Nigeria’s mobile money story is one of quiet transformation built not in glass towers, but through millions of small daily transactions happening across markets, bus parks, and neighborhoods.
What began as a push for financial inclusion has now become one of the country’s biggest fintech success stories, powered by smartphones and a fast-growing digital economy.
As affordable smartphones found their way into more Nigerian hands, mobile wallets became the simplest bridge between cash and convenience. The results have been staggering. Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) shows that mobile money transactions hit N20.71 trillion($13.95 billion) in Q1 2025, a jump of 1,518% from N1.28 trillion in Q1 2021.
According to an earlier report by Nairametrics, Donald Ubeh, Head of Risk and Compliance at PalmPay, says mobile money operators have helped raise Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate to 74% in 2023, up from 51% in 2016. Today, over 1.5 million agents are on the field, handling about 60% of all transactions and moving more than $1 trillion in 2023 alone.
Behind these numbers are the founders building the digital rails of Nigeria’s payment system visionaries, who saw opportunity where banks saw barriers.
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In this feature, we spotlight owners of Mobile Money Operators licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the people reshaping how money moves across Africa’s largest economy.
Although there are 18 licensed Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) in Nigeria, this list focuses only on companies with publicly verifiable data footprints, including ownership records, founding history, and regulatory documentation. Other licensed operators not featured here either have limited public disclosures or closed documentation regarding their company ownership and control structures.
Leo Stan Ekeh is the owner of KongaPay, a licensed mobile money operator under Konga Holdings, which he acquired through the Zinox Group. He purchased Konga Holdings, including the e-commerce platform Konga.com and its fintech arm, KongaPay from its original founder, Sim Shagaya, in 2018.
Since the acquisition, Ekeh has transformed Konga into one of Nigeria’s most trusted digital commerce and payment ecosystems, driving innovation in e-commerce and financial technology.
- Ekeh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Punjab University, India, and a postgraduate degree in risk management from the University of Nottingham, England.
- His educational background in economics and risk management has informed his strategic approach to business growth and technology investment across Africa.
He has received numerous national honors, including the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) and the National Productivity Merit Award (NPOM), in recognition of his pioneering contributions to Nigeria’s ICT and digital economy.
