05 July 2022

Zamani Telecom has signed an agreement with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to extend its digital financial services network to more people in Niger, to stimulate the post-Covid-19 economic recovery in the west African country.

As part of the partnership, Zamani Telecom, formerly Orange Niger, will open 5,000 new outlets for its mobile money service "Zamani Cash" across the country. More than 100,000 new customers are targeted in remote areas. The focus will be on women, youth, migrants, and low-income groups.

This initiative is part of the "Leveraging Digital Finance to Build Resilience in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Countries" program launched in September 2021 by UNCDF. Still referred to as DFS4Resilience, the program is funded by the European Union and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP). The initiative comes at a time of accelerating digital transformation across Africa, where digital financial services are gaining in popularity among a largely unbanked population.

"We are therefore initiating this synergy of actions with the actors of the digital finance ecosystem, with the aim of encouraging them to further deploy throughout Niger, in order to bring their access points closer to populations that are certainly decentralised, but willing to familiarise themselves with the use of mobile money," said Olivier Yara, UNCDF's country head.

This initiative is expected to accelerate financial inclusion in Niger and contribute to the country's socio-economic development with the recruitment of 5,000 agents, including 2,000 women.