Cash shortages hit mobile money agents in Côte d’Ivoire

With over 400,000 mobile money service points across Côte d’Ivoire — 300 times more than the total number of ATMs — the country has become a leader in digital finance. Yet daily operations for agents are increasingly hampered by a persistent shortage of physical cash, affecting both providers and their customers.

Late afternoon in the Angré Château neighborhood, a time for shopping or commuting. But at this busy intersection, the mobile money kiosk has run out of cash. Rosette, a frustrated user, came to withdraw 10,000 CFA (about 15 euros). “When you come and they don’t have what you need, it happens, so we just deal with it,” she says.

Inside the yellow booth, cashier Nema asks customers to wait. “Some days there are many withdrawals and we run out of cash. We apologize and tell clients we are in deposit-only mode,” she explains.

Rather than queue, some customers leave to withdraw elsewhere. Affoué, the booth manager and a former accountant, knows that losing a client means losing income. “You lose the client, and you lose the commission from that client. You have to take good care of clients so commissions increase and you can make a net profit,” she says.

Loss of clients, loss of profitability

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

But the system grinds to a halt when cash or credit runs low. Agents are forced to close their shops to restock at operator offices or banks. “They lose clients, they don’t earn enough commissions, it becomes unprofitable, and they have to close to go to distributors,” one agent explains.

Motorcycles for faster response

Gertrude Yapi, operations director at Leya, an Abidjan-based startup, has developed a motorbike cash-courier service to replenish mobile money points quickly. “We supply them — credit — in under four minutes, and we send cash in under 30 minutes to satisfy customers. We allow sales points to increase their turnover by 50%,” she says. Leya now claims over 3,000 active clients in four cities: Abidjan, Bondoukou, Bouaké, and Korhogo.

Economist Kassoum Timité stresses that service continuity is vital for the broader economy. “Mobile money directly serves the informal sector, which accounts for the largest share of economic activity in Côte d’Ivoire — up to 40% of GDP according to the IMF. So a lack of cash slows transactions and reduces economic activity,” he warns.

In 2024, more than 140 billion CFA (over 210 million euros) was exchanged daily via mobile money, according to the Ivorian agency for financial inclusion promotion — nearly four times the volume in 2020.