Orange Money emerged in the late 2000s, when fewer than 10% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa used traditional banks. At the same time, mobile phone ownership had already reached much higher levels. Orange, active in West Africa through several telecom brands, saw a gap between banking access and mobile reach. In December 2008, it launched Orange Money in Côte d’Ivoire as a test market.

The first version was deliberately limited: users could deposit and withdraw cash through agents, top up mobile airtime, and pay Orange bills. Orange watched the rise of Safaricom’s M-Pesa in Kenya but moved cautiously, since West Africa lacked the same ready-made agent network. In 2009, a larger campaign in Côte d’Ivoire brought 100,000 to 150,000 subscribers, while planned launches in Mali and Senegal were delayed.

Competition intensified in January 2010, when MTN Group announced a mobile wallet rollout across 15 African countries. In 2011, Orange Money passed 3 million users and expanded to Senegal, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Kenya, Botswana, and Cameroon. In Botswana, it worked with Standard Chartered; in Cameroon, with BICEC of the BPCE group. Mauritius and Jordan followed in 2011-2012.

In 2013, Orange Money added cross-border transfers between Mali, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire, all using the West African CFA franc. It also introduced VISA card payments and ATM withdrawals, first in Botswana. By 2013, it had 8 million users in 13 countries. In 2016, Orange gained e-money issuer licenses in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea, and launched the service in France for transfers to West Africa. By 2018, Orange Money had 40 million users in 17 countries. In 2023, it surpassed 100 million accounts opened and more than €130 billion in total transactions.