Bharti Airtel, the mother company of Airtel Rwanda, has scooped the the 2014 Kalahari Award in recognition of the contribution and commitment to fostering mobile financial services across 15 countries in Africa under its airtel money, a mobile money transfer service.

Speaking at the event Chidi Okpala, the Bharti Airtel money Africa director, said airtel money has made significant contribution to the mobile financial sector in Africa, generating a daily average of one million transactions worth $25m (about Rwf16.9b) from an active base of five million subscribers.

"We are leveraging on a network of about 140,000 active agent locations to create cashless payment ecosystems, while leading the charge for massive financial inclusion and reducing transaction costs across the continent,” he said.

A recent World Bank report indicates that millions of people have mobile phones, but do not have mobile money services, which Okpala said presents a great opportunity for the telecom firm’s money transfer service to grow further.