How does mobile money work?
A customer registers with the provider, verifies their identity and gets an account tied to their phone number. They add cash at an agent or receive transfers, and withdraw cash at agents. To pay online, the customer chooses mobile money at checkout and enters their number. The provider sends a prompt to the phone and the customer approves with a PIN. Paystack’s documentation describes this flow for Ghana and Kenya, with an OTP step before the PIN. Customers can also pay a business directly: Safaricom describes paying a Paybill number from the M-PESA app, the SIM toolkit or the *334# USSD menu, each completed with the M-PESA PIN.
Why does it matter?
In Kenya it is part of daily life: the Central Bank of Kenya reports 95.31 million registered mobile money accounts and 563,605 active agents in August 2026. Worldwide, the GSMA’s State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 counts 2.3 billion registered accounts and more than 2 trillion US dollars in transactions in 2025. As an illustrative example: a store selling into Ghana takes 1,000 card orders a month at an average of 200 cedis. If mobile money adds 150 orders from customers without a card that works online, that is 30,000 cedis more a month.
What are the limits?
Each provider has its own API, fees, limits by verification tier and settlement terms. The customer needs the phone at hand and enough balance, and an unanswered prompt leaves the payment pending until it expires. Paystack notes that recurring payments are not possible on its mobile money channel.
Where does Omno use it?
Omno connects mobile money through its PSPs where available, and its payment method pages include methods such as M-PESA and MTN MoMo. The hosted checkout shows them based on country, customer group and eligibility rules, and the final status arrives by webhook. Where the provider allows it, payouts use the same eligibility model.