Integrating mobile money (Orange Money, Wave, MTN MoMo, Moov): the guide
How a mobile money payment integration works, what to prepare, and the role of aggregators like CinetPay, PayDunya or FedaPay.
Mobile money is the dominant payment method in West Africa. Any platform that collects money online has to connect to it. Here is how it works in practice and what you need to prepare.
The operators, country by country
- Burkina Faso: Orange Money, Moov Money, Telecel / Coris Money, Wave.
- Côte d'Ivoire: Orange Money, MTN MoMo, Moov Money, Wave.
- Togo: Flooz (Moov Africa), T-Money / Mixx by Yas, Wave.
- Benin: MTN MoMo, Moov Money / Flooz, Celtiis Cash, Wave.
Each operator has its own API, validation timelines and terms. Connecting to each one separately is possible but slow to maintain.
Direct connection or aggregator?
An aggregator (CinetPay, PayDunya, FedaPay, among others) exposes a single API that bundles several operators and bank cards. You gain speed of implementation and coverage. A direct connection to an operator makes sense when volumes are high and you want to cut commissions.
For most projects, starting with an aggregator then moving to a direct connection on the main operator if volumes justify it is the most sensible path.
What to prepare on the client side
- An entity that can open a merchant account (usually a company).
- The documents the aggregator or operator asks for (trade register, director's ID, bank details or a merchant mobile money account).
- A trade name that will appear on customers' receipts and statements.
- A clear refund policy.
The role of webhooks
A mobile money payment is not instant from the server's point of view: the user approves it on their phone, then the operator notifies your platform via a webhook. Your app must therefore handle three states (pending, confirmed, failed) and only deliver the service after confirmation. A retry job is useful for lost notifications.
Security and reconciliation
- Verify webhook signatures to prevent fake confirmations.
- Log every transaction with its operator reference.
- Reconcile received payments against orders daily, automatically.
- Encrypt sensitive data and keep as little as possible.
A well-built integration shows its value most when something goes wrong: a dispute is settled in minutes if every transaction is logged and reconciled.