African money transfer firms thrive as pandemic spurs online remittances

Having fled an economic implosion in his native Zimbabwe, Brighton Takawira was able to support his mother back home with modest earnings from a small perfume business he set up in South Africa.

Brighton Takawira uses the Mukuru remittance app which enables him to send money and groceries home to family in Zimbabwe from his home in Pinetown, South Africa, October 21, 2020. Picture taken October 21, 2020. [Reuters]

Then the pandemic struck. Borders closed. The buses he had used to send his cash stopped running.