MTN Brings In A Flutterwave Veteran To Fix Struggling Mobile Money Business In Nigeria

When MTN launched MoMo Payment Service Bank in Nigeria in 2022, the telecom giant had every reason to be confident. It had already built successful mobile money operations in Ghana and Uganda, where it had turned its vast subscriber base into a thriving fintech business. In Ghana, nearly two-thirds of MTN’s customers now have active mobile money wallets.

Nigeria was supposed to be the crown jewel. Instead, it has become the headache.

The company announced this week that it has appointed Bode Abifarin, the former chief operating officer of Flutterwave, as the new managing director and chief executive of MoMo PSB, effective September 1. It is the latest in a series of moves by MTN to fix a business that has consistently underperformed in its most important market.

Abifarin brings more than 23 years of experience across financial services, consulting and digital payments. She spent 15 years at KPMG, rising to associate director in management consulting, before joining Flutterwave in 2018. At the Nigerian fintech unicorn, she helped scale the business across multiple African markets, establishing operating models and strengthening regulatory engagement.

She inherits a business in distress. MTN Nigeria recorded a NGN 62.56 B (USD 46.7 M) impairment on its fintech investments in its 2025 financial statements, including MoMo PSB and Yello Digital Financial Services. An independent valuation by Deloitte placed the combined market value of the units at about NGN 40.39 B (~USD 30 M), far below their carrying value of roughly NGN 107.95 B. The company described the fintech units as loss-making.

The user numbers tell a similar story. MoMo PSB ended 2025 with about 3.7 million active wallets, a fraction of MTN’s long-term ambition of reaching 30 to 40 million users. Active wallets had declined 55.6% year-on-year to 2.1 million in the first quarter of 2025 before recovering.

While active wallets climbed to 5 million in the first half of 2026, an 88.8% increase from a year earlier, overall fintech revenue fell 7.2% to NGN 77.2 B (USD 57.6 M) during the period, weighed down by the temporary suspension of its airtime lending service, which makes up much of MTN’s fintech revenue in Nigeria. The airtime lending freeze dragged fintech revenue down 72.4% year-on-year to NGN 12.99 B (USD 9.5 M) in the second quarter of 2026.

The gap between MTN’s performance in Nigeria and other markets is quite telling. In Ghana, the separation of mobile money into a standalone business has been relatively smooth. In Nigeria, telcos have struggled to sell mobile money as independent fintech firms including OPay and Moniepoint have moved faster and captured a dominant share of the market. MTN’s payment service bank licence, obtained from the central bank in 2022, restricts the company from offering loans and other services that competitors provide freely.

MTN is now restructuring its fintech operations on multiple fronts. In April, MTN Nigeria announced plans to sell a 60% stake in MoMo PSB and Yello Digital Financial Services to MTN Group for NGN 152.06 B. The company is also pursuing a structural separation of its Nigerian and Ugandan fintech operations to attract outside investment. In June, MTN Group Fintech announced a technology partnership with Ant International, the global arm of the Chinese fintech giant behind Alipay, to rebuild the MoMo platform into a super app, starting with Nigeria in the third quarter of 2026.

Serigne Dioum, chief executive of MTN Group Fintech, said Abifarin brings an “exceptional blend of strategic leadership, execution excellence and deep fintech expertise” to the role. Michael Ajukwu, chairman of the MoMo PSB board, said her experience in payments and digital transformation made her well positioned to lead the bank.

Abifarin described her appointment as an opportunity to expand access to digital financial services in Nigeria. “Financial inclusion remains one of the greatest opportunities to unlock economic empowerment and prosperity for millions of people,” she said.

Her task is to execute across multiple fronts simultaneously. Between integrating the Ant International partnership and navigating the restructuring that will transfer majority ownership to MTN Group, to competing against nimbler fintech rivals that have already built commanding market positions, Abifarin has her hands full.

At Flutterwave, she helped build one of Africa’s most valuable fintech companies from the ground up. At MoMo PSB, she inherits a business with a vast telecom subscriber base to draw on but a track record of failing to convert that advantage into meaningful market share.