Mobile money is booming in Africa as countries shun cash amid the pandemic

Africa’s burgeoning mobile banking industry has gained fresh momentum with governments boosting payments through phones, a measure aimed at curbing the coronavirus by reducing the physical exchange of cash. Kenya is ramping up its use of technology platforms offered by Vodafone Group’s M-Pesa, Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya since the pandemic to disburse aid directly to businesses and individuals using mobile money rather than through banks or food parcels. Ghana, on Wednesday, also started pumping stimulus to at least 100,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises using mobile money. Pioneered by Vodafone’s Nairobi-based Safaricom in 2007, mobile money has become an indispensable part of...