Uganda’s mobile money story is usually told through impressive numbers: more users, more transactions, more agents and an expanding range of services available from a phone. But behind that growth sits a less glamorous problem that can bring the entire experience to a halt — liquidity.
A mobile money agent may have customers waiting and a working network connection, but without enough electronic float or physical cash, transactions simply cannot happen.
Kampala-based fintech MAM Telecom believes there is an opportunity in fixing that problem.
The company reported this week that it is advancing work on payment infrastructure designed around agent liquidity and float management in Uganda, while also developing MAM Fex, a cross-border remittance platform aimed at lowering the cost of moving money between markets.
It may sound like backend financial plumbing, but the implications could be significant.
The problem behind the mobile money counter
For customers, mobile money is expected to work instantly. Walk to an agent, deposit or withdraw money, and leave.
For agents, the reality is more complicated. They constantly have to balance two forms of liquidity: cash for customers making withdrawals and electronic float for customers making deposits.
When either runs out, business stops.
The importance of liquidity is visible even among established operators. MTN Mobile Money Uganda, for example, operates XtraFloat, which allows eligible agents to obtain short-term float advances. MTN’s own distribution operations also monitor rebalancing, agent activity and liquidity availability across its network.
MAM Telecom wants to build infrastructure around this challenge rather than simply another consumer-facing wallet.
Its plans include payment service provider and payment system operator infrastructure, agent liquidity mechanisms and settlement capabilities. Earlier descriptions of its platform have also included merchant payments, enterprise services and tools giving agents better visibility over liquidity.
If executed successfully, that approach could help reduce the frustrating “no float” problem customers still encounter, particularly in markets where agents may have fewer convenient options for quickly rebalancing cash and electronic money.
Then comes cross-border money
MAM Telecom’s ambitions extend beyond the agent counter.
Its second major play is MAM Fex, a planned cross-border remittance platform being developed as part of the wider ecosystem.
That places the startup in an increasingly important part of Uganda’s digital economy.
Cross-border money movement remains essential for families, traders and businesses across East Africa. Yet moving relatively small amounts between countries can still involve fees, fragmented platforms and settlement challenges.
MAM Telecom says MAM Fex is being designed as a lower-cost alternative for cross-border transfers. Earlier company disclosures indicated targeted fees of approximately 0.7% to 0.9% on selected corridors, although those figures should be viewed as targets while the product and its market rollout are still being developed.
Combining remittances with payment infrastructure is what makes the proposition particularly interesting.
Instead of competing only for the consumer sending money, MAM Telecom is attempting to address several layers of the transaction chain: how money moves, how it is settled and how agents maintain enough liquidity to serve the person eventually receiving or withdrawing it.
Why this matters for Uganda
Uganda has become a strongly mobile-first financial market, but the next stage of fintech growth may depend less on launching another app and more on improving the infrastructure underneath existing services.
Payments need to become cheaper. Settlement needs to become faster. Agents need better liquidity. Different financial systems need to communicate more effectively. Cross-border transactions need fewer points of friction.
That is the opportunity MAM Telecom is positioning itself around.
There are still important hurdles ahead. The company says its current priorities include finalising its PSP/PSO float architecture, advancing regulatory and licensing plans, refining MAM Fex and preparing for fundraising. MAM Telecom is working with startup support firm FasterCapital through its EquityPilot programme as it develops those plans.
In other words, this is a company building toward deployment, not yet evidence of a nationwide infrastructure transformation.
But the problem it is targeting is very real.
East Africa’s first mobile money revolution was about giving millions of people the ability to move money without needing a conventional bank branch.
The next one may be less visible.
It could be about building the infrastructure that ensures the digital money economy works reliably every time someone walks up to an agent, pays a merchant or sends money across a border.
If MAM Telecom can execute on that promise, the technology behind the transaction could prove just as important as the app in the customer’s hand.
