Long confined to mobile payments, African fintech is entering a new phase of maturity. According to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) analysis published in 2026, the sector could see revenues surge from current $10 billion to $65 billion by 2030 — a 6.5x increase in under five years. The engine of this «second wave»: credit, insurance, and B2B financial services.
A Mobile Money Base Without Equal
Sub-Saharan Africa already controls nearly 70% of global mobile money accounts, with annual transaction volumes exceeding $800 billion. In Kenya, mobile money transactions exceed 50% of GDP — a level few developed countries have reached within their own digital ecosystems.
Yet this payments success masks a paradox: more than 50% of Africans still lack access to formal credit, and the SME financing gap on the continent exceeds $330 billion. It is precisely this chasm that second-wave players intend to bridge.
From Payment to Integrated Financial Platform
Currently, payments account for between 70% and 80% of revenues in African fintech. The 2030 projection anticipates a rebalancing: digital lending, embedded finance, and B2B services could capture up to 50% of sector revenues.
Challenges are real: fewer than 10% of African fintechs have comprehensive, interoperable data systems, and digital identity infrastructure remains patchy in many countries. Intra-African transfer fees still range from 6% to 10% — among the world's highest — compared to near-zero marginal cost within Europe. Intra-African trade represents only less than 20% of total continental trade, versus 60% in Europe.
Why It Matters
For Indian Ocean decision-makers, these figures map an opportunity: Mauritius, already positioned as an African fintech hub in its 2026-2030 roadmap, is ideally placed to serve as a deployment platform for digital credit and insurance solutions targeting continental African markets. The fintech second wave will not play out only in Nairobi or Lagos — it will also run through Port-Louis.