Rwanda has rolled out eKash, a national digital payment system built to bring every major financial provider onto a single, real-time platform.
The launch at the Kigali Convention Centre signals a major push to reduce cash use and give citizens a faster, cheaper way to move money across banks, SACCOs, microfinance institutions and mobile money wallets.
Rwanda wants digital payments to power growth in trade, small business activity and public services, and needs infrastructure that works for both urban and rural users.
The platform sits at the centre of the Rwanda National Digital Payment System and is the result of work led by RSwitch, AfricaNenda Foundation and the Mojaloop Foundation, with support from the ICT ministry, the finance ministry, the central bank, RISA, Access to Finance Rwanda, the Gates Foundation and GIZ. The government sees it as a key layer in its wider digital public infrastructure agenda.
eKash already links 22 financial institutions and handles instant transfers between banks, SACCOs, MFIs, fintech firms and the two dominant mobile money operators, MTN and Airtel. More SACCOs are integrating in the coming months, a step that could draw rural communities into the national system at scale.
The platform has processed 46.4 million transactions to date, recording a success rate of 99.89 percent. Users can move up to 2 million RWF per transaction, with daily limits set at 10 million RWF.
Jean Bosco Iyacu of Access to Finance Rwanda said the platform forms a core building block of Rwanda’s digital public infrastructure, adding that it is meant to support every sector of the economy. AfricaNenda CEO Dr Robert Ochola noted that the system was built end-to-end by African engineers and developers, positioning Rwanda as a testing ground for digital financial infrastructure that can be scaled across the continent.
RSwitch CEO Blaise Pascal Gasabira said the launch marks a shift toward a fully connected financial system where institutions exchange transactions through a common channel. ICT minister Paula Ingabire said the project reflects years of patient work to design systems with vulnerable users in mind, and stressed that the long-term value lies in expanding access rather than the technology itself.
