WAAFI: the Somali mobile money app and card

The short version

WAAFI is a mobile money app for smartphones. Hormuud Telecom announced it in April 2021 as Somalia's first home-grown mobile money app (Ventureburn, April 2021). Two months earlier, in February 2021, the Central Bank of Somalia had given Hormuud's EVC Plus the country's first mobile money licence. At that time Hormuud reported 3.6 million subscribers in Somalia, of whom 3 million used EVC Plus (Developing Telecoms, 2021).

What the app does

The launch reports listed these features (Ventureburn, April 2021):

• moving money between a bank account and an EVC Plus wallet, and checking balances
• bank-to-bank transfers inside Somalia, which reports called a first for the country
• linking debit and credit cards to load money into the wallet
• receiving money sent by relatives abroad straight to a phone, and sending money abroad from Somalia
• phone calls to Somalia from abroad, and chat between users
• QR codes that shops can show so customers pay them directly

Before WAAFI, Somali mobile money ran mainly on USSD, the short codes typed on any phone. Hormuud gave USSD mobile money use as high as 80 percent in towns and 55 percent in rural areas (Developing Telecoms, 2021). Hormuud's chairman and chief executive at the launch was Ahmed Mohammed Yuusuf (same source).

Who is behind it

Later reports describe Waafi as developed jointly by Salaam Somali Bank, Hormuud, Telesom and Golis (Hiiraan Online, August 2024; Developing Telecoms, 2024). Telesom runs the Zaad service in Somaliland and Golis runs Sahal in Puntland, so the app links the three biggest phone networks. A 2019 Clingendael study describes Telesom and Golis as entities aligned with Hormuud, together holding about 81 percent of SIM cards (Clingendael, Transnational capital in Somalia, 2019, boxes 6 and 7); see Somali business groups.

The Waafi card

• In July 2024 Salaam Somali Bank began issuing the Waafi Card, a prepaid Mastercard in several currencies. Customers apply in the app, and issuing started on 16 July 2024 (Hiiraan Online, August 2024).
• The card works at shop payment terminals, cash machines and online, inside Somalia and abroad. It can be added to a phone for contactless payment (same source).
• The card is issued and processed by Paymentology, with a digital card and a physical card. The companies called it the first such card in the Horn of Africa (TechAfrica News, 2 August 2024).
• The same report says more than two-thirds of all payments in Somalia are made by mobile money (same source).

Related pages

For how mobile money works and who licenses it, see Mobile money in Somalia. For the bank, see Somalia's main banks. For the phone company, see Hormuud Telecom.