Cash shortages strain mobile money agents in Côte d’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire now has over 400,000 mobile money service points, according to the Agency for the Promotion of Financial Inclusion — that is 300 times the total number of ATMs. Ivorians use these kiosks daily to deposit salaries and withdraw cash, but agents often face liquidity shortages that hurt their business.

Late afternoon in the Angré Château neighbourhood. It is time for errands or catching transport, but at this busy intersection, the mobile money kiosk has run out of cash. Rosette, a customer, is resigned — she came to withdraw 10,000 CFA francs (about 15 euros): “When you come, they don’t have what you need. It happens, so you just deal with it.”

Sitting inside the yellow kiosk, teller Nema asks clients to wait: “Some days there are many withdrawals and we run out of cash. We apologise and tell customers we are in deposit-only mode.”

Rather than queue, some customers go elsewhere. Affoué manages the kiosk. For this former accountant, losing a client means lost revenue: “You lose the client and the commission from that client. So you have to take good care of them so that commissions grow and you can make a net profit.”

Losing customers, losing profitability

Mobile money operators like Orange, Moov, MTN, and Wave pay commissions to kiosk managers. For example, they earn between 20 and 60 CFA francs (3 to 9 euro cents) for a 10,000 CFA franc (15 euro) transaction. The more transactions and the larger their value, the higher their income.

The system breaks down when cash or credit is short. Agents must shut down their shops to restock from operators or banks. “They lose customers, don’t earn enough commissions, it becomes unprofitable, and they have to close and go to distributors.”

Motorcycles for faster response

Gertrude Yapi, operations director of Leya, an Abidjan-based startup, has set up a cash-on-motorcycle service to replenish mobile money points: “We supply them — with credit — in under four minutes, and send cash in less than 30 minutes to satisfy customers. We help sales points increase their turnover by 50%.” Leya now claims over 3,000 active clients in four Ivorian cities: Abidjan, Bondoukou, Bouaké, and Korhogo.

Ivorian economist Kassoum Timité stresses that service continuity is essential to support the broader economy: “Mobile money directly serves the informal sector, which accounts for the largest share of economic activity in Côte d’Ivoire — estimated at up to 40% of GDP by the International Monetary Fund. So a lack of liquidity will slow transactions and reduce economic activity.”

In 2024, more than 140 billion CFA francs (over 210 million euros) were exchanged daily via mobile money, according to the Ivorian Agency for the Promotion of Financial Inclusion — nearly four times more than in 2020.